What size home did you have when you had your first baby?

[Moseyjosey]

My sister and BIL were lucky enough to own a 5 bed house before starting their family, and they managed to do all this under 30.

We live in a two bed semi detached home. It’s a lovely street. We have a garden and a bedroom for baby, and some floor space in the sitting room but not a separate playroom or anything like that for when they are bigger.

Everyone’s different but what was your living situation when you had your firstborn and if you upsized how old were they when you did this?

Two rooms in an attic flat up 3 flights of stairs, with no heating in the bedroom and a shared bathroom and toilet one flight down. I got plenty of exercise carrying the carrycot up and down the stairs. (1977)

One bed flat until DD was 2, then moved to a house as I wanted another DC otherwise I'd have stayed. Tbh I miss the flat, life was very easy on one floor!

A 3 bed 1920s semi which we hadn’t quite finished renovating.
Our second child was born while we lived there too and we moved to a 4 bed semi new build when we was 10. There was no way we could manage there much longer as he was in the smallest bedroom which wasn’t even full height as there was a step up into it.

Both are still at home (although oldest is currently awaiting a mortgage offer), and I can’t even begin to imagine how we’d have all lived in the previous house at this stage of life.

2 bedroom bungalow.

Small one bed flat, babies don't take up much space!

We had a three bed semi.
it was fine when they were tiny but it had two decent bedrooms and a box room. Once too big for the box room they shared. And then when they were 6 and 8 we luckily managed to upsize to a 5 bed and don’t plan on moving again, ever

I know many many people that had babies in a small two bed

2 bed semi when we had the first. We then had twins fairly soon after and all 3 shared a room just fine.
When kids were ages 4, 3, 3 we moved to current house which is literally the same as the one we moved from except one bedroom has been split into 2 small bedrooms and the previous owner added a large extension downstairs and a loft conversion.
I work from home in the office/playroom and we still have 2 children share a room but one day will use the loft as a bedroom (when we have managed to empty it..it's most definitely storage right now!)
We definitely could have managed in the smaller house until kids were a little older but it would have been a nightmare come COVID and home schooling and subsequent switch to WFH etc.

2 bed terrace. It was fine till the second child then we did the loft.
We have never moved.
Prioritised getting mortgage free as soon as possible.

A tiny first floor one bed flat in the US. Thousands of miles from home so no parental support! The flat was one big room with a divider across the middle (which had a gap at the top so no soundproofing) to separate lounge/kitchen from bedroom and bathroom. Great fun when my in-laws came to stay and had to walk through our bedroom to get to the loo in the middle of the night. Shared washing machine outside in the courtyard so had to lug baby in carry seat as well as washing outside to put a load on.
Lived there until first child was 9 months old, then moved to the luxury of a 2 bed flat.

so did we it was fine Dc eventually had to share a room till teens not idea but it was what it was.

op your house sounds fine to have children in.

4 bed detached on a new build estate so has a small garden.

We’d lived abroad on big work contracts, on decent salaries and DH was 36 when DS was born, so bit older than average.

We’re not planning on moving till DS1 is probably 10-11, so wanted to make sure we had space for a family.

A 2bed still have a 2 bed my baby is 19 now.
Its not a bout the size of the home its how homely you make it.

The family started small, grew larger then smaller again and then they'd all gone! Started with a three bed semi then a four bed Victorian terrace then a six bed Georgian house then downsized to a four bed Georgian house then a four bed 30s semi and a two bed cottage by the sea but will move again to accommodate growing grandchildren so they can come and stay.

Edited to add that when that first house was bought, you could get a mortgage for 3x salary and that was enough to buy a 3 bed semi with garage back then.

My husband and I lived in small one bedroom flat in London until my son was nearly 3! We knew many other parents in the same situation as property prices in London are so horrific. After that we moved to the south coast and now live in a 3 bedroom house. We feel very lucky. A baby doesn't care how big your house is.

2 bed flat with DC1, moved to a small 3 bed house before our second.

Ohh where did you move? I’d love to do that 😊

One bed rented flat. Perfectly fine , we had a 2 bed until
The DC were about 7 and 8 and never noticed a shortage of rooms.

We upsized from a 2 bed to a 4 bed before starting a family

We lived in 3 bedroom semi detached cottage in a nice village. It was probably quite nice by many standards, but it was a shitty old house in a lot of ways. Heating didn’t work well. Very damp and drafty and mouldy.

We moved to two further houses after that - 3 bedroom detached, but still renting. Finally bought our first house when I was I think 41. It’s a lovely big 5 bedroom house and well worth the wait. Babies really don’t need much space, though a good boiler is better than a shitty one.

Studio flat when I fell pregnant, moved back in with my parents until I could get back on my feet as a single mum, now in a 2 bed flat

Well I lived with my parents 😆 moved out when DS1 was 6 months into a 4 bed townhouse. As you can tell, we were saving hard.
Moved into a 5 bed (loft extension) when we had DS3 as the 4th bedroom in the first house was tiny. And I was adamant they had their own rooms, given that I was an only child and had my own! But in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it matters that much.
Love our house though and not planning on moving, ever, if it can be helped. Well.. unless there’s a lottery win!

2 bed flat when we had DC1. Upsized to 4 bed house when DC2 was 8m old. Flat was fine for 1 dc. No plans for any more DCs and no plans to move until DCs are adults. Both properties in London, so expensive for the size, but also in brilliant locations with loads on offer for the dcs, and that was more important than size.

We're in Worthing, West Sussex and love it! Ain't never going back to the big smoke....

😆

We had a tiny 2 bed flat above a shop with a 10 year DSD full time (unwell with severe MH difficulties)