Hello, just wonder if anyone has any good advice/ practical tips for this situation. And would anybody do anything different given our current setup/ something I haven't thought of:
Four bedroom house.
Parents and 18-month-old in master bedroom, which is actually the second largest floorspace-wise due to having had lots of built-in wardrobes added. There is no wall space - one wall is bay window with built-in storage window seat, two walls of built in cupboards and the other wall just fits superking bed and side-along cot and a very tiny bedside table on one side. No other furniture needed due to aforementioned loads of wardrobes but it does feel quite tight.
Second bedroom is large double. Very comfortably fits DS1(11), a double bed that he is very occasionally turfed out of if needed for visitors, a desk and lots of shelves for his meticulously ordered lego collection. He is autistic and very much needs a calm, quiet predictable space of his own to recharge. He only sleeps at night with total darkness and total silence.
Third bedroom is small double. DS2(8) is in there with a single bed that gives him lots of floor space to practice gymnastics and ballet (his main hobbies). He is messy and bouncy and sleeps with multiple nightlights on and often has an audiobook playing on low overnight to help him stay asleep. He is a night owl and regularly doesn't sleep until a long time after DS1.
Fourth bedroom is a large single/ could fit a double if you didn't want to get at both sides. Was going to be DS3's room but an 18yo relative has moved in due to a series of unfortunate events, and realistically will need the room for at least the next 2-4 years.
I don't particularly mind keeping DS3 in with us, mostly as DS1 and 2 both seemed mainly to sleep in our room despite having their own until they were at least 6, and I often thought their rooms weren't worth the mortgage payments 😂. BUT they did at least have space elsewhere to store their stuff, and went to bed in their own rooms most of the time which gave DH and I some 'space' in the evenings before they inevitably wandered in.
I'm wondering how everyone else would make this work? Plan was to carry on as is until DS3 absolutely outgrows the cot, then squash a toddler bed into our room, but I'm wondering if there's something else we could do to make things a bit more comfortable/ less squashed feeling. DS1 and 2 sharing seems like a very bad idea.
Possible solutions I've considered:
- We swap rooms with DS1. Would give us more floorspace for DS3 to have a slightly separate area for a toddler bed maybe with a bed tent/ little table for his nightlight and water etc. BUT DS1 would lose his lego shelves, unless we tore out some of the fitted wardrobes in our room, and I'd probably still have to keep some clothes in the remaining ones. DS1 would struggle with the change.
- DS2 swaps rooms with DS1, and when he outgrows the cot DS3 goes to share with DS2, probably in bunks. DS1 still has his own space, just less than now, and DS2 gains more floor space for his bouncing. But I'm not sure his loudness while doing ANYTHING, even getting ready for bed, would be compatible with sharing with a much younger child. And DS1 would still struggle with the change.
- DH and I get a smaller bed and possibly even take out some of the built-in wardrobes, while remaining in our current room, just to give us all a bit more room to exist!