To ask you about living in a bigger home?

[BocolateChiscuits]

DH and I own a 3 bed house, we have a 1yr old DC, and I'm pregnant. We bought years ago, and the house was quite dated and neglected when we bought it, so over the years we've done a fair bit of work, and now have it how we like it.

Thing is the house is perfectly formed, but all the rooms are small. The 3rd bedroom is a box room, the kitchen is a little galley, it's just a stride from the sofa to the tv, and we quickly feel squished if we invite more than 2 people round.

Meanwhile our incomes have grown since we bought the place, we've built up equity, and could afford somewhere a bit bigger in the local area (which we love) . But it would be costly.

So I'm wondering, given that we don't really need somewhere bigger, is it really worth the cost? I have fond daydreams of DC having plenty of room for playing, and inviting family over for big meals. But maybe by saving money by staying put we could afford lovely days out and holidays or treat family to a big pub meal all together instead.

So I wanted to ask MNetters' experiences. If you have moved to bigger home has it made your lives happier or easier? Do you regret it, or are you pleased? Does it take a lot more time in terms of cleaning? (We have a rota for non day-to-day stuff, that takes us about 30mins each a week - so not bad.) How about maintenance?

(Disclaimer: I know we're very lucky to own a home and to be in a position to consider buying a bigger one. We're in the middle of a housing affordability crises in the UK, and lots of people are struggling. Apologies to those people for posting this thread. It's so "first world problems", I know, it is just something I'm really curious about.)

We have just moved to a bigger house. 4 beds, with a large kitchen diner, lounge, playroom, dining room and utility room downstairs. 2 young DC (3 and 2).
I bloody love it. The playroom means there aren’t any toys spilling over into the rest of the house. Separate dining room is definitely not a necessity but we have already used it a fair bit. Loads of storage in the kitchen. Take longer to hoover though!!

I moved from a tiny two bed townhouse to a large 4bed detached. Single best thing I've ever done in my life, I bloody love it. There is room to breathe at last: in the old house I always felt claustrophobic and we were always on top of each other, no-one ever had any space.

I have a 3 bed semi, and luckily our bedrooms are big but downstairs space is limited (as 1 bedroom is above the garage, so downstairs is the equivalent of a 2 bed IYSWIM)
We looked at moving when I was pregnant with DC2, but the leap up to the next size house, in a decent area, was crazy.
In the end we converted the garage in to a playroom and knocked through from the lounge. the £11k was much less that the cost to move would be,

Would an extension or something be possible? You would get more space, but without too much more cost?

It might take longer to keep tidy but in my view, it’s well worth it. Having space so you’re not all on top of each other and for entertaining is just great.

We've moved from exactly the house you describe (which I loved) to a 4-bed, huge lounge, kitchen-diner, study etc. It's great.

It does take more to clean and maintain and run (heating etc). But as soon as you have 2 DC, especially as they get older & sleepovers etc and a bit more personal space is required for sanity, it's great.

If you can stay in the same area and get a bigger house, I'd do it like a shot.

I moved from a 2 bed flat to a 3 bed house and I hate it. I’d much rather be in the flat

I’m in the same boat actually so placemarking!

We’re in a teeny 3 bed and one room has to be a workspace. We manage ok as only one DC but I would love a bit more room. We’d be looking at putting about another150k on the mortgage though. Can’t decide!

Oh and we never entertained in our old house. We’ve lived here for 7 weeks and have had 4 groups of friends over for either a night/dinner/Sunday lunch. It’s lovely.

Yes a bigger house will be worth it. When you have kids as big as you or bigger than your dh with coats and shoes as big as yours Homework sprawling around you will want a bigger home.

Not to mention all the plastic stage in between.

We bought a large 4 bed with a study (now playroom) a downstairs toilet and decent sized living room, dining room, kitchen, conservatory and garden. I love it, best decision we ever made. There's only us and a toddler DS but plenty of room if/when we decide to expand our family and still have people to stay etc.

Only (first world) problem is I now have to clean three toilets instead of one! In fact, the whole house and it's a bigger job now than it used to be.

If you can afford it, I'd go for it!

I would think move somewhere bigger if you can afford it. As your kids get older, it would be good to have more space if they’ve friends around, or if you’ve you friends around. A quiet area to study/do homework, etc.

And as kids get involved in sports and activities, they amount of stuff they have grows and you’ll need storage space for it all. Not to mention the toys and books they will accumulate.

In general I'd say don't buy space you don't need but the house you have will eventually seem too small for a family of 4. It might be more economical to extend your kitchen and convert your loft so you have 3 proper bedrooms rather than 2 and a box. If that doesn't make sense then in your situation if I could afford it I'd move.

But yes big houses are more cleaning, maintenance, more expensive to hear in winter and an unnecessary expense if you don't need it.

Had a 3 bed Victorian semi (which we now rent out) and bought a massive 5 bed, as an example there are 7 downstairs rooms and 4 of them are bigger than 20x20 :O

When we go back to our old house it feels like a doll house and I have no idea how we fitted in!

Best move of my life, I love my new house. Loads of space for the children, huge playroom for them I can shut the door on the mess with, lots of room when people come over.

Bad side, I've now got a cleaner and even so can't keep the place tidy, it takes hours. Heating bills are now humongous. At the old place I worked but could have stopped and still made the mortgage, here it's a struggle (mortgage increased by 4 times) so it's more important I work and keep my job.

None of that ^ is boasting, we were v lucky to be able to upsize, just answering the op. Also we live in a cheap area so the new house was circa £400k not millions.

I would look to move. It sounds like the right time and affordable,vOnce you have another child in there it will feel a lot smaller again. We made the move when my youngest was 12 months. Have a lovely big 4 bed detached now twice as big as our 3 bed which was similar to yours. It needs work doing but it will add so much more value than it would to our old house.

We moved from the same size of house as you to a 4 bed with dining room, playroom , utility room, lounge etc and honestly it has made family living a huge amount easier. Our mortgage payments are the same but for a lot longer. Our council tax and power bills are twice as much tho. But with all the extra space it makes such a difference as we entertain all the time and a playroom is just fab if you have kids!

More space means less arguments and more peace and quiet.

Especially as your dc grow.

Also having more than one bathroom with 2dds is brilliant.

Even just little things too, n the Victorian we had a coat rack n the really tiny hall, could hardly open the door, here we have an actual cloakroom - this makes me crazily happy. And a utility!

Oh yes - council tax has doubled.

I regret it sometimes. The mortgage is huge and we’re totslly dependent on my husband’s high wage. It’s a beautiful house but I don’t feel safe. Our last house I could have easily covered mortgage and all bills on my wage alone if I ever need to take his place as breadwinner. In this house, no chance.

My moved from a 2 bed to a 4 bed and I'm so glad we did.

Me and DP were sharing with DS - then 3 and DD had her own room. Down stairs we always seemed to be on top of each other and I couldnt' even retreat to my room because it was DSs too.

Now we have a bigger kitchen diner, a room each (well me and DP share obviously) and a spare room, more storage space and everything is just calmer. Another thing is it doesn't seem to be as noisy when the children are playing because the sound is coming from further away.

House is still messy but I think that's just us

So glad we did it - ds is 5 now and there's no way dd would have wanted to share a room - also having guests was a nightmare.

don't regret it one bit

We bought a huge 4 bed detached house when it was just us and DS1. Now DS2 is here we have a large guest bedroom, they've lots of space in their own separate rooms and my absolute favourite thing about our house is that the DCs have their own bathroom so we never have to share. The garden is fab for parties in summer and we regularly have a house full without feeling as though everyone's on top of everyone else.

The space is lovely, but we also do lots of day trips and holidays. If we'd had to give up the extracurricular stuff and scrimp on holidays I'd have chosen a smaller home and still had all the fun days out and adventures because those are more important to me.

One thing I love about living in a house with big rooms is that we can have parties! Our dining room table can seat up to 14 people meaning we can have lots of family and/or friends round for things like Christmas dinner. I'm also able to host a monthly craft club.

It's also nice to have room for all my books, and all my DPs geeky stuff and tools etc.

I definitely think it's worth the extra cost (although we were cash buyers due to a large inheritance, so our house hasn't really 'cost' us anything in terms of monthly payments).

We used to live in a small terrace, two up two down sort of style. I had a recurring dream at least twice a week of finding a hidden cupboard door that opened into a whole new floor or wing of the house, heretofore unknown! I constantly felt cramped.

We now live in an end terrace but it is twice the size, at least. Six bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement and three floors, two receptions, a kitchen diner and a utility. I don't have those dreams anymore.

I love this house so much. Moving here.has made a huge impact on my mental health.

Might be nice to move if you can afford it- although while your DC are young I'd be looking for more living space than bedroom space.

You've got years to go before they get to the stage of wanting to sit in their rooms all day, but you'll feel very, very cramped have two toddlers playing in a small lounge all day.

We were in a similar situation. our house is ridiculously small 3 bed. We didn't move as one of us was made rdundant5. Financially it was the right choice, and as we got past the plastic stage we have enough space for us but I would so love a bigger place. We just cant justify the huge leap in finances.