To ask how big is your house?

[FGSholdthedoor]

I'm grateful for what we have but I feel like I'm suffocating day to day.

We have a terraced house consisting of a small kitchen and lounge downstairs, a master bedroom, box room and tiny bathroom upstairs.
There's me, OH, DS (3), newborn DS and DDog.

There's no porch or wide hallways to have extra storage.
You walk straight into the kitchen where all the post and tat gets dumped on the nearest worktop or the table, no room for coat rack so jackets get dumped on the kitchen chairs, lounge has huge toybox as there's no room to keep DSs toys in his bedroom as its so small and now I'm having to figure out how to fit 2 DCs in there. The car seat for DS2 is in the lounge also as there's nowhere else to keep it.

There's clutter everywhere you turn despite trying to keep on top of it and it's a constant cycle of trying to cut down on stuff etc.
It makes me feel really down and I struggle to clear my head, it makes the days with the kids really difficult as sometimes you have to walk over stuff or trip over a bouncer or toy to get to the other side of the room.
I'm dreaming of a nice 3 bedroom house with an open plan kitchen and diner and a nice big lounge, oh and a utility room

AIBU to ask how big is your house and if you're happy with it?

Op, places like ikea do fab storage solutions at minimal costs.

Things like coat hooks on back of all the doors. You can hang bags on them,,inc laundry bags, clothes and jackets.

Shelves on walls, get stuff up off the floor. Book shelves and storage units, where you can find space.

Go as clutter free as possible and be ruthless.

A new born, a dog and a three year old is always going to be a lot of work, but it does get easier. 💐

We have a big 4 bed. We used to live in a 4 bed half the size, but had to move or extend because it was poor for accessibility for our girl. I have space but little storage so we have had to look at how we create that storage space. The design of the house actually means there aren’t that many places we can put cupboards so we use a lot of under bed storage, little nooks and crannies have been used to create hidden storage. Coat hooks are on the back of pretty much every door.

I think the trick is to try to be tidy as you go. So, don’t dump the mail, open it and chuck what you don’t want and have a wee basket or drawer for the stuff you will file away. It only takes a second to do in a day.

Ikea have some nifty storage solutions for smaller places.

Op

Your house sound similar to our old one. It was the lack of storage that drove me mad. Do you own or rent? As we were luck to own we built a massive shed and spent a bit waterproofing and securing it and stored toys and occasional use stuff in it. Sure it was a pita fetching stuff in and out but it did wonders for my sanity in the house.

We live in a large 4 bed detached in the countryside with our 2 young adult DDs and their bf's seem to be permanent fixtures too as well as our 3 grandchildren with their Mum (our eldest). She spends more time here now than when she lived with us!! But we never seem to have enough space or storage, I'd love a separate utility room and when all the family are here, our living room is very crowded. I'd love to go up to a larger house with a smaller garden but we can't afford to in the area we live. Luckily ours is a 1980s build so the rooms are better sizes than most newer builds.

3 bed 1960s semi for the two of us and the bunny (he lives inside). We have two double bedrooms and one single, one bathroom, a decent living room, smallish galley kitchen and a lovely big hallway. Everyone tells us we can fit a downstairs loo in there but i love to open my front door and have the space.
It's plenty big enough really. If we had the money to extend we would maybe enlarge the kitchen, but I'd be more inclined to spend the £££ on buying a similarly sized detached place.
Bunny is happy with the floorspace.

On my own in a one bed ground floor apartment. Living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. It feels cramped as I have little storage but it's Edwardian and at the least the rooms are high and quite big. But also have conservatory and large garden on cliff top with sea view so feels spacious in summer.

Chalet bungalow, so two large bedrooms and a shower room under the roof and a small bedroom, lounge, dining-room (office/study), dining kitchen, utility room, bathroom and conservatory downstairs. Along with a large drive and garage we have everything we need. When we get old and frail we will rearrange the downstairs rooms and have no need to go upstairs.

Things that we have done (not sure what will apply but some might)

Only have beds with the underneath free to store boxes

Shelves on walls with baskets underneath for storage

Moving washing machine and tumble dryer outside so room for a dishwasher which keeps kitchen clutter free as dishes are always away

Shed!! If you can afford it insulate it treat it etc you can store loads

Regular de clutters

Coat hooks on bag of all doors for dressing downs bags etc

I store all my undies and bras in them shoe holders you get that go on back of doors. frees up a drawer and tbh it's easier seeing what's wear when choosing undies and stuff

Lots of under bed storage boxes on wheels preferably

I put bedding in them vacuum bags to store, same with kids fancy dress since they don't wear them daily and they just clutter the wardrobe

Pop up laundry bins are great, we have one in front room so toys get chucked in end of the night

If you have a loft make use of it well! We store out of season clothes up there, xmas tree, suitcases, old photos and old memory boxes... always have a ladder by it so we can access it whenever just a fold up one so takes up no room

Make use of corners ! We have a corner in our front room that no one can see but it was a waste of space so Dh fitted loads of shelves so now it holds all DVD's books craft stuff for kids

My ds has over 70 dvds so I got rid of boxes and put them all in a huge wallet thing from amazon. Much much better

Use back of doors all the time

Hang twine when xmas and bdays coming along to store cards

Leaning ladder shelves, they are the business and they saved my sanity when I landed in a boxy bedsit that was literally bed - bath - stove, separated by a piece of plywood and the fridge which was in the 'bedroom' (the only room).

Vertical storage, seriously. I will never go back.

Late Victorian 2 bed terrace here. Front door straight into front room (lounge), back (dining) room with door to stairs, tiny galley kitchen and understairs cupboard downstairs, then 2 double bedrooms (one has been partitioned at some point to make a passage to the surprisingly large bathroom) upstairs. We have so much stuff in the loft I'm amazed it hasn't yet collapsed and I have to be careful opening the door to the understairs cupboard. Have put a flatish wire shoe rack on wall near front door, with a few coat hooks over it and have turned the sofa so it creates a bit of a wall less hallway, then have additional shoe rack and coat rack at the bottom of the stairs. We're currently in the process of putting shelves up in every bit of wasted space (above and behind doors, alcoves etc.) to create a bit more precious storage space. I dream of having a proper entrance hall, a bigger kitchen, offstreet parking and a downstairs loo!

4 bedrooms, 3 double and 1 largish single room. Two large receptions rooms downstairs, one the dc use for xbox/playstation/tv, the other is the one I mainly escape to. I have a small galley kitchen, too small bathroom, and small utility space. Parking is difficult where I live, so it's handy having a drive, even though people like to block it.
It's just me, 5 dc, two cats and a dog.
It's not ideal, but there's just enough space to be comfortable.

Downstairs - Hallway with under stairs cupboard. Living room. Dining room. Kitchen. Utility room. Downstairs bog.

Upstairs - master bedroom with ensuite. 2nd bedroom. 3rd bedroom. 4th bedroom. Family bathroom. general shit airing cupboard.

I'm happy with it.

My old house was living room, bathroom and kitchen downstairs. And 2 bedrooms and a box room upstairs. HATED it.

3 bed semi but with ground floor extension so huge lounge, kitchen and dining room
More important to me is land space though - drive can comfortably fit 5 cars - double garage too - plenty of patio - lawn big enough for badminton
I also have enough front garden that the road is far enough away to not be noisy

Is it owned or rented? Could you build a porch? Or some sort of lean to on the back for extra storage/utility space?

We have a 3 bed semi which works well for us. Porch for buggy/play equipment/muddy things and car seats. We have a lean to built onto the side which is nothing special or expensive but contains extra storage, boiler, washing machine and tumble dryer and chest freezer. That all frees up space in the kitchen. We also have a conservatory that we use as a playroom when the weather is warm enough and just toy storage when it’s too cold/hot to use so they’re not permanently in the living room. Would any of those work for your house?

We live on what is considered a rough council estate. We wouldn’t be able to afford a house of this size in a nicer area. I rented a much smaller house before and did really struggle, the kitchen was so small it didn’t even have drawers or a freezer. I’m happier now that I have more space. Are there any options you could look into?

We used to live in a little house.

Kept coats in under the stairs cupboard, hooks on back of door. Had a blanket box for toys that doubled as a coffee table. Lots of Billy shelves. Also a big cupboard for toys in our bedroom.

Kids slept three to a smallish room in little IKEA cot length bed and shorty narrow bunks from Argos. Storage boxes under beds. Clothes ruthlessly edited.

Car seat and pushchair kept in the car. Playhouse for the kids that housed big toys like kitchen, workbench and sit ons. Kids encouraged to play in garden as much as poss.

Have to say, with three kids in 5 years, my little house was strewn with toys for years. I just trained them from a young age to clear up at the end of the day.

Barn conv for me and dh and 2 dogs. Master suite. Bathroom toilet DS 3 more bedrooms kitchen utility. But I’d move back to our original bedsit if we could have had D.C.

Same rationale with our house dotdot. Downstairs not much smaller than the whole terrace we've just moved out of and includes a bathroom. Meantime, once we've finished the mucky work, 3 bedrooms and a (currently scary and absolutely bogging) shower room upstairs (complete with haunted self flushing loo - one of the many half working things in the house - today, 2 weeks after moving in, the lever to the kitchen tap has fallen off (easy fix) a kitchen lampshade has shattered with little provocation and DH has discovered that previous owners' replacement of upstairs shower room light bulbs has trashed the ceiling around the light fittings as they've clearly forced them rather then untwisted them. We're also looking at a new upstairs toilet valve as it's triggering the saniflow every half hour with its leaking. This is day 14, so imagine finding several things a day to fix, in the meantime!)

3 bed semi with 2 double rooms and a box room. A tiny bathroom with no storage apart from the windowsill and a shelf above the loo.
We have a miniscule living room - so small that all it has is a coffee table, a TV stand and a corner suite.
We have a kitchen/dining room that's the width of the house and it contains pretty much everything else we own.
We don't own the house and never will do won't do any work to it but to give us more physical space to use and enjoy we built a summerhouse in the garden that acts like an extra dining room/rest place (or at least, it will do when it's finished).

2 bedrooms ( 1 used as a small office), joined living room/ kitchen, small bathroom. 650 sq ft in total. Only two of us though .

Oh and it’s a flat and I love it x

Similar size to yours.
It’s just 2 of us here. I wouldn’t consider getting a dog in a such a small house.
We’d probably have 1 child here but would move if we were to have another child.

Apartment, purpose built 11 years ago in a block of 4. Lived here since it was built, 2 bedrooms

Main bedroom - has a cupboard built in, fits a dressing table, chest for tv to go on and a super king size bed and that's a squeeze
Has en suite of shower cubicle/loo/sink

Spare bedroom has a run of wardrobes on one wall, double bed, a bookcase and room for heated airer. Generally looks an absolute tip

Main bathroom - shower over bath, sink and loo

Hallway fits coat hooks and ikea unit

Living room open plan to patio doors to garden and fairly large kitchen

Downside - I hate the open plan for cooking smells, and not being able to shut messy dishes etc out of sight. And not one of the rooms is square. Or even a rectangle I think the designers had a long liquid lunch

We live in a 3 bedroom house with a large garden and fairly sizeable garage (which is filled with junk). Our kitchen is so tiny that if you have two plates on the side we are shit out of space. We have a “lounge diner” which is really just one decent sized lounge with the back of a sofa to corden off the dining table. Our bathroom is about 3 paces between door and end of the room. Tiny. Tiny house.

Large shingle home in the suburbs of NYC. It’s about 8000 square feet. Six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, gym, play room, bar, study, library, sitting room, family room, kitchen, giant mud room, dining room. It’s laid out incredibly well, so feels spacious and conducive to inclusive living, rather than overwhelming and a fort.

Similar to yours. Two bed terrace. No hallway so walk straight into the lounge with muddy shoes and dirty pram wheels :( However, I do like our lounge through dining area as it is nicely decorated and cosy. Tiny kitchen and bathroom downstairs, upstairs is good sized master bedroom and small double/large single bedroom for DD when she is old enough.

We also have lack of storage and all the baby stuff is under the stairs looking messy.

Having said that, I live just outside London and it’s the biggest place I’ve lived in. We hope to buy in the next couple of years but that will probably mean moving even further out.