To ask if you could make this a home for a family?

[BlueSatsuma]

For financial reasons this is down sizing.

There’s no utility
There’s no garage (extra which I don’t have)
There would be a sunroom

Please don’t flame me, I live in an area where houses are generally larger, but could kitchen work be maximised to make use of the space? Any ideas?

I’m really worried about storage.

Could this work for a family of 4?

Garden quite small too.

Nothing you’ve posted about your change in circumstances makes it reasonable to ask if a family can fit into a four bedroomed house.
Ffs

Oh do COME ON, FFS!

Downsizing.
Stealth boast.

Get a fucking grip, this is a uk based website,

I'd make one of the bedrooms into a storage room

We were a four person family in a one bed flat Nd we managed

It looks fine to me. Everyone has their own bedroom, when you say a family of 4 do you mean you, your partner and 2 kids because if so there is even a spare bedroom. Maybe it's a good excuse for a clear out? And think carefully about storage.

Bluesatsuma
I totally get your concerns, and I’d ignore people questioning your post/suggesting troll/suggesting stealth boast.
(I’m in Ireland too, though, so maybe that’s why I can see your concern, as very few families here live in two bed houses/have parents sleeping in living room etc as you often read about on this site. ) It’s especially difficult if you’re downsizing, and it’s not because your children have grown up and moved out, but for financial concerns.
Previous suggestions re losing the door from kitchen to living room is a good idea as it gives you more storage space. Would you be able to put a Barna shed or ideally, a SteelTech shed in your garden to store bikes etc and house washing machine and tumble dryer? The sunroom will add to your living space so if it’s viable, I’d get it. Is there good safe green playing space on the estate? (It would compensate for the lack of garden, and give plenty of chances for football, hurling and soccer!)
Have you been able to visit a show house? The fact that you’ll have a spare room, even if it is rather small, is a bonus for storage of toys etc now, and for a separate room for studying when your children are in secondary school. People may scoff at that notion and say what’s wrong with them doing homework in their bedrooms. However, when they’re doing Leaving Cert, being able to regard the bedroom as purely a place for resting and sleep is of importance (speaking as a teacher and mum of two post Leaving certainly,

“Children”, not “”certainly”!

Argh! “Post Leaving Cert. children”!

I don't think the op thought this through v well.

If you want more space for your money, don't go for a new build.

For what it's worth, I also live in NI. My house has one less bedroom and one less bathroom. I still feel extremely fortunate and like I have a good family home which will last us a long time.

😂 yeah I think you'll manage. Why would you think you wouldn't?

Just Ding that if the sun room is more of a room and less of a greenhouse, so can be a dining room, if you don't have the kitchen-sitting room doors, the living room is long enough that that entire back wall can be a bank of built in cupboards.

Totally fine, just measure the storage space, so easily overlooked if you are excited/interested in a house. My own naive self when I was younger and Dp and I bought our house, just saw the rooms and wardrobe doors and never really considered anything and then when we moved in, nowhere to fit all the stuff. Ended up doing an extension and I am up and down to and from the attic all the time, to get something or other .

Do your best to ignore the twatty replies. I’m sorry to hear you have FM & RA. In addition to the physical and emotional blow that it is, the financial implications are devastating 💐

It is highly unlikely that a new build is the best value for money psf or the best quality. Personally I avoid them.

The rooms in that one are really small.

I'd love to have that much space - we're a family of 3, soon-to-be-four living in a two up two down. Looking to move, but it won't be anything much different.

You should be fine. I realise it may be small for your area/circumstances, but there will be others on the estate with similar sized (if not bigger!) families to yours, managing just the same.

I would, however, be wary of new builds. If you can find somewhere older (even if it means sacrificing the 4th bedroom - this may be compensated for with clever storage if you find the right place) for a similar cost, I would always recommend that. With an older house, you tend to know what you're getting - for instance, there may be a slight damp problem in the bathroom, but that's been there 40 years, versus not knowing your new build is going to sink because the land wasn't appropriate until it does. This is part of the reason I'm still mainly looking at Victorian/Edwardian terraces for my own move!

I’m having to permanently reduce my hours due to having Rheumatoid Arthritis and fibromyalgia.

I'm not sure I'd be buying a house with stairs if you have these conditions. Apart from that the house is more than big enough.

I know families of 6+ in properties the size of OP's.

to you OP, hope you will find a way to work around your illnesses and also that you can stop beating yourself up about the impact on your family.
"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley"...

I think the space and layout you are looking at would be fine for your family.

Can you make a storage cupboard under the stairs? A coat cupboard just inside the front door?

Can you take some space from the rather big living room and make a walk through pantry/ butler's pantry that would have built in drawers and cabinets, or on both sides? You wouldn't have to demolish the existing wall between the kitchen and living room, just build an extra one and in the intervening space put in the butler's pantry. You could take between two and three feet off the length of the living room and still have a nice room. Pictures of butler pantries usually feature a counter but you could do without that, just find a unit or have one built that has deep shelves on top and drawers on the bottom, or cupboards with sliding doors.

Extend kitchen cabinets right to the ceiling so you can store stuff you rarely use up there.

The fourth bedroom as a big walk in closet/ bedding storage/ winter coat and footwear storage in summer is a good idea.

Get the attic finished or at least boards for a floor and the roof lined so you can put stuff like suitcases, fake Christmas tree, etc up there.

Put in hinged banquette seats in the family/diningroom for storage of all sorts of odds and ends. Put in floor to ceiling cabinets on the sunroom party wall (get the sunroom option if affordable).

You can get bedroom storage/bed units where the beds are raised over the storage, like bunks but with cupboards and drawers underneath.
www.pinterest.com/pin/286400857533943052/?lp=true

Go on Pinterest and you will find many, many ingenious ideas for making the most of kitchen cupboards, and storage in general.

@Frazzledmum123 no worries, I got the spirit in which it was intended . Hate to tell you though, that i don't have a drive either! The poor neglected car lives on the road, sometimes not even the bit of road directly in front of my house. I also share our one toilet with my DH amd our two - gasp - sons. The horror!

I don't really get this thread though. Most people here are in the UK, and large amounts of the UK housing stock doesn't have 4 bedrooms, 3 (or even 2) bathrooms, and lots of families live in those families. Clearly it's manageable!

Your situation is exactly the same as mine. 2 bed house, 2 boys and the car lives out on the street anywhere we can get parked 😂

a bench instead of chairs at dining table gives flexibility (kids can budge up).