Gutted we will have to stay but to try and make it work

[Soggyundercarriage]

We were ready to sell our tiny house and plan was to rent for a while. We have massively outgrown this house and I'm gutted we have to stay now.
We have two dc in a 2 bed modern house that is very small. There is a large age gap so can't share and rooms aren't big enough anyway.
Well now we're stuck so WIBU to buy a sofa bed and sleep downstairs while the dc have a room each. There isn't a spare soon downstairs so we would be sleeping in the lounge.
Would this work in reality do you think?

If there really isn't space for bunks in the small room then yes, I think I'd do the sofa bed thing. Consider getting a Murphy bed. They are expensive but you get a proper mattress plus it's easy to pack away.

I would also think about setting your bedroom up with a second TV. I know people are sniffy about TVs in bedrooms but making your room useable as a second "living room" area, even if that just means watching telly on the bed, will mean you can all spread out better and will make your home feel more spacious.

OP are they both the same sex? If the same sex I would say they share. If a DS and a DD, I would keep the DD in with you.

Definitely get a sofa bed

@1forsorrow ‘how things are now’ - I’m only 32, I don’t think things have vastly changed in the lives of teenagers in the 14 years since I shared a room? A room each is all well and good if you can afford it, but it’s not a human rights violation to have to share

They have to share

Dont martyr yourself for your kids

It's a stressful situation for everybody but you need to keep your family together and your mental health matters

It interesting most who say share say they did it until 14 when the OPs DS is 13

Is the 5 year old a boy or a girl because personally you cannot get a 5 year old girl to share with a 13 year old boy!

By the way it is not against the law currently to sell the house so if someone is prepared to offer to buy it without doing viewings and if you can find a lender (sadly both currently unlikely) then the regulations do allow you to do a physical moved www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/contents/made.
You are also allowed to move into a rented place too and people are lawfully doing that day in day out at present although fewer than usual.

From a financial point of view you might find it easier to find tenants for your house which would also keep you in the housing market whilst renting elsewhere. That might be easier to arrange. My daughter said yesterday her friend's father had just found temporary tenants for 5 months in a London property. None of this is at all easy but it is possible within the law . I think it is currently easier to let your place out than find someone to buy it for example. People are moving all the time eg NHS workers being called down to London to work etc etc so it is not the case the whole lettings market has ceased.

My mum did this for me when I was doing my A Levels - we had a 2 bed house and she wanted me to have my own space, so for a year she slept in the living room and had her clothes etc in the storage space between the two bedrooms. I loved it and was incredibly grateful, but it was also for a fixed amount of time - 1 year - and because I had exams etc.

You don't want to start doing it, and then switch back after a year because you hate it, and then find that the kids get along worse because they've got used to their own space - although maybe you'll have moved by then?

I’d not make them share. The 13 year old needs his or her own space.

When we were little and my 'suprise' baby sister (daughter number 3) came along, my parents split the largest bedroom in half with two single wardrobes down the middle, one wardrobe facing one way for my older sister the other wardrobe facing the other way for me.
There was just enough room to get round the wardrobes at one end of the room and we had space for our single beds and to put some shelves on the wall above for our toys and books and we decorated the back of each others wardrobe with our posters and pictures and I just remember it being cosy!

Hi OP. We have 4 children and 4 bedrooms. We sleep on a sofa bed in the lounge at the moment. It is not ideal but I, like you, felt that my children deserved the bedrooms. They work hard at school etc, do well and don't give us any trouble. During this lockdown it has definitely given them the space they needed away from each other. They have also enjoyed designing their rooms, choosing furniture etc. They are 14, 13, 9 and 6. They are happy...my back's not though!

I'd invest in a really good day bed/sofa bed if you are going to.do it. With a really decent mattress. Not one of the sofa beds where the mattress folds up into the sofa, which are really only intended for occasional use.
My sister has one from IKEA which is quite good - the mattress is split into two (stacked on top of each other when bed is in sofa mode). She sleeps on it every night and finds it comfy, although there is just one of her and she doesn't weigh much.

@WellThisIsABitShiteIsntIt but the OP and her husband don’t?

They need to share, have you seen those Ikea room dividers, like a blind fitting, which goes on the ceiling, then you could attach a fabric divider down from this, which could be opened or closed ?

I can’t believe how many think they should share ... disgusting

Also a friend and older brother shared the larger bedroom of house, with wardrobe down centre ( teenagers) her parents had a double bed in the smaller room.
If you have a seperate dining room, use that as a bedroom

Tent in back garden if you have one for older child to hang out in?

syncrows 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Waveysnail nice and chilly at the moment...

Not sure what you’re laughing at

Number 5
www.ikea.com/gb/en/ideas/work-wonders-with-room-dividers-pub906f7ff1

Can you not divide up the largest bedroom for the children and you take the smallest, even if all you can fit in there is a bed?

I would divide the largest room and create two separate "bedrooms" with stucco wall or similar so each child has their own space, you take the smaller room and put your clothes in the children's room or use drawers in the living room or similar for now.

There is no way I would be sleeping on a sofa bed in your situation unless it unsafe for my DC to share for some reason.

syncrows
🤣🤣🤣

(It’s uour “disgust” that family members share a space to sleep in case you are truly wondering).

How about putting them in the larger room with a divider down the middle, possibly a curtain (full height of the room) and you have the smaller room.

We have slept On a sofa bed In the living room for many years, we are just in the process of splitting the big room into two smaller rooms as we’ve decided that we now need our own space. It makes the kids rooms quite small but it’s enough for a bed and a wardrobe in each room, what else do they need, mine are both teenagers. We could have afforded to move but love our little house and our little mortgage that goes with it.

My only advice would be to buy a decent sofa bed.