To think this house IS big enough

[Coconutsandpalmtree]

For 3 kids and wfh (needing an office)

im not sure it is, but surely it should be and I’m missing a trick as to how we can make it work, DH and I have decided we’d like another child.

it’s a new house (6yrs now) so I took a pic of the floor plan from the developers. It’s pretty generic but it’s tight on space.

the front double is our bedroom, built in wardrobe and the space by the ensuite is a chest of drawers that we really need.

the smaller back ‘double’ (on floor plan) is more a single tbh, but that’s my eldests room. Front single youngest. Other double is a guest room/ office.

we really need an office for wfh. There’s no place for stud walls due to the windows.

we do have a garage though and a classic new build garden aka small.

what do you think? Can another kid fit here?

yabu- no way
yanbu- yes with some outside the box thinking that I’ll share :)

Unless you have lots of visitors, spare room is low priority. Office space in the garage/ summer house and give each child a bedroom. Change sofa to sofa bed for occasional visitors.

You really don't, plenty of families manage perfectly well to bring children up to adulthood without 2 lounges.

Ease, eldest was the back single as it was the quietest room and then youngest the front as it was closest, the front single was the study before and the back a spare.

Was going to say, we never had two lounges growing up. Just the one. Friends hung out in bedroom or the main lounge

Garden office. We have one, DH put it in himself for £11k.

I feel like it’s a bit tight, upstairs and down. I disagree with people who don’t think you need an en-suite!! Of course you need more than one shower when you’re a family of 4+ . Storage seems very lacking but that’s fine as long as you are organised.

the kids could share, mine used to when they were tiny ( even though we had loads of spare rooms) they would hate it now though so defo is something with a lifespan.

i would move the office out into the garage or a garden room ( we have one we use as a bar) but I would say that if you could extend then and office / study / game room downstairs would be life changing as your kids grow.

@rainbowunicorn sure of course parents do ...without their sanity intact though.

I prefer my teen to be visible and won't let her have a TV or game in her bedroom so I built an extension so we could have two spaces.

OP is looking at having another kid, I think the house is way too small for 3 kids and WFH.

TBH we already park in the drive and use the garage for storage lol, so maybe I need to look into that.

any idea of the cost anyone?

Can you explain what you mean about unable to convert the loft due to potential mould? It might be that part of a loft conversion that you need a re-roof and some soffit vents that will sort mould issues. Definitely worth looking into if you can afford it as it will likely be less disruptive/stressful than moving to somewhere bigger.

Oh that’s quite reasonable. I think that has legs as it were, because it can double up as an additional space for older kids

Of course it's big enough, just get lowline bunks for two children.

No one needs a guest room for the one week a year you have guests and it makes family life uncomfortable.
Eother get a garden office and then have 3bedrooms or make the single room your office and two youngest share the bigger double and eldest gets smaller double.

I'm not being mean, honestly, but I think 3 kids living with yu full time need to be prioritised over an office for 3 days of wfh. I'd suggest that is done in your bedroom..consider knocking out the wardrobe and sacrificing having lots of clothes. I know it sounds crap but I think that's a better choice for the whole family.

Personally I don't think it's a good choice as a home for a family of 5 as kids are only going to get bigger.

If you need an office, rather than just a desk space and multifunctional area, you need to consider paying more, buying a different style or in a different location or not having a third child. None of the children will benefit from this house imho xx

Yes we use ours at weekends as an outdoor sitting room. It is insulated, carpeted, has heater and electricity, wifi, TV (firestick) and a sofa.

They are a lot more if you have someone do it for you, but still cheaper than moving. We paid someone to do the base and then DH installed it but he is very handy. Ours is a log cabin from Dunster House.

@Coconutsandpalmtree we are 6 of us in a 3 bed semi. One bathroom.

Could you not have the office space in the lounge? We have a dining room/playroom/office all in the same room plus a separate lounge.

It’s something the developer said you can’t extend into the loft due to how it’s built, you can get like boards which we have for random crap but you can’t extend up

Also this.

We got rid of ours when we realised that we are paying thousands for the space for noone to use and we could literally pay for several people to stay in a local hotel every year before we even reached the same cost.

Added to that point, we wouldn't pay for someones hotel so why pay for a room and lose the valuable space.

None of the children will benefit from this house- sorry but that’s quite nasty. It’s a home at the end of the day

What they probably mean is that it was built as a cold roof and you’d need to convert it to a warm roof to turn it in to habitable space. It can be done, but wouldn’t be cheap.

No if you can’t afford or aren’t willing to move. You would be on top of each other.
Kids will get older and need more space.

Realistically when actually working, it’s unrealistic with the noise, especially for the year I’d be off

She said in her opinion, if you have three. Not that your current two wouldn’t be fine. You asked for opinions and she was polite about it.

Bizarre post from someone who just wants you to magic £100k out of thin air to buy a bigger house FFS. Also keep your home office. Working in your bedroom will really screw with your mental health. Your house is bigger than most people I grew up with, including mine.

Sorry but I don’t think it is polite, it was quite rude, especially considering how many kids are living in poverty. Saying it’s less than ideal for older kids is cool (and I’d agree) but that it benefits no one… not the nicest

The solution seems obvious to me - move the home office to a single room and put two of the DC in a double.

I shared with my sister for years, it was absolutely fine.