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 :)

This is the inspiration we showed the designer and he worked with the room we had, so although my girls share a room they each have their own private space. Definitely mire cost effective than moving and cheaper than I thought it would be.

https://pin.it/5FmQR7jAD

Why do UK newbuild houses have so many tiny bathrooms? Are they targeting people with extreme poo/toilet phobia type issues who panic at the thought of using a toilet that other family members also use? Or is it something to do with the legal requirement to provide a ground floor toilet?

If you’re 70% likely to move in the future, regardless of having a third, I don’t think you should be doing anything big like taking out an en-suite or converting the garage. I think taking the en-suite out will take money off the house price. Converting the garage probably wouldn’t need planning permission but you will need building regs, our garage is partly converted and getting the previous owner to say whether they had building regs and an indemnity because they didn’t took forever.

Is it both of you that WFH? If it’s just you, I’d do a fold away desk in the living room and then during school holidays go to a shared
office space or the office so you’re not disturbed by the kids. If it’s DH WFH and you’ll be on maternity leave, he needs to be out of the way, so it’s a garden pod.

I do think it’s important to have a guest room but we don’t have any family nearby so it’s more than once a week that our guest bedroom is used. However, our old house we didn’t have one and everyone understood. It limits how much people can visit because they are paying for hotels but I guess it depends how frequent people visit and whether when they visit they offer support E.g. childcare in school holidays. If that’s the case, I’d look at getting your eldest a double then your youngest a bunk bed with sofa bed underneath. When you have guests siblings share and guests go in the double.

We have a small 3 bed and have 3 children. We made what is essentially a coat storage/inner lobby area into a wfh space for dh. Yes he can touch all the walls with his arms outstretched, and no one can use the downstairs loo when he is in there, but it can fit a desk and his computer in and he can get his work done which is the main thing!

I don’t know but I’m so glad we have it, made toilet training so much easier

You would have to move anyway as this is clearly a house with small rooms - because in a few years as DC become older they will be needing space, storage and privacy - somewhere to do homework etc. Also the kitchen seems to be too small to be able to provide for so many too.

With a family of 5 you haven't got enough space downstairs to entertain guests anyway unless you use the garden so no need for a guest bedroom. I'd make smallest bedroom the office. Biggest bedroom for 2 dc with bunks to give some play space. Bedroom 2 for you and dh. Bedroom 3 for 1 dc.

That achieves what you need for minimal expense. What you would spend on converting garage/building garden office can be put to one side to help finance a bigger, more suitable house further down the road.

Really? The kitchen has 6 seater table and space to walk around, bedrooms yeah but the kitchen is fine imo

Bloody hell, the rooms are small. There's hardly any floor space once beds and furniture are in. Storage???

You mean if we stuck @ 2 as well?

Yes I do think you're being unreasonable, changing your house you're wasting a huge chunk of your money.

I’d reduce the size of the ground fl wc.
Move the wall to the ‘cupboard’ on its right and make this a wfh space.
Then the upstairs fourth bedroom to be a bedroom.

Appreciate the proposed ‘office’ will be tiny but unless the kids share bedrooms that’s all I can think of.

In the long term have you considered converting the garage into an office. You’ll have to check your deeds as some new builds have a planning restriction on converting garages

I’d show you pictures of what it’s actually like but that’s quite outing.

tbh if we didn’t wfh and both of us do, there’s enough space. The back double is just a standard double, a good amount of space, the 2 others are singles realistically.

storage, there’s 2 spaces, one off the lounge and under the stairs, garage and loft excluded

If you are super keen on an additional child, I would create a nook in your bedroom or lounge for one and the other one works from the kitchen table. Whoever has the hardest to move set-up gets the 'fixed' place.

Alternatively, move somewhere bigger. WFH does give more flexibility location-wise.

Convert the garage into a study/guest room. Thants what I’ve done, it also has a projector with a large pull down screen so is a mini cinema too.

Could you elaborate?

i think I may agree, if we think this isn’t our forever home what’s the point of sinking a lot or money into it , is that what you mean?

What about going up into the roof space OP
Whats the pitch like

Oh how cool!

A lot of new houses are notorious for being small with no storage. And I read they make the furniture smaller to make the rooms bigger. If it's space you want I wouldnt go for a new house.
I

We can’t due to the build apparently

Or they are very strategic with how everything is placed in the show homes.

we already live here so too late for no new homes lol.

given that we’d do it again, we didn’t have many problems

We stopped at two for a similar reason plus price of clubs, sports, meals and days out etc…. now they are teens I often wonder how I’d manage if I had an extra teen to ferry around , pay for an extra person to go holidays, feed and support through uni. Think hard on it. Love them to bits but looking forward to the next stage of a calmer, cheaper life. 😁

Do you mean it’s on the deeds that you can’t
or
the roof structure is trusses

Another vote for a garden office, I saw someone quote £11k, mine was quite a lot less then that so might be a regional thing. Deffo worth getting quotes.
Also going to use it for homework for the kids in the evening in the coming years if they want some space.

People saying it’s too small, don’t realise that people are limited as to what they can afford. op we also have a new build and you can’t build in the loft as they have W shaped frames and the insulation means a floating floor for storage. Doable but a lot more difficult.