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 :)

The thing is, yes OP could make it work, but this is a hypothetical scenario. As it is, each of her kids has their own room, they have a much needed office. If they decide to have a third this will change - affecting them all in some way. No I wouldn’t do it. The ideal situation is always for kids to have their own room. A great upbringing is possible with kids sharing, of course, but why would you choose that?

Technically yes of course you could all squeeze in. Many people have more kids with less space, and you are already getting the we-had-six-kids-in-a -two-bed-flat-and-survived posts. I personally think it’s too small. Sorry. Children need their own space as they grow up and having another one which would mean, eg two sharing a room, is selfish - just my opinion.

Yup! 4 people here - one older adult -me and 2 20+ year olds and a teenager - all female- one bathroom - we manage fine.

I did move from a three bed to a 4 bed when they where younger because sharing just didn't work - they had their own rooms at their dads and hated sharing at mine - to the point of constant fighting - I looked at converting the en-suite to the family bathroom and the bathroom to a 4th bedroom but it wasn't doable so this was the compromise!

I'd look into converting the garage to a home office/guest room if I was you OP - seems the best option.

I agree. It’s one thing if you have twins and they need to share etc but choosing that is different. Also - you never know with a third child, it could twins! Or they might have needs meaning they need their own space, literally anything

Yeah i agree it's definitely fine to share. It's the take away bit for a guest room that will mainly stay empty that I think it a bit unfair.

I follow a lady on TikTok (she does lots of cleaning and organising sort of videos) and she has 6 children in a small two-bedroom council house 😳 and it does look cramped (although they seem to manage). The OPs house is absolutely fine for a family with 3 kids.

@buttnut is that the lady that built a bed to fold into her wall. She does great

Understand but this isn’t ideal for anyone is it. She could have stopped at one, two or three children. Definitely by 6. Personal space is so so important.

Yes that’s the one. She has so much energy!

I agree, the fact that some of the ones making the most unkind comments haven't even read the OP properly makes me laugh. Giving advice as if you were looking to buy the house instead of making what you have work.

I live in a small 4 bed. I use the smallest room as my office and my 2 kids each have their own good size room. I grew up in a small 3 bed house as one of 4 kids. I shared a room with my sister and we had bunk beds until the first of us moved out. It was shit. There was no privacy, no space for a desk to do homework, no space for friends to sleep over. I hated it.

We have 4 DC in a 3 bed one bath and DH WFH part time. Computer and desk in the lounge.
We have 3 DC in one room, 1 in another, and DH and I in another

If you bothered to read the OP or even the OPs reply to you you would see that she already lives in the house she is not contemplating buying it. Not sure why you keep going on about her buying it
You telling her that she has made poor choices is just out of order. I stand by my comment, you are coming across as very unpleasant saying that OP has made poor choices.

We already own the house!

A garden office or pod sounds to be the best solution. Install a small sofa and a screen and it can be used by older children in the evening or a weekends.

Hi OP, I think with a bit of online searching you will find the solutions you are looking for to adapt your home to accommodate you all, including a new little one.

Under stairs office for one WFH, many examples if you search by image. Move the inevitable clutter from under the stairs with a combination of declutterring/utilising storage solution in sitting room below, buggy in the garage.

Sitting room is nearly 19ft long, enough room to put a wall of full height built in cupboards for storage and bring the sofa forward into the room. These cupboards can also accommodate bedding for a sofa bed in sitting room to provide guest accommodation.

Use the spare room upstairs as the second office until it is needed as a nursery.

If the downstairs storage cupboard is the standard width of the en-suite that’s enough room to put a second small office, plenty of good ideas on the small apartment sites online.

Having two distinct office spaces that you don’t need to share with the children would be worth the size trade off.

You have plenty of room, and if you have the money the garage conversion and /or a home office in the garden are other options.

Good luck.

You need ikeahackers! Done my landing office with ideas from there https://ikeahackers.net/?s=Small+home+office

I hope.... despite some of the unhelpful comments, that you have been given some food for thought.

My twopence worth:
You can be flexible as your family grows and your needs change.

You already believe you will not be in the house with 3 teenagers so there is no need to address that yet.

You could make a guest space more flexible.. maybe a pull out bed in one of the kids bedrooms.. kids could move into your room if grandparents come to stay.. or camp out in each other's rooms.
The office space could also be flexible... in the smallest room while you are on maternity leave as only one of you will need it.. and when you go back to work.. I presume there will be two people working only while there are no kids in the house so one person could use the living space.. not ideal.. but maybe flexible.. also consider a flexible office space in your own bedroom.. also not ideal..

I would use the smallest room as office space, have one shared kids bedroom and one single child's bedroom... it can be swapped around depending on individuals needs.. and if things get tricky... a temporary space in the garage or the garden could be brought into play if suddenly your three kids cannot bear to be in the same room as each other... or... they share their sleeping space with an adult working space.

Ultimately, you have 4 bedrooms and a lounge... and if all 5 of you needed to be in separate spaces at the same time.... that could be accomodated.

What’s a real shit about ours v the smaller house is the under the stairs, it’s very very sloped so one person can barely stand in it. We’ve to the dryer in there and tbh we really need a dryer and because of how sloped it is we can’t fit too much more in just a pushchair. But we could get shelves in for random other crap.

We are limited in storage, but then my parents had a 5 bed 70s house growing up, and there was no storage cupboards but in truth a lot more space

She's lived in it for 6 years

Hi OP, I live in a small four-bed house. And it's perfectly fine for us!

Hard to compare directly as we have an extra room downstairs (I think it should be a dining room but it's my office and can double as a spare room), but ours looks smaller upstairs (we have two double bedrooms and two box rooms). You must have a large living room and kitchen :)

We have two kids. My eldest actually has both box rooms as one just fits his bed and wardrobe and the other has his computer, but there is a slim chance we might have to look after our nephew one day, in which case he'd have to give a box room up (but would not be ideal - or one could have my office).

As mentioned I have an office downstairs but my husband converted half our garage in the garden into an office so that he could wfh too. Behind the garage we put in a summer house, but we could've put an office pod there if needed. There's always something you can try. As mentioned you could prob get a desk and chair in a very very small under-stairs office if needed. I don't think guest rooms are essential.

Yes although I kind of figured the smallest room in that scenario would be an office used every day so less of a problem? Agree on a pointless guest room

Not read all of the thread. Can you move the downstairs toilet under the stairs. That would free up the already downstairs toilet and the storage space behind

I did see someone mentioned a garden office, you can also get shepherds huts to use as offices but I'm not sure how warm they are in the winter although you can get a stove for them

People are being so incredibly mean spirited and nasty!

This is OPs home that she no doubt worked really hard to buy. Show some respect.

OP - I’ve already said that I think your home is more than fine. Round my way to buy this home new you’d be looking at nearer £700k. Good luck to all the people who consider this pocket change and couldn’t possibly lower themselves to live in such a hovel but over in the real world most people I know would be delighted.

I’m not sure what world some posters inhabit but it’s a perfectly decent sized home for a family of 4/5. I think if you really want another child, you can find the room - there’s enough bedrooms.

Do you need a proper office for WFH or just somewhere quiet to make calls/work at a laptop? If the latter you could set up a folding desk in your bedroom - it might be a bit cramped and won’t necessarily look great but it will solve the issue.

Alternatively you could have 2 children share but put their wardrobe in the office room to leave more space in their bedroom.

You could convert the garage or get a garden room for work - this is probably the best option if you can afford to do it.