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 :)

Thanks for all the reasonable suggestions!

to me a summer house/ garden office or garage conversion works, or maybe oldest in biggest room with a trundle bed and then dh wfh there whilst I’m off and then one can work in the lounge.

but as to everyone else, I’m not sure if it was your intention but you’ve made me feel so fucking crap about myself and the home my children live in. I thought we were doing well in the grand scheme of things, we try our best you know. But you’ve made me feel like we are too poor to even contemplate a 3rd which never even occurred to me. (We’re mid 30s and our base is £110k gross, so about 6.2 net monthly) and now I feel like an absolute failure and fool to contemplate a 3rd

Don't feel like a failure. I know people whose kids shared smaller rooms till out of uni! It used to be the norm.

Expectations for living standards these days are way too high. Three bath, three bed is plenty for four people. Especially with garage and garden.

My qualm for adding kids would be the environment, not number of bedrooms. And how i would cope if adverse circumstances arose.

Oh OP.
you’ve got a lovely, good size home, a great income, and you can definitely have a third!

Thank you.

OP I also tried to offer constructive alternatives to the layout as well as asking if you felt an office was needed over a desk space and whether a home in another location could work. I'm sorry i upset you. I wasn't trying to be nasty and say or imply that its a shit home and all your kids will be miserable. I was being honest that I think the home will be a squeeze with a new addition and offered some questions to see if you'd thought about a home in another area (not "magicking up £100k" as another poster said) or whether a desk instead of an office might work for 3 days a week or whether sacrificing a guest room might be an option..I was honestly trying to help and I'm sorry if all I've done is upset you. That wasn't my intention and I apologise again if I have.

Don't feel like that OP!! I'd be bloody over the moon with your house, it is more than enough and just needs a bit of thinking about.

I'm in a 3 bed flat, one lounge that has a table in, one of the bedrooms is a box room and my DD wardrobe is in my bedroom.
You know what? It works and we are happy as I'm sure you are too.

Where does your garage join the house? Or does it not?

You could split it. Either the back section or add a side door if separate and keep the up and over so it looks same from street and still provides storage.

Your spare room seems a waste as an office.

Make better use of the garage. As long as you insulate well it will be fine

It doesn’t, it’s a separate space, the side wall is about 1/2 the garden length maybe 3/4.

atm we have an office/ spare because the kids are pre school age so they don’t spend any time in their rooms really

Don't feel bad OP. Some of these posters (especially one) are on another planet. However back in the real world - you clearly live in a nice house and are providing a lovely home for your family. Houses, families and kids are adaptable and I am sure you can make it work if you decide to add another into the mix.
As someone who grew up in a family of 6 in a 3 bed semi with one bathroom (oh the squalor!), please just ignore all the judgemental comments and take what you can from the many constructive suggestions. You will be fine.

Honestly Mumsnet really is another planet sometimes. As I said in PP your house is a perfectly nice, normal home for a family of 5 in the real world. Suggestions that you need 2 living rooms with teens are just not the reality for most people. I have two kids in a 3-bed and a small kitchen with no room for a table so a living room/diner. My sister has two girls in a 2-bed terrace. I don’t know anybody with two living rooms.

Apologies I did not understand this as had only read your first 2 OPS. Good luck with the garden studio or loft conversion!

Would a small conservatory or orangery work on the back, to create extra space for WFH?

Also, I’m wondering how much you need a guest room? Do you often have people to stay?

We live in a standard 3 bed semi in the south, our bedrooms are probably slightly bigger than yours so overall similar in terms of total square foot. We also have 2 under 4 so still pretty small children.

I WFH permanently and DH does a couple of days a week too. We built a garden office in our not huge garden. There’s room in there for a good sized desk, plus a two seater sofa and we have a projector in there which we use with the kids to watch movies on and DH and I like going in there in the summer evenings to watch tv so it definitely doubles up as another room with multi usage. Still plenty of room in the garden for playing as well as garden furniture. Think we got the office for about 8k so I’d definitely look into something like that OP. DH just works from the dining table when he’s at home.

googling orangery

not enough to warrant it, worst case eldest could get a trundle bed and then there’s an extra bed if Nan comes to stay.

we’ve got space for a small one yeah, that could be nice, although I’m wondering what’s cheaper… garage conversion, office pod, or conservatory?

any one know?

Office pod
then garage conversion
then conservatory

In order of cheapness?

Went to a garden centre which sold office pods. There was a log burner in one 😂

Was very swish, light and airy. I think I'd want blinds fitted in the summer though.

I'd love that house! We brought up 2 kids in a smaller 4 bed house than that with only one bathroom and no second lounge! They survived!
I cannot believe some of the comments you've had!

Ive seen some garden rooms that are almost like tiny homes with a mezzanine bed and space for a sofa and desk underneath.

Another option could be a caravan, thinking outside the box a little.

Yes, just from
my own research and experience of friends .garden room 7 to 10k
garage conversion - 12 to 17k (no plumbing or fancy extras)
conservatory from 20k

Yeah they’ve been vile haven’t they!

personal faves include that it’s not big enough for even 2 children.

one needs 2 living rooms

that the garden is tiddly

Very interesting!

ive seen some garden offices that are the same size as a shed so this very well could work!

I’d love a garden office! I’m quite jealous OP. As it is, I live in a three bedroom terrace with only one bathroom (shocker!) and a small back yard with two young adult sons and a semi-resident girlfriend.
How we make it through the day I have no idea 🤷‍♀️

I would struggle with 3 kids in that space, but then I know people with 5 or 6 children who live in a smaller house and they cope.

I think that is necessary changes very much depending on your budget. I am currently looking to buy and getting quite frustrated that nothing we view is big enough. In a way it would be much easier if our budget was 300k less as we'd lower our expectations and find something really easily.

I’m not planning a move in the immediate future so this is a hypothetical, which is better?

a) 5 bed 3 floors (floor plan attached) I don’t love the whole 3 stories thing with small kids I’d rather have all bedrooms on the same floor- plus then an older parent… extra flight of stairs

or b) 4 bed upstairs and then an extra room downstairs that’s shown as play area that could be guest room/ play room/ study. Downside of that is that the house is a semi, our is a detached and I’m not sure I could go back.

both are in budget for things as they stand right now (aka rates still relatively high)

MN uploading images may flip them around

i really don’t like 3 floor houses ( because usually the downstairs is smaller ) I much prefer the semi , though o wouldn’t buy I semi so I’d keep looking! That floor plan is much better though. IMO.

Edited to add - I don’t believe any rooms that are downstairs are bedrooms ( unless an actual bungalow ) so I couldn’t buy that if I actually needed 5 bedrooms ( which I do!) perfect for games / study / office though and I think they are better downstairs!