We have no bedroom and it's stressful

[Fishandchipsareyum]

Hello

We have a small 2 bedroom house and the girls each need a bedroom as they are both autistic and eldest is a pda and 7 years older than the youngest. The girls don't get on my eldest needs a lock on her door inside so her sister isn't allowed in. We are going to put a little latch on it for her.

We initially thought it was going to be ok, we bought an expensive sofa bed from ikea. It was hideous to sleep on so had to replace with a day bed that pulls out to a double but the sofa is in the way so it can't be moved to pull day bed out ( it's a tiny livingroom also) we have so much stress and we have no adult space and all my clothes are mostly in box's under the day bed. Husband sleeps on a mattress.

Guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has no adult bedroom because the children need a room each.

We can't afford to buy a bigger place. So we are stuck.

All that fits In the living room is the seating and the day bed ( single size pushed in) and a small unit for my things. Tv is on the inbuilt fireplace.

Youngest room is large but awkward so I'm not sure it could be split into 2. There is her bed and toys and books and I need to store towels and husbands clothes in her room.

I just can't help dread getting older in this place. I try and be positive but I feel quite down. I work 24/7 ( minus the sleeping tike lol) and I would have enjoyed a place to call my own bedroom for rest.

I hear you OP.
In the process of this conundrum ourselves.

Looking at either a good sofa bed, or using bed as a lounge space if we need to, with throw pillows etc.

Our kitchen is big so we can have a sofa, chair and TV in there too.

I've seen cool Murphy beds that fold up and leave a sofa!
A few thousand € though.

In ROI the housing market is diabolical and things are just going up and up. We've increased income but can't keep up with the house prices. So 2 bed it is for now.

There are some AI tools online you could try using - if you put the dimensions in it might be able to give you some ideas

https://www.roomgpt.io/ is one, buy there are others available.

Don't have any suggestions as we are in the same position. Have given our eldest lad our room (we were in the smallest as it was), so he didn't have to share with younger brothers.
We sleep on a camp bed in the living room, and our stuff is stored in the larger bedroom.
We rent so can't extend and it's too expensive renting out there to move. Even decent sofa beds are expensive.

And do you think the OP doesn't know this?

I would look at dividing the bigger bedroom as you say that may be possible. Or loft conversion? I wouldn’t rent your home out to rent somewhere else as rentals are not permanent t and you could end up moving regularly. Which won’t benefit you with children with additional needs. Plus the rental cost could be high. I wouldn’t rent consider a cheaper area if that’s an option.

Could you post a floor plan? Maybe people will
have suggestions how to divide the space differently

Hello

So you walk into a tiny hall way that is really tiny, the kitchen is straight ahead , the living room is to the left. The stairs are in the middle , upstairs is tiniest hall way it's just a walkway really, and bedroom ( largest ) off to the left, on the right is the loo and the 2nd bedroom. That's it. The whole place is tiny, my dad called it a rabbit hutch house 😄

I think you can no longer post photos on here after Mumsnet was spammed with images of child sexual abuse

From what you describe, probably not, but could the living room be split to make 2 bedrooms for the girls and use one of the bedrooms as a living room?

Could the day bed be used as the sofa during the day? So you don’t have to have the sofa in there as well!

Floor plan needed !

Ah this is difficult, sending love. Do you get DLA for your children? This may help? Could a senco at school help with referrals for any funding available?
I follow the.wisdom.family on insta, she has a small house and 6 kids, she's made a Murphy bed in the living room, it looks so good, may be worth a nosey? X

If the attic is big, I would look at that first. It means a place to escape to but also means there is extra room downstairs to gather as a family.

Someone up thread said that flooring it is not crazy expensive. I second that.

Be wary of throwing good money after bad buying boxes and wall storage etc. It never looks like Pinterest in a real home and can cause more problems than it is worth.

I was going to suggest this too. I’d prefer to sleep in a boarded loft with decent loft ladder than be squeezed in the living room even if the loft had no windows.

Good point, sorry

Sounds like our house. It was a small 2 bed but at some stage before we lived here, someone stuck a small extension on the back and made that into the bathroom, and turned the bathroom upstairs into a small 3rd bedroom.

This isn't really allowed but could you just put a skylight window in the loft and put a floor down and just move up to the attic?

You could cover the floor yourself easily, put a nice rug down. A bed/wardrobe/chest of drawers. Cover the open walls with cheap chipboard (although this can look quite trendy).

I'm sure if goes against all building/fire regs but I wouldn't tell anyone....

You need to think long term Op. the children are going to get older and even less likely to share a room. I'd really be thinking can you get a loan to convert the loft?

Sell and get a three bedroom house for same price. They do exist you just need to look and maybe move to a different area that’s cheaper.

I moved from south east to Somerset so I could afford a three bed and DS and DIL moved from the south east to Wales to get on the property ladder. It's worked out brilliantly and we are .
much happier here. Not always possible with jobs etc I know.

I agree that these are the only options. Sleeping in the front room until one of the girls moves out isn't an option.

How bizarre.

Well that was helpful!

Having a bedroom each is a privilege and ops situation is unique so what can you expect her to do about it it?

Op can you look at storage options rather. If the one bedroom is large can you have drawers fitted to keep your clothes there?

Fire regs are there for a reason though, both for their safety and that of their neighbours.

There’s a single mum on instagram who has 5? Children in a council house and has made her own pull down Murphy bed as she sleeps in lounge. I can’t recall her user name it may ring a bell with someone.