To ask if you are happy in your 'small' home?

[Apricotmuffino]

We bought our house about 4 years ago and have been very slowly renovating it, it has cost a fortune in all honesty with the ever increasing costs, and we are due to get our very old kitchen refitted with new units.

We have 1 child, and would like another within the next few years.

When we bought the house we intended to upsize after 5-7 years but in all honesty it seems so out of reach now, despite having managed to put to the side a decent amount of savings it's not touching the surface, and the costs to move (legal fees, stamp duty, interest rates being high if we were to borrow more) is putting us off.

We are trying to make living in the current house better so we can happily live in it maybe 10+ years from now on, and considering perhaps putting money into the garden/bathroom instead. Problem is, it's small.. a small lounge, small kitchen (just about can squeeze a small table in there) and 3 bedrooms, albeit the 3rd is extremely small and space is limited in there due to the stairs eating into the room. Our garden is OK, but needs work.

Living here long term would mean we would have more disposable income but I'm not sure how happy we would be in a small house with 4 of us.

We are in a dilemma whether to spend our money on this house, or try and skimp and save over the years to make upsizing become a reality!

I know small is subjective, our house is around 1000sqft, perhaps not small to others but feels it to us. Hope this doesn't come across as goady in anyway.

Any thoughts opinions would be greatly welcomed!!!

Hi, I live in a small flat and the key for me has been bespoke built in furniture in the children's bedrooms, and ruthless decluttering.
Absolutely everything needs to earn its place!
Do you have a decent sized shed?

Mine is about the same size as yours, a little bit under 1000 sq ft. I declutter and go to the charity shop each month. Sometimes we feel a bit on top of each other but I like how warm and cosy it is. Also it doesn’t take long to clean. The most annoying part is only one toilet between the four of us.

Our house is small but affordable. I don't understand why people stretch themselves buying something bigger as it only seems to make them miserable. If the third bedroom is small then you could get the children to initially share. However one of mine has a box room as that's what was available for them to each have their own room. We never made a thing of it so neither have they.

Kids can share. Also consider bunk beds, decent storage and putting them in the biggest bedroom as they have more toys etc so it keeps that clutter out of living areas

Bespoke furniture sounds sensible and perhaps something for us to think about for the third bedroom if we do have another child. I'm not sure a normal single bed would fit in there.

Good point, we do have a garage which is well used. A very small garden shed - again full!

I think this is so personal to you! I know some people have found while kids are v little, having them share one room and use the other as a little playroom to store all the toys.

I think it depends how much stuff you have! If you're quite ruthless with minimalism, inventive storage solutions, minimising amount of furniture etc, organised shelves & drawers in shed/ garage. But depends on you & your family x

We are in a very similar position to you - we have two small children but we are very happy in our 800sq feet house! The third bedroom is small but still works for our pre-schooler. We re-did the kitchen recently and it would have been so much more expensive if it was bigger! We have a lot of storage in each room so it never feels cluttered. And I love being able to put the money we are saving on a mortgage towards extra curricular activities or holidays. We may feel differently in the teenage years but for now it's perfect.

The box room is currently an office for working from home, so we would likely get them to share the same room!

I had a very small box room as a child and honestly I didn't care at all - I didn't know any different and I had a good childhood ☺️

Thank you for your thoughts!

I once had a house where the stairs intruded into a bedroom, we got a high kids bed and cut the legs so one end of the bed sat on top of the box of the stairs. Would that work in your box room?

In my current house, that area has been made into a cupboard from the bottom of the box to the ceiling, it is quite deep as it's the depth of the stairs. It has a full length door, so you don't know it's only 2/3 of a cupboard until you open the door.

Our house is bigger but we have three DC but I'm at the stage of thinking I'd rather have a more comfortable lifestyle and be able to have more disposable income than move house. There are none available in the areas we want and nice four beds are insane money and I'm not sure it would be worth it. Firstly do you like the area? Location is so important. If you like the area then I think you can make it work. Can you convert your attic? You could get another bedroom or playroom up there. I think social media also has us all convinced everyone is living in massive beautiful houses that look like show homes when that's really not the case.

For inspiration I'd suggest searching on YouTube for tiny homes/small house.

I suppose it depends what you are used to...we are (fingers crossed) going from a 2 bed flat to a 1000 sq ft house and the house feels like it will be big enough even when the our 2 DC are teenagers.

The new house also has a box room - I've been researching ikea hacks etc. to see how to make the moat use out of the space.

Read Marie Kondo ! Declutter declutter and the house will be big enough. Is it close to local amenities?

Very happy. Less cleaning, less maintenance, more money for fun things.

I think it’s subjective. We have a 2600 square foot house but no outdoor space. Having a baby boy this year and considering moving to somewhere with a garden even if it’s a bit smaller

We have a 950sq ft house and there are three of us. As usual it’s more like 2.5 bedrooms as the box room is so tiny. It’s been largely ok the last 22 years, and was fine while DD was little but it’s feeling a lot, lot smaller now our daughter is in her 20s with no way for her to leave anytime soon. Her boyfriend comes to stay (he lives abroad) and they would like their own privacy but it’s impossible, as they are just in her room, they often go stay in a hotel instead. We’d love to have an extra bathroom and a kitchen you could swing a cat in, ours is 8x8ft which means one person only in there cooking at anytime.

We also have elderly parents now, and recently my Dad had major surgery so it would have been good to have him to stay afterwards but there is nowhere to put any guests. So while a lot of people our age are thinking of downsizing we are thinking of upsizing in order to have a bit more space.

We live in a 3 bedroom flat with one bathroom and small kitchen. We built a conservatory on the rear when I was expecting DC2 to use as a dining room. We survived even when 2xDCs were adult, mornings in the bathroom were regulated to make sure everyone got to work/school on time. It’s now just me and DH which is a perfect size for us in retirement. If you can put up with a few uncomfortable years it can be worth sticking where you are.

Our small 3 bedroom house is fine. Easy to keep clean.

Is the location good for you, OP? Will this meet your long term needs?

You mention that you have a garage. Is this joined on to the house? Could it become part of the house so you had more space? Could you extend out the back at all? Loft?

I agree with posters about decluttering and careful choice of furniture to maximise space.

We’re in a similar position with a similar sized house. I’d love more space as we are due our second child and I feel like there’s just mess everywhere. No downstairs toilet which I find annoying. We’ve got a nice sized living room that leads onto the kitchen /diner through double doors, so it sometimes feels like downstairs is one room and then I get a bit of cabin fever just seeing the same walls all the time, especially in winter.
House prices for what would be our next step are just so unrealistic though. We’ve looked at a few but we’d be so stretched financially. No point swapping the stress of space and mess for the stress of money issues!
I 100% want to have moved somewhere bigger by the time our second child starts school. I grew up with the box room and didn’t like it and would love to give both of my children enough space to have a double bed and enough room to store their clothes when they’re older.

We live in a slighty smaller home than that, then after 6 years had a garden room/shed/office added bringing up to the size you have.

I do think layouts and outside space make a difference so it's not easy to compare.

However my living room, kitchen diner space never feel small.

My bedroom sometimes feels a bit cramped as our previous home had a bigger main bedroom so we were used to more space. Have to be ruthless with clothes. But not worth moving for.

I do also wish my son had a bigger room as he is an adult basically and the box room is a bit small for him and his girlfriend.
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I've a small house but bit by bit it's becoming stylish AF. So I'm making the best of the size I suppose.

Stay for now. Plan to move when they’re in their teens and live in their bedrooms. So at least ten years to save. Then 10-15 years in the big house and downsize!

I had the small box room as a kid and my parents got the wall moved between their room and mine to make mine a bit bigger.