Bedroom arrangements

[Rockmaiden]

Not 'strictly' a larger family but I figured people over here would have more ideas on organising bedrooms (squashing as many as possible in)

Just found out that that baby number 3 (4) is a girl which potentially creates problems for bedrooms.

We have a 3 bed house and we all sleep as follows :

Bedroom 1 - me and partner
Bedroom 2 - double room - 7 yr old son and 3 yr old 'foster' son
Bedroom 3 - single room - 9 year old daughter

There is room for a third boy in bedroom 2 which would have been ideal but we can't really put a girl in with the boys, bearing in mind we are talking after being in our room for the first year, and bedroom 3 in too small for a second bed (box room), DD has to have a high bed now just to fit in wardrobes and desk etc. so no option for a bunk bed either.

Where are we putting this third child?
Was banking on a boy to make life easier lol.

Looks like we will have to move, would really liked to have avoided it.

No no, don't move for a while yet. Not really an issue until puberty and the privacy thing starts up.

We had DCs 3 and 4 sharing a tiny room (cot-bed and cot) for over two years. They're not the same sex fwiw.

My suggestions are;

1. Have new baby in with you for a while.
2. Put 7 and 9 year-old together in same big room - divide it with screens or something.
3. Put new baby in with 3-year old.

We eventually did buy a house with enough bedrooms but we did have a bit of a muddle bedroom-wise for a few years. Don't think it actually hurt anybody.

Bedroom 3 really is too small for more than 1 child, it litterally just fits a bed in and enough room to walk down one side of it!

It wasn't originally a bedroom and has been sectioned off from the largest bedroom to make a 2 bed house into a 3 (before we moved in) so the only way it is usable as a bedroom is with a high bed and storage underneath.

That means that no matter what there is going to have to be 3 sharing the largest room, which is huge, but which 3 to share.

I hadn't thought of dividing a room, it's a rented house so has to be removable but I could potentially divide the boys room to make one room for the two of them and another small room for new DD.

Do you think their will be any major problems / fall-outs having the (then) 8 and 4 year old share with the 1 year old.

As I said before, I really wouldn't worry about dividing them on gender lines when they are all so young (ie 9 downwards), but I know many will disagree with this.

Have just re-read your post and see that you plan to have the new DD in with you for a year.

I don't think 8, 4 and 1 are obvious room-mates. Maybe 10, 8 and 4 would share better?

Are you obliged to have special sleeping arrangements in place for the currently 3 yr-old that you describe as your "foster son"?

Hope somebody else comes along with more ideas!

OK, here's another thought. Put the 10 and 8 DCs in the big room. They're big enough to need some space for their belongings. Yes, they're boy and girl but they're not quite old enough for it to matter. Put 4 and 1 DCs in tiny room; cot under high bed at first, then bunk beds when youngest one needs a bed. They can presumably play (and have toys) downstairs. Revise as time goes by. Maybe after a while 10 yr old will need her own space, so move her into tiny room and put others into big room.

I do see that when everybody is full-size you are going to be strapped for space but I think you can juggle them for a few years yet.

HTH

That sounds like it could work, may have to have a play around and perhaps put wardrobes and such in the hallway which is huge to free up bedroom space. If we can get a few more years in this house before having to move I would prefer to as can't be bothered with the hassle at the moment and changing schools etc.

No special arrangements for foster son no, he is not actually my foster son but didn't know what else to call him lol. He is my sister's child but she asked me to babysit him for one night when he was 7 weeks old and hasn't been back for him since. Sadly no-one knows where she is at present. We are trying to persue with an adoption for him now that he has been part of our family for 3 years but until he is legally ours she could presumably come and claim him at any point, although we would contest it, and so we call him 'foster' son for ease.

have you got a dining room that could be converted into a bedroom?
if so and if you still wanted to keep the dinning as a family bit then you could get a great fold away table and chairs set from ikea for less than £150

but slightly has some great ideas

we have a 3 bed with 3 boys and 1 girl
we have the box room and have shoe horned our kingsize into it, so much so that we have to get into bed via climbing over the foot of the bed as you cant get down the sides lol

the girl has the second largest bedroom with ours and her wardrobes

and the boys have the mahoooosive front bedroom where they have all their games a couple of tvs ect we have made it into a lads pad and they love sharing......at the moment

no dout when the eldest boy hits his teens in a couple of years we will have to put up a stud wall so he can have some space of his own

No dining room sadly, it really is a tiny house lol.

I would take the box room if only a bed would fit but only a single fits, tried getting a double air bed into it once with no luck - it was half way up the wall as well!

Might have to look at a sofa bed and me and OH can move downstairs, as long as I have a bed I don't care about a room and it will be handy to be closer to the kitchen anyway for those late night cups of tea :)

could you go in the room the boys are in at the moment, and put a partition in the master for the baby (when a little older)
my friend had her husbands teenage daughters in there room with a curtain partition between them as her daughter had her room but too small to but anyone in it. it's not the most ideal situation, but it is temporary rather than permanent as you spoke about it being rented, just means you don't have to worry about the door problem :P

could you not put the 2 boys into bunkbeds in the box room? you could get drawers fro underneath for their toys. i have a similar situation in that i have converted a 3 bed (council) house into a 4 bed and soon to be a 5 bed but already have 4 dc's and my brother here. the room that i have already converted was a large cupboard and alcove, gone into a room that is 8'9" by 6' and will be used for ds2 (10) he will have a divan with slide storage for his toys, and there is a small alcove which i am building a cupboard into which will be hanging rail at the top, then shelves for books and tv and a cupboard with sliding doors at the bottom for baskets of clothes. i have a big board which i will store down the side of his bed for him to pull onto the bed when he wants his toys out.

the big bedroom where the 2 boys currently are will be divided in half for my brother and ds1 (12) with a plasterboard wall and a door. the 2 girls (6 and 5) will go into the L-shaped back bedroom both in cabin beds with wardrobes and stuff underneath, and i will then go into the current middle room, which will by then be the biggest room (feel i deserve it as i have spent the last 2 years in the box room with nothing but a single bed and bookcase.)