Would love to know what sort of house you all have....

[thefabfour]

Currently live in a three bed semi. It is a new build (5 years old) and the rooms are quite small- think the childrens rooms are 10" by 8" and 9" by 7". Two boys in one room, DD in the other. Baby (11 mo) has no where to go and is still with us !

We don't have space for a big fridge or freezer (both small, under work surface type). We don't have a utility room or dishwasher. We don't have a garage or driveway.

Garden is resonably sized.

The house is currently on the market.

If it ever sells we would love a huge rambling house but think this is out of our price range.

Soo, what sort of house do you all have? As we woukd like more DC I am especially interested in the arrnagements of those with 5 + DC.....

[mankymummy]

my house is a victorian terrace on four floors. keeps you fit up and down the stairs all day with a little one !

[ByTheSea]

We (me, DH and 4 DC) live in a fairly large 5-bedroom detached house with conservatory, large living room, large kitchen, dining room and study, with a large family bathroom, en-suite master bedroom, and cloakroom and quite large hallways/landings. We also have a good-sized garden. Only one of the bedrooms is smallish, the rest are large. We have a huge loft too, and could conceivably build two more large bedrooms and another bathroom up there. The problem is that this 85-year-old house is getting a bit dilapidated and we are constantly spending loads in maintenance. A big part of me would love a new build with a utility room though that would require no repairs or maintenance for a long time.

[Tickle]

Our family of 6 (me, DH and 4dcs) currently live in a long low danish house - about 100yrs old. I think it's big - but we are outgrowing it rapidly!

The kids are all in one room, which has been fine, but is turning into a nightmare, as it is really light at night and they can't sleep

We are renovating our dream house 2km away, and are almost finished with the downstairs... it's a cafe and nature centre - then we need some bedrooms - just enough to satisfy Struwellpeter's dd . Doing it all ourselves, so it is taking a while - but it will be fab

Would definitely recommend old rambling houses OP - as long as you don't mind doing stuff yourself. Lots of soul!

[pedilia]

We live in a 4 bed detached but are in the process of buying a 6 bed detached.

[tigga]

We live in an ancient, timber framed house that has 6 bedrooms, 4 sitting rooms (one has a kitchenette in it), utility, cellar, 2 bathrooms. One bedroom is tiny (used to be the dressing room) but my 6 year old DD adores it and its perfect for her because the doorframe is only 5ft high. The rest are quite big, ours is big enough for a settee, arm chair, 32 in telly, toddler bed and cot (one day I'll get round to moving the 2 littlest from my room, not yet though,I'm not ready ). We have a shared backyard but the front garden is nicely childproofed so the kids play out there.
I love living here, the shops are literally on the doorstep and the locals are so friendly.

[ditheringdora]

we have a lovely 4 bed house with very large garden in the country. The top floor is made up of 2 suites (not as grand as they sound I promise!) with walk in wardrobes and en suite bathrooms. There are 3 of us soon to be four.

[yowza]

We now live in a big converted barn with 3 children. Until recently we were in a quite small cottage. My advice for living with multiple children in small house is to try and be very organised, don't keep clutter (if kids will let you throw anything away!), and maximise every inch of space through storage boxes under beds and any other nooks and crannies you might be able to fit a portable set of plastic drawers into. Look into breaking into under the stairs if you haven't already got a cupboard there and it is feasible.

If it proves impossible to sell in this market, look to extend into roof or single storey extension. I just read in Home section of Sunday Times that planning rules are changing next month to allow extensions under a certain size without planning permission.

If you are moving, I suggest keeping a very open mind and view everything you can afford - you never know what gem lurks behind the exterior - older properties will prob give you best space though!

[lazyhen]

Hi all - I'm really interested in this topic as we have an old victorian terrace with one 8 month DD in the 2nd bedroom (of 2) The bedroom is really small and can only fit one single bed in (although she's still in a cot). The house has one small lounge and kitchen, not much outdoor space but in our defence we are very tidy and uncluttered, and spend alot of time out and about with the dog

We are looking to move at the moment but if the house doesn't sell we will have to think what to do as I want at least one more child. I've been looking at bunkbeds but understand they shouldn't be used for under 6 years old. Is that true or haven't I been looking in the right places?

We can't extend but would hate to think we'd stop having children because of this. There must be a way!

[OneLieIn]

4 bed detached, with good size garden. Our bedroom is lovely with ensuite and dressing room, 3 other OK bedrooms.

Downstairs we are open plan which works OK (too noisy really)

Moving wise, we have sold ours, but the guy at the bottom of the chain is really really being a massive PITA, so I reckon it will fall through.

[elmoandella]

dp insisted on a new build house. but only thing we could get wth a decent size living space is this one with 5 bedrooms.

think if you want space you have to go for old houses. i grew upo in a farm house. it had 3 huge rooms upstairs and loadsa living space. all 3 dd in one room, 2 ds in other. dp in last room.

we only have 2 dc. with a room each. master, spare and another which i'm hankering to fill with another small body. but dp says NO!NO!NO!

[cheapskatemum]

Lazyhen, can you do a loft extension? Ours is an 8 bedroon converted mill with one & a half acre garden. Plenty of space to lose the DSs & separate them when they argue. Great for playing hide & seek.

[juuule]

Cheapskatemum

[misdee]

Currently live i na 3 bedroom bungalow (3 dd's another on the way). girls rooms are 8x7 and 9x8. whole place is quite small but big back garden.

We are in the process of moving to a 3 bed house, overall room sizes are larger, so girls can share two to a room, and we can swing a cat comfortably lol.

[sandy4]

We live in a draughty edwardian lodge house which used to belong to thomas burberry (it's not chavtastic).

It's got that 'family feel' to it & it's great for parties.

[LongDroopyBoobyLady]

I used to think that my 4 bed Edwardian house was large until the DCs started getting bigger, it now seems considerably smaller. Love the house but it's on a busy road

[MrsBates]

We have three - 3,4 and 6 months and live in a two bed Victorian urban maisonette in east London. Lucky to have a small garden but have to go down iron stairs to get to it so have a stable door to keep crawlers from plunging down but still have sir coming in. 2 oldest share a room, littlest in with us but would have room in with the others - the dorm! The two bedrooms are quite big but we removed some plasterboard covering support beams to increase floor space. We have top two floors. Flat downstairs is the only council owned one in the street and we have great neighbours. In fact had a joint summer party in the rain and took down the fences between our scraps of gardens and have agreed not to put them back so now all have four gardens for the price of one. (Downstairs is a single mum with one son, next door a Czech couple and a single bloke). Rasta family and Somali couple beyond that and old Irish lady and African family with 4 kids on other side. All know each other - this is a friendly city if you're lucky and make an effort. Will miss that because we do want to move to have a bigger garden with no stairs and at least one more bedroom. So off to the country since can't afford it here.