Family of 5 in 2 bed house

[MyBellarina]

We are currently renting a small two bed semi detached house in a lovely area with a great garden in a cul-de-sac which our rent is lower than other two bed properties in less nice areas.
We are in the catchment area for the best state schools and lot's of nature.
We have two under 4 and we are expecting our 3rd baby in the summer. Very excited for new arrival but will come with challenges in a small house.
We are a bit torn between making do here with potentially us sleeping in lounge. Lounge is small so can only fit 4 seater sofa so would be very tight.
Or moving to alot less nice area with less good schools and not the best local amenities. I don't drive either so the nature reserve and lovely parks are a huge asset currently.
Any of you Guy's had similar situations?

Would you be able to buy this property and if so extend into the back garden or into the loft?

What’s your long term plan?

It's fine for the short term. Two under four can share a room. Bunk beds if possible, to free up space. And the baby goes in a cot then cot bed in your room, so you are good for at least 18 months. If both rooms are double, longer term you and your partner could move into the smaller double and use a divider to create two distinct sleeping areas in the bigger room - one for the older children, one for the toddler. Get inspiration from Japanese solutions for living in tiny spaces. And keep an eye open for a slightly bigger place in the same good area.

Maybe stay for a while and get kids into local school and then reassess. I guess kids can share larger bedroom for a while. Low rent seems good while you have 3 small ones.

Short term baby in with you and older DC share a room. Long term I’d 100% move. Does your preferred school have sibling priority? If does and you put off moving until the eldest has started then the younger ones will get in on the sibling link even if you’ve moved a bit further away to get a 3 bed.

How long do you forsee the situation lasting? You might squeeze in with three tiny dc but it's unlilkely to be manageable with three late teenagers.

If it's just temporary stay in the lovely area until you size up. If not, move now - you can't afford to live where you do so just as well do it asap.

Since the children are so young then make the biggest bedroom into a "nursery" with 3 toddler beds and you keep the smaller bedroom for you and your H. Later you could think about bunk beds in the big bedroom or getting a sofa bed for the living room. At one point we had 3 children in the biggest bedroom of a house - the kids loved it. We also lived for 2 years when H was on secondment in Tokyo in a small flat and had futons on tatami mats for us in the living room and mats for the kids in the bedroom that folded up each day that we stored in a cupboard along with duvets and pilllows - we survived.

Ikea has sofa beds such as the Freiheten that have storage for the bedding (under the main cushion area)

We were in a similar situation but owned our 2 bedroom flat. We have 3 boys. The little ones slept in with us because it was easier to co- sleep until they were about 3/4. We then had them all in together in a triple bunk bed (double bed at bottom) until the eldest just turned 12 and the youngest was 7. It was mostly fine. A bit tricky getting the youngest 2 to sleep as they’d wind each other up.
I guess it would be different if you can’t fit a double bed in your second room. I don’t think I’d have wanted to sleep in the living room.
When we moved to our next 5 bedroom house the youngest two would bring their duvets in every night for the first year and sleep on our floor as they didn’t want to be alone.

Probably not. My husband is a builder we could easily extend.

Thank you all your quick replies!
Plan will always be move to 3 bed or bigger in the future with hopes to stay in area. Once eldest is 9 we will have to move for them to have the space they need even not in this area.
3 and 2 year old love living here and sharing atm. I think if we moved later we would have to change schools as would be over a hour walk to school so would be out of catchment area.
So lovely to hear others have lived in smaller homes with a few children.
I would prefer not to sleep in lounge but my kids happiness comes first so I would if it was needed.

Our landlord let's us do whatever we want to the house so we have freedom to paint and put up things.
Recently painted front door a colour we love.
My husband recently gravelled the sloped grassy garden and created levels with child friendly steps. So the garden is layered with so much play space. Friends and family say it looks like a child minders garden. Haha
We also have a drive which only a few others have on this street.

Once eldest is 9 we will have to move for them to have the space they need even not in this area

What? Why? What happens the moment they turn 9?

I see 9 as the oldest we could get away with living here. Probably before then really.
So if we have to move oyt of the area she dosen't have to change secondary schools.

A childminders garden? I’ve never known childminders have gravel, in fact my friends mum was a childminder and removed the gravel to make her garden safer for the children. It’s not ideal with small children.

I’d want to move before oldest starts school as some children find it very difficult to move schools once they’re settled.

I'm in almost identically scenario, except we own our house and I drive. So 2bed semi, 2 kids under 4 and a 3rd due in the summer etc etc.

We've been moving here 5.5 years. Our plan is to eventually move into a 4bed. In the mean time, our kids share a room, and we can get bunk beds if we need.

Things will figure itself out

I think 3 kids is too many to share one bedroom and a small living area. It’s a lot going on all crammed in. I’d move to a bigger place if having a third.
It is a big shame about the less good schools.

We have three children and pregnant with fourth in a 2 bed house. The two bedrooms are both good sizes and I’d imagine if you reconfigured the upstairs it would fit three small bedrooms.

At the moment the three of them are sharing the biggest room with twin single beds and youngest in his cot. Once they’re a bit bigger those twin singles will be bunk beds (they’re too small to be safe in bunk beds at the moment). Baby will be in with us once born for a good while. Even though they have their own room they mostly still sleep with us anyway so can’t imagine baby will be much different!

We bought it with the intention of it being a starter home and the plan was to upsize a few years ago. Obviously didn’t foresee covid/lockdown/cost of living nightmare when we were making our longer term plans.

So we’ve decided to stay put while our children are small as we have a small mortgage here which allows me to only work part time and means we can afford maternity leave for me. We would prefer to be able to prioritise me being at home with the children as much as possible while they’re so small over having more room.

DH hopefully has good earning potential career wise as do I so for now we are focused on his career prospects and once they’re all a bit bigger and need me less I will be restarting my professional qualifications. At that stage we will hopefully be able to upsize.

I don’t think a massive house is essential, I am one of four myself and the biggest house I lived in as a child was a three bed.

Stay put until you get the eldest into secondary school (checking that they don't treat in-catchment siblings different from our-of-catchment siblings in admissions rules) and then move to something larger. Put a triple bunk bed in the largest room along with a family wardrobe if there wouldn't be room for a wardrobe as well as the double bed in the smaller room. A trick to fitting a double bed into a tiny box room is to rehang the door to open out rather than in (you will just have to put it back how it was when you move out

is you learning to drive an option?
It would mean you could move after eldest starts school if the school has a sibling policy.

I think with such small age gaps you can get away with three in one room while they are young, especially as you have a garden and it sounds like you enjoy being out of the house a lot. It's worth sacrificing quite a bit to be in a good area - not just good schools but safe, pleasant, lots of green space, good amenities right on the doorstep etc - and particularly if you don't drive. If you're planning to move to a 3 bed when they are older I'd say stay put and save hard for the future with what you're currently saving on the cheap rent.