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Parenting

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Original poster

How small is your house?

28 replies

Jackie2kids · 30/10/2006 12:24

I have a son 3yrs and daughter 18mnths and live in 2bed bungalow. Have tried to move 2 3 bed house but all fell through and wasted lots of money. Can't face it again also can't really aford bigger house in this area. DS starts school next yr so don't want to move out of area once at school. Can we manage in a 2bed bungalow until they leave home? At what age do boys and girls need seperate rooms and how much space do older kids need? Any advice and experiences welcome. J

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 12:25

Can you extend ?

Maybe go upwards ? Add a second floor or build into the roof ?

babe1 · 30/10/2006 12:32

I wouldn't stress about it too much at the moment. At their ages, your children are okay to share a room for a few years yet. I'd guess that your Son might want his Sister out of 'his' room by the time he's about 8 or 9, but this can vary according to different children. I have two Sons aged 6 and 7 (share a room) and a Daughter aged 10 (own room). They love to all camp out in the one room, and often it's my Daughter who instigates it. I've found as they get older, you don't necessarily need more space, as they grow out of the 'bulky' toys. In another few years, you might be more in a position to move.

Original poster

Jackie2kids · 30/10/2006 12:40

Thanks girls we could extend a little to give them own rooms. Just wondered how noisy it might get when they want to play music and have friends over. At the moment its ideal as I can see/hear them and they have the run of the house (although ds did go through a phase of putting potatoes from veg rack in my knicker draw!). J

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WelshBoris · 30/10/2006 12:40

This small

< >

MrsBadger · 30/10/2006 12:41

Agree no need just yet, but another alternative might be to convert another room to an extra bedroom (this is advantage of bungalow) - do you have (eg) a little-used dining room that you could eventually use as a bedroom for one of the kids?
Or is (eg) the master bedroom big enough to partition off a little bedroom?
Changing the layout of the house can give you much more useful floor space than before.

expatinscotland · 30/10/2006 12:42

So small, it isn't even a house. It's a pokey flat w/no outdoor space at all.

ginmummy · 30/10/2006 12:43

Probably an urban myth but I've heard something about boys and girls having seperate bedrooms by law when they reach 12.

geekgrrl · 30/10/2006 12:43

it's an urban myth...

expatinscotland · 30/10/2006 12:44

Around here, that's a myth.

Mellowma · 30/10/2006 12:47

Message withdrawn

BIGlilBUBU · 30/10/2006 12:48

My friend and her brother used to share a room, they had a wall put in the middle so it was like 2 small rooms. Think it was quite an easy job to do. It was removed easily too when her brother moved out.

NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 12:48

ginmummy, I think that rule only applies if you are in local authority housing ? Even then I'm not sure it is exactly rigorously enforced....

ja9 · 30/10/2006 12:50

i'm desperate for a bigger house...

have spent most of last night and this morn looking for houses on internet. we only moved into this one 6 mths ago!

so sympathies...

Pollybloodyanna · 30/10/2006 12:52

my ds and dd1 shared a room until he was 5 - they would have been happy to continue sharing, but he was turfed out to make room for dd2! i think you are fine for a while

Is there any possibility of expanding? (extension/converting garage/expanding up?)

ginmummy · 30/10/2006 12:53

I was just thinking of the practicalities of enforcing a law like that... I have picked up some crap over the years!

Original poster

Jackie2kids · 30/10/2006 12:57

Thanks again girls. I know expat that I am lucky to have a garden (a small one so not much gardening required) this kept me sane all summer. Only thought about moving now winter. I hadn't thought about legal requirements I can understand why adolescent boy and girl might not want to share though. I would move if I had the money but don't want to go full time at work. Might give reorganising the rooms and trying to fit table in somewhere else a go. J

OP posts:

NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 12:59

Like I say, I don't think the law/rule about sharing siblings applies to those who privately own or rent their home (if it exists at all, that is)

fairyfly · 30/10/2006 13:01

No no no, it shoulf be NomdeBroom.

NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 13:03

Don't you like my halloween name, FF ? Don't worry, it'll be business as usual after tomorrow...

Tiggiwinkle · 30/10/2006 13:03

I think the over 12 thing is just a local authority tool for determining how many rooms you should be entitled to.

BloodRedRubyRioja · 30/10/2006 13:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

marymillington · 30/10/2006 13:11

My best mate and her brother shared a bedroom with a partition wall, and it worked out just fine. And the people across the road from us when we were growing up had 13 children in a small 3 bed house, and none of them seemed overly keen to move out when the time came!

You may find that once they get to the stage of wanting to play music with their mates they clear off round to someone else's anyway.

SCARErenity · 30/10/2006 13:16

With the over 12 thing....LA can insist that you convert other rooms into sleeping areas, we have a 2 bed flat (5 of us) and I've been told that the living room can be used to sleep in. Quite where we're actually meant to live if every room is a 'bedroom' I don't quite know, and the LA is in such a housing crisis, they don't really care!

Tiggiwinkle · 30/10/2006 17:28

scarenity-yes, I was amazed to read recently that in determining overcrowding they are allowed to consider every room as a possible room for sleeping in, apart from the kitchen and bathroom. I dont think most people are aware of that and would assume
"persons per room"| would mean bedrooms!

TheDivineLiliLaTigresse · 30/10/2006 17:29

we live in a hole in the road we do

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