Where does the third kid go?

[Dreamingofthree]

I have 2 and I’d love another but here’s the issue, space.

on the surface of the matter would seem fine as we have a 4 bed house but we need one of the rooms as an office as our jobs are predominantly wfh.

bedrooms are 2 doubles and 2 singles atm the kids have the singles, we have one double and the other is an office/ spare. But say we had 3 what would we do then? I’d look to get pregnant this time next year and mortgages as are they are moving and upsizing isn’t viable right now, neither is additional borrowing for an extension, maybe a conservatory that we could use as an office but still not until rates calm down.

current dcs are girl then boy. We’d keep baby in with us until about 9 months and then we find they sleep better in their own space.

would you put the boy and girl together for a time in the double room and then have the baby alone til they sleep better and then move them in with a sibling of the same sex til we can get a conservatory built? Seems a lot of moving about for a child, and would a girl who’s 7 want to share with a 2 year old (if the baby was a girl)

anyone done a summer house office?

i know it’s a bit cart before the horse but I like to think things through

how much did it set you back all in if you don’t mind me asking?

Why are you being such a knob? You know that lots of people have to work from home now?
Some hybrid but some 100% home working.
My last job was and this one is hybrid because they don't have the space for us all in at once.

It's not healthy physically or mentally to just work from the sofa or kitchen table. It disrupts family life when someone is trying to work in a communal space and its harder to concentrate.

Some need a room to be able to close the door due to confidentiality.

Now, bore off.

Un- open plan your downstairs.

The baby can sleep in with you until much older.

If other DCs are used to their own rooms you're going to cause awful resentment if you make them share.

We can’t really due to where the door is to the room is and then the back wall that goes to the garden is a very large set of folding patio doors.

i really like this garden office idea though! I actually think it might be more mentally beneficial too

We have a garden office/summer house. Works great to separate work and home. Kids (2 x older teens and 1x 12yo) use it to hang out with friends/sleepovers. We have upvc windows and doors so perfectly secure. Was a great compromise after we moved and couldn't get the extension we planned (and a LOT) cheaper.

Can I be cheeky and ask how much you paid? X

I would love a garden office. That separation of work and home is great for wellbeing and work/life balance.

I'd need a kettle though! 😄

Well it's seven years old our house is on a hill conservatory at the back so the conservatory is on the first floor so there are pillars it's suspended on so it's actually off the ground with storage underneath which you could of course do. I'll try and find a picture for you I'm not going out now because it's blowing and raining cats and dogs

i really like this garden office idea though! I actually think it might be more mentally beneficial too

This. I wfh part of each day and I have a desk in a room I don't use any other time. It's very good to be able to walk away when I'm done and go into a different part of the house.

Personally when the children are in the house I need to be there too. OH of course would love it and be totally oblivious 🙄

I was at the Grosvenor garden centre recently the garden offices were impressive. you can even get a log burner

"The Best Small Stoves for Garden Offices & Garden Rooms | Direct Stoves Resources" https://www.directstoves.com/resources/the-best-small-stoves-for-garden-offices-garden-rooms/amp/

So it would be ideal for when (if) I’m off with another mat leave, less disturbance for dh when still working.

when we were back to work, the kids would be in school time childcare, the last hr of the day one of us would have to suck it up and put the laptop on the table whilst we work. Or of the gov 30 funded hrs for all comes to fruition then it would be afterschool wrap around for all.
hols we split with wrap around or a family member with the kids (again ideal as less distraction) but in summary they wouldn’t be left alone as young kids

We have 3 kids and originally our house was a 3 bed townhouse new build. Girl, boy, girl two years between all.

our kids have moved around bedrooms ALOT and they've never minded.
when last dd arrived we moved oldest dd and ds in together- no problem they shared fine in bunks. Smallest dd shared with us until old enough to go in the smallest bedroom.

then in covid lockdown I persuaded dh to convert the master suite on the top floor which was a very large bed room with an en-suite/ dressing area into two decent sized bedrooms and a shower room. So everyone moved bedrooms again!!
this gave us four bedrooms. However, dh was largely wfh and in our bedroom but I hated that and it was bad for our mental health.

so we then self built in our garage, using half the space to make a home office which is lovely. it did take us 18months as we did it ourselves!

I think my point is, you can make anything work, and sometimes you have to think outside the box abit.

all the renovation was definitely cheaper than moving for us! A new mortgage would have been sky high!

I WFH part of the week and I like to work in different rooms according to the weather/temperature, I'll be in the conservatory, back room, front room or my bedroom, which is a large double. My house is just an average 3 bed semi but I do have a conservatory. I'd hate to lose a bedroom to just office space.

Not sure it will be that helpful tbh. The builders came to give us a quote for clearing trees and laying a patio and we were going to buy a kit for them to install. But instead, they did us a fully bespoke project and then used it to sell similar packages so did a massive deal for is. Access to our garden isnt easy, so they had to remove all debris up steps and by wheelbarrow. Total was about £13k in 2021 .
The room is as big as it can be without needing planning, I wanted a covered seating area next to it, so they built it with a solid back and extended the roof from the garden room. It's insulated, has a heater, electrics and WiFi. Only downside is it gets very warm in summer!
Totally recommend it if you can get someone that works in your garden.

Oh that’s lovely! Money well spent!

My DD and SIL have a very nice home-office in the garden, instead of a shed. It works fine. Less garden of course, but still enough for the children to play outside.

What's a garden office? I'd love to know. I'm in Australia and we don't seem to have that term/concept here. Probably because it's too hot and you need air conditioning in summer here (sub tropics).

We're in the same boat, so if we have a third we'll tear down our massive garden shed and replace it with an office with air conditioning and a sink (perhaps a bathroom too) so basically a kit set granny flat where a portion is the office and the rest is divided into storage. It's going to cost a lot but we won't have to do it for a while, and we can save up 30-40k by then.

OP, to address the cost thing, we got a huge garden office with pergola attached built 3 years ago for £19k. It was a local builder who basically built it from my Pinterest pics! That was a good deal given the cost of cedar wood soared just after. It's huge - 7m long across the back of our garden - we divided it into 2 rooms so we each have a study.

A garden pod for one would likely cost £8-10k I'd say. There's a lot online if you do a search.

For example: https://www.smartgardenoffices.co.uk/

Ours has air con.

Make sure a conservatory has a proper roof.

We paid a fortune for one with special glass to retain heat etc. Within 5 years we replaced it with a proper extension. Too hot/cold as you say. A very expensive mistake.

@CKMc2b a garden office is like a glorified garden shed. Proper windows and decking, insulated walls and roof, electric sockets etc. They cost around 10k but cheaper by far than moving to a house with an extra room in it.

Problem is OP wants another baby so unless it's at full time nursery would be di to keep an eye on

When I’m in work they would be in full time nursery or supervised by an adult. If no wrap around last hr of the day dh and I would take turns on the dining room table. But most likely we’d have wrap around esp if the gov 30 funded hrs for all kicks in

Would you not be willing to keep the new baby in your bedroom a bit longer than 9 months till you can afford to move or convert loft/build a shed etc, means you keep the office space or get rid of your ensuite and make that your office.

How old are your kids?