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

You don't need an office if children need bedrooms. I grew up in a 3 bed house. Parents had the largest room, my brothers shared the second biggest (8 year age gap) and I had the smallest bedroom because I'm the only girl.

Your options are the 2 same sex children share a double room and the other sex has the single bedroom. Your office should be the smallest bedroom. However, preferably all the children will have their own room and you can set your office up in the living room.

OP's 2 children are not the same sex so you can't make them share. It would make sense for the hypothetical third child to share a double room with the same sex sibling. Obviously third child will stay in its parents' bedroom until they need a bed rather than a cot. My brothers shared a room and they have a fairly large age gap. I had to move to the smallest room.

Solution ideas.

• Can you divide the office bedroom that's a double into two smaller rooms?
• same again with kids current single rooms
• attic?
• maybe actually worth asking an architect to see if they can come up with idea to rework space for minimal cost
• garden office sounds nice!
• attic
• do you have a spare reception room like a dining room or could you even make one by taking off a chonk of a room?

More out there ideas

• get a caravan for the garden they can actually be quite cheap!
• work from your bedroom
• go back into the office
• don't have a 3rd kid yet
• both work on getting better paid in your current jobs or in a new role

Other options.
Ask your kids how they feel about it and sharing a room with a potential new sibling.

Be positive.
(I can't afford to have kids, live in a 1bed flat and wfh from the living room. And it's a rental.)
Atleast you have a home and have managed to afford to have some lovely kids. :)
Maybe you don't need three. Maybe you can all have better lives as a smaller unit. Or maybe you have time to wait for a third.

Good luck finding a solution whatever that may be. :)

I do actually, it’s written into my contract from work. I have to have a designated office space that is ‘private’ ie not in the lounge so does dh. So we actually need some sort of space. Our bedroom isn’t big enough for 2 desks and our furniture. This would be even more crucial if I was off on mat leave and had the dcs at home and dh was working. He just wouldn’t be able to in that mayhem.

an hr on the dining table at the end of the day is one thing and then we’d reshuffle work so someone starts and hr early to finish an hr earlier to avoid that.

dcs could share for a bit but wouldn’t be for long really as they are girl and boy

At the mo 4& 2, but I’m not pregnant nor trying right now, and probably wouldn’t be in a place to til this time next year so kids would be roughly 6&4 (or maybe 5.5 and 3.5)

we could, it just depends on the child doesn’t it, 9/10 months and then we’ve opted to do some gentle sleep work to improve how they’ve been sleeping before I go back to work.

im leaning towards garden office/ garage conversion, which would entail a door, windows, plaster board and flooring, probably insulation and a heater too? Whichever worked out cheaper

In that case when hypothetical third child is ready to sleep in a bed he/she moves into the double room with the sibling that's the same sex as them. The opposite sex child has a small room to themselves. Until then the cot stays in your bedroom. The fourth room becomes your office.

I have a garden office that used to be a shed (a good quality shed put in by last owners). I insulated the whole thing, including ceiling and floor, put in panelling, ran electric down to it and had plugs, smoke alarm and down lighting fitted. I took off the pretty useless door and fitted upvc french windows. It's 3m x 2m and isn't that much smaller than my small bedroom.

It's absolutely fantastic. I love it. It gives me a proper separation between home and work.

Altogether it cost about £2500/£3000. I did a lot of the work myself, but an electrician did the electrics, and an odd job man fitted the doors.

If I took out all the office stuff, it would still be a perfect summer house.

love the options here :)

not sure about dividing the double. One ‘room’ then would become and internal room with no natural light, plus door access- it doesn’t seem feasible.
definitely can’t divide the singles as they are true singles, not box rooms but one has a built in wardrobe and that’s taken up a fair amount of space
going back to the office isn’t realistic I don’t think given how far away we live and the ease of wfh childcare wise
we’re always on the look to move up- esp CoL wise
a third child might not happen for us, may not be able to conceive etc
no spare reception room or that would be office if we had a dining room for instance
we have a new build and when we bought the house, they did mention something about not being able to extend into the roof, but I can’t recall why, I think it’s due to how the houses are built. We can put some boards down for storage but that’s about it.
i do like a garden pod office/ conservatory/ garage conversion, would come down to what’s cheaper I think

I’m a dreamer you see, like to plan things out in advance :)

I’m leaning more and more towards this sort of thing as when the dcs are older would make a lovely ‘den’ outside for sleepovers and such

I’m in the same boat. But already pregnant with 3rd. We are planning on having them in with us for a while. We haven’t got a set plan to be honest but we know children will share for a couple of years and then we will do an attic conversation. I think the younger 2 should share (as this will give slightly longed to save for conversation). Dh thinks they will share on biological sex. My eldest would be 6 by then and I would like him to have his own room by 8. Also feel my daughter (middle) would cope better sharing as she is a better sleeper. I think as much as I would like a set plan I have had to get comfortable with we have the space and will work it out when baby is here. All are large double rooms anyway and we use the box room for work. Like you giving that up is not an option. We did look at a garden office but think long term the box room is very small and we would end up converting the attic anyway.

Probably insulation? Believe me the council will put that at the top of the list. You will need to comply with building regulations at the very least. You really do need to find an architect to guide you through this .

We did a garage conversion had to put insulation and joists into the floor. Then lay solid flooring on top. We also had to dry line the walls adding insulation. We had to do the same to the ceiling. All to comply. If you ever want to sell you'll be in a pickle otherwise.

As for Windows. Neighbours may complain to the council.

Yeah I imagine we’d need to do all of that. Windows I think we could get around by not putting them on the neighbours side and having windows on the two sides that face our property. It’s been done on our estate, so there’s a precedent, saw a house with a very lovely garage the other day. How much did your conversion cost?

my gut is saying garden office for the win (price wise)

"An Expert Guide On: How Does a Garden Office Add Value to Your Home?" https://www.thepropertycentres.co.uk/blog/tips/3569-can-a-garden-office-really-add-value-to-your-home

"Do you need to apply for Planning Permission? - Garden Office Guide" https://www.gardenofficeguide.co.uk/before-you-buy/do-you-need-to-apply-for-planning-permission/

@Dreamingofthree you are getting all your ducks in a row well done. But please do run this by an architect who will smooth your path.

Another saying don't put up a conservatory for an office. It will never be the right temperature and it will probably be too bright most of the time.

I have a very secure office in the garden. It's heated, has wi fi and is hard wired to the internet. It's a great space away from the house.

Hard to say in total how much my office cost. I had a concrete base put in and it's probably bigger than you'd need. I'd say in total around £20,000

@Dreamingofthree as promised our fully insulated conservatory with underfloor heating which is usable 365 days of the year. As you can see it's an office/dining room, toy storage area. .

I love it because in the depths of winter I get so much light compared to the rest of the house. In the summer windows doors open. Remember last year's heatwave it was the coolest room in the house catching every whisper of a breeze.
Afraid the solid roof didn't come out too well in the pictures because it's white but it's like a barn conversion very high in the middle.

I have my desk in my and DHs bedroom - it’s totally fine. I was convinced I’d need a separate office, but you really don’t. Kids don’t come in our room anyway. It doesn’t bother me.

If you’re struggling for room, you could move your wardrobe into the third bedroom (eg. eventual nursery room) so that there is room for two desks in your bedroom. There is all sorts of space-saving solutions which can be done - second screens can be mounted on walls, etc.

In a four bedroom house, I really don’t see how this could be such a problem.

One of the reasons it’s tough on space it’s because our wardrobe is a built in one but without drawers. The rooms in new builds are never that big anyway. We’ve got space for our double, an ikea tall boy and an ikea wide chest of drawers (can’t remember the range, it’s the white ones with the black handles)

grand scheme of things it’s not ‘that’ hard. Kids could share the double, eldest 2 for a while and then whatever sex the baby is with the other child of same sex but was just looking for ideas

Really helpful! Thank you!

good tip on their to speak to estate agents because like I said our garden isn’t especially large- wouldn’t want to take up too much space and knock value off in that regard

That looks great! Thank you for sharing :)

Why is your office in a double room? 2 kids to share, one in a single. Office in the other single. Hardly a big deal or am I missing something?

Something maybe I've missed but working from home there are tax breaks, so I'd chat to an accountant too