WWYD? Beautiful large garden but small house.....

[foranangel]

We have seen an incredible property today. Nothing needs doing bar a lick of paint and new carpet in one room. The garden is amazing and has a lovely view and outlook and the possibility to extend in a few years time. The kitchen/diner is brand new, clean, plenty of cupboards and granite worktops. There is also a small formal lounge, large family room and two bathrooms.

My concern is that as we are a family of five with three growing boys (9,5 and 3) would there be enough bedroom space for us? There is a master bedroom which is small. There is room for a double bed and perhaps small bedside tables but certainly not a chest of drawers or wardrobe. A further bedroom with built in wardrobe and big enough for a set of bunk beds but again not any room for a chest of drawers or toy storage. And lastly a box room where my little ones toddler bed would fit and perhaps a small chest of drawers.

Am I being silly in saying this would be too small for us? Everything else seems so perfect. I love love love the kitchen and garden. My husband is smitten too. Just don't want to talk ourselves in to it if it's not going to suit us. The children could easily have all their toys in the family room so not worried about that in particular. At the moment my oldest does his homework at the kitchen table which we are all fine with.

Just thinking with boys growing up and getting bigger and taller....

What would you do? Also should say this would be at the top of our budget so couldn't extend for years.

Thanks

Is there any potential to convert the attic into two bedrooms or extend the first floor so that the bedrooms can be made bigger?

It does sound too small I'm afraid. Your boys ate going to need somewhere to study as they get older and they will want their bedrooms for privacy too.

No attic unfortunately...

The bedrooms sound very small. Where will you hang your clothes?

On the other hand, a house that you love, that is extendable, and that has a lovely garden is worth compromising bedroom space for, maybe.

As a mother of teens I would say that a good size bedroom per teenager is ideal, though not absolutely essential.

You probably will be ok in that house for the next 5 years. By then you might be able to fund the extension?

It's definitely too small, OP. We moved to our current apartment when the children were 0, 8 and 10. It seemed huge and spacious! Six years on, with three adult-sized men in it, it seems quite small...

To be honest I think that the rooms for the children do sound too small. It possibly wouldn't be a problem if the box room was big enough for your older son, but I can't imagine long term he'd be very happy sharing a small room with a much younger brother. Also although I don't think that boys accumulate as much 'stuff' as girls as they get older it really does sound as if there is virtually no storage space in any of the bedrooms.

I do sympathise though, we chose our current house mostly on the basis of the view :)

I wish I cld post up the link but on ipad. View and gardens are fab. We were on a main road before with view of an off licence and a Chinese takeaway!!!! We had loads of bedroom space although still 3 bedrooms but two were huge but very little living space and teeny garden - more of a mud patch!!!! The boys never played in their bedrooms - perhaps because they were so young????

It sounds lovely but if you feel cramped in three years time, will your view help? Only you know that.

I'd look into extending before I purchased really.

I'd go for it. But then I'm very garden-motivated! Also I grew up in a box room in a cramped house and it was fine; I just had shelves everywhere.

If you love the house, then you might tolerate its deficiencies. Better that, perhaps, than buying something that fits your requirements but doesn't make your heart sing.

Only you know whether in a year or two you'll feel you made a mistake because the upstairs is far too cramped, or whether you'll love living there despite the small bedrooms.

Until you can afford the extension you could use the formal lounge as a bedroom, perhaps.

Built a wooden lodge type thing at the end of the garden for a games room for the kids - toys can live down there and when they are teenagers, the pool table and the playstation can! Make sure it's heated!

Build.... not built

I would go for it IF you can afford the extension or games room type shed thing in the near future. If not then I'm afraid it does sound too small.

Can you make the house bigger? That's the crux of the matter. You can't change the location or size/outlook of the outside space but you usually can change the actual house.

Posh "garden rooms" come in at around 11k IIRC. That would give you an extra playroom / teenager isolation tank. The storage would be more of a concern for me.

How realistic is the possibility of an extension?

and you said fmaily room /posh lounge could one of the boys have that as bedroom when older ?

Can you fit a full sized single bed in the box room? If not, how long do you expect your 3 yo to fit in the toddler bed? If by the time he has outgrown it you can't afford to extend, then I would say it's too small.

O, sorry, but I'd say too small. A big garden is good for younger children, but they are likely to play in it less and less as they grow up.

And space inside will become more important as they have friends over and wrestle/play; have loud music on; play computer games into the night.

Look into options for extending. If you can't then it's too small. I have two DSs but would be put off by the bedroom sizes.

Where would you store clothes and as Thetokengirl says, where will your 3yr old sleep when too big for a toddler bed (which will be soon)?

If you could keep all toys in family room and build a games room then daytime living would be very easy.

It's only do-able though if you have very few clothes, where are you and your DH going to put your clothes?

My first boyfriend had the dining room as his bedroom as there were 2 adult men, a 9 ish year old girl, plus mum and dad is a 2 up 2 down semi.
It was fine, everyone made it work and when they are older they do not spend a great deal of time at home (with a bit of luck).

Sorry havent made myself clear as usual! All three bedrooms do have built in wardrobles so thats where the majority of clothes would go. The box room would fit a full size single but only 1 way iyswim....

One idea we have had is to divide the family room with a stud wall to make another smallish bedroom.

There is also a double garage which could be kitted out for the boys use if not now in the future.

My husband is saying it is up to me as me and children are at home much more than him but at the same time I know he would be unhappy if we end up with another semi-derilict doer-uper.

That sounds more do-able.
The garage could be converted to a games room or extra bedroom, prob cheaper than building sth in the garden.

Depends how you live and what your priorities are - and whether you can physically and financially make it bigger in the future. We have 3 children (all under 7) and have 2 big bedrooms and one small bedroom. We do plan to get a 4th bedroom by extending at some point (and bought the house on that basis) but the draw was always the downstairs space, garden, location etc. At the moment, the children are only in their bedrooms for sleeping, all playing is done outside and downstairs so not an issue at the moment. As others have said, may well be in the future, but I'd say go for it. If you can extend in the future and it ticks all of the other boxes and doesn't need work (and as Kirstie would say "makes your heart sing") sounds fabulous!

Is the garage attached and does it have a room on top?