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

in my experience, storage is a more important requirement than garden size.

lack of storage, especially in our house where boys and DH are into lots of sports (LOADS of kit!), and we all need a good amount of winter clothes, boots, wellies, winter coats, formal clothes, school kit, books, duvets and blankets....

If the storage is a problem it would be no go for me.

I would go for it. You can build a kids den in the garden when they are teenagers, or convert the garage. Both cheaper than full extension I would have thought

You can easily convert the garage into a den/further bedroom for the eldest child - that's what we had when I was a kid and I loved sleeping there.

If you can have your two smaller children in the room with bunks and your older child in the box room (could he have a high bed with storage/a desk underneath?) once your littlest is out the toddler bed then I think this would work. I think living space is more important than sleeping space. But it does depend a bit on how you imagine your family life to work. We have all of our entertainment stuff in our main living room, no TVs, consoles etc in bedrooms. Homework done on the kitchen table. The only issue might be the big age gap between your eldest and the younger two, as their needs might be quite different in a few years time but with three 'living' rooms downstairs I woudl have thought it was probably doable.

Thanks guys. We are going to leave it a few days and see how we feel. Your thoughts appreciated very much.

As the boys get older (especially since one is 9 already) indoor space will be much more important than outdoor space.