Big or small but perfectly formed?

[uptherear]

We have a cottage. Traditionally it had 3 bedrooms but when we bought it the previous owners had knocked through bedroom 3 to the lounge and kitchen to use for dining.

We have since put the walls back up and made this a bedroom again.

We have also added an attic room which has two big velux window and is lovely and bright but only ladder (albeit a permanent wide wooden one) access.No room for a staircase as we would gain a room but lose one to the staircase.

We have also but on a new bathroom and the old one is now a small utilty room.

Very happy with additional new space... however. We are a family of 5. We are also very tall and my dh is constantly fretting about 'outgrowing' our house.

We have two options

1. add a small extension with two small bedrooms off the current master bedroom which would then become a lounge with back hall off it

2)Stick with what we have but use money to buy some new furniture that better fits house (current stuff from our old place which was huge in comparison) and make our small house close to perfect.

Im thinking once kids past toy stage maybe less clutter (or am i kidding myself)
I could be ruthless and recycle much more stuff. Kids have far too many clothes/toys.
I like the idea of small being cheaper to heat etc. Bills are already a struggle.

Very undecided and would appreciate your wisdom.
Step forward wise people

Sounds like a lovely cottage.....

If you have the ££ to extend, then I guess no harm in doing so.

However, are you sure that you can't just buy new furniture / be really clever with storage & space etc to make best use of your current available space?

I lived in a cottage with my parents & sister when growing up - my sister had the converted attic room, which was lovely & big with 4 veluxes, and she accessed it via a fixed wooden ladder (no proper staircase) and it wasnt an issue at all....her mates thought it was an ace way to get to her bedroom!

We are a fairly short family, so no worries about banging head on beams, but my mum was really clever with storage - got carpenters round to fit proper bespoke fitted shelves / units where needed and she was ruthless in binning clutter / things we didnt use or need. We were only a family of 4, but I am a mum of 3 now, and I am similarly ruthless with our kids stuff (and DH's!) - I do a black bin bag sweep of the house each month and bin anything that hasnt been used in past few months. I have alphabet hooks in our hallway with each member of family's initial - coats & bags hang on your own hook as soon as you get home.

We have masses of storage stuff for toys (fortunately have a playroom so its not spread round lounge!), magazines, dvds etc etc etc. I have a filing system (those wooden drawers from Ikea) for each child for school / preschool info.

Anyway, I'm waffling - what I'm trying to say is, you house sounds lovely (from your brief description) and I'm sure if you just got some good storage / furniture / order going on, you'd be more than happy and DH wouldnt feel like you're outgrowing your house. Go on marthastewart.com for masses of good storage / tidy ideas.
Good luck!

What a lovely helpful message icravecheese. Thank you.

We do have money saved that would pay for extension but worried about spending it following redundancy two years ago and only p/t wrk since.

I like the sound of where you grew up. Perhaps our attic room will be deemed cool one day!!

Will check out that website and aim to be more ruthless with the sorting out! Thanks again!