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Original poster

If you live in a 3 bedroom property with 2 DC

40 replies

Squashedinabox · 23/02/2014 11:05

What is your total usable floor area (in m^2 if you know)?

Do you have provision for guests? Would you give each DC a room and equip one (the largest) with the possibility to sleep two and put the child in with sibling when you have visitors? Or not bother to cater for visitors on the basis that they are the DC's bedrooms and it's not fair to move one out for other people.

OP posts:
insancerre · 23/02/2014 11:12

when the DC were smaller we llived in a 3 bed terrace
we bought a sofa bed and guests slept in this in the living room
the DC had their own rooms
For sleepovers the visiting children just slept on the floor. I don't believe in turfing people out of their own beds.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 23/02/2014 11:14

Visitors get introduced to our blow up bed.

we don't have many visitors

we is antisocial

SidandAndyssextoy · 23/02/2014 11:15

We have three kids and four bedrooms so similar, but only two double bedrooms that could house a visiting couple. Our first resort is a big, comfy blow up bed in the dining room but we also have an Ikea Hemnes bed in the kids room that can be a double, and we turf the kids out if we get visitors for more than a couple of nights or who don't do air beds. My brother and I were always put on camp beds when visitors came!

LEMmingaround · 23/02/2014 11:15

I have never ever given this a moments thought this is because i am anti-social and don't like people very much and the thought of having overnight guests brings me out in hives

TeWiSavesTheDay · 23/02/2014 11:16

(we have 3dc, but the baby is still in our room)

I have no idea about floor area. Not a lot. We have 2 ok doubles and a box room just bug enough for a single bed, storage over the box and a desk.

Dc have a room each, guests sleep on sofa bed in the front room.

MirandaWest · 23/02/2014 11:16

I have two DC and three bedrooms. If there are visitors then I go downstairs and sleep on a futon mattress in the front room and give visitors my bed. But I am the only adult so that makes things easier.

littleblackno · 23/02/2014 11:17

I guess it depends how often you have guests.
If the kids have a sleepover then the kids usually work it out between them with a fold out bed.
my mum sleeps on the sofa, don't often have anyone else stay but I don't usually expect the kids to move if I can help it.

ArtyFartyQueen · 23/02/2014 11:18

No idea about floor area but one of the bedrooms is tiny which DS has and DD who is older has the larger bedroom as most DS's toys are still downstairs! We have a sofa bed in the living room and a futon in the kitchen plus we would happily give up our room for guests to sleep in.

MirandaWest · 23/02/2014 11:21

If one of the DC is having a sleepover then they sleep on futon mattresses in the front room.

changedtoday · 23/02/2014 11:27

We had/have a sofabed. In some circumstances DH and me use it and guests get our bed room, there's extra space for kids campbeds there, also as you have to walk through living room to get to the kitchen. Would not move my kids, their rooms are tiny anyway.

affinia · 23/02/2014 12:06

We currently have 3 Dc in a 3 bed house. One DC has own room with double bed. When we have adult guests, he moves into room with other 2 DC. It works absolutely fine, kids love having guests and get used to being flexible and sharing when they have to too. Its what I grew up with too.

About to extend mainly for downstairs space but two storey so all DC will have their own room but still same arrangement for guests. We have a lot of guests so we fit as many sleeping options as we can. 2 of the DCs' rooms will have bunk beds, 1 will have a double and downstairs the extension will have a sofa bed. Elderly parents will still always be given the proper double bed in the DC's room but when our siblings visit with their families the adults will have the sofabed and beds for our kids and visiting kids will be allocated according to how we'll all get the most sleep!

Original poster
Squashedinabox · 23/02/2014 12:09

Wow, wasn't expecting so many answers so quickly! Visitors having our room would be out of the question. When I was small, visitors always got my room because it was the largest and had two beds and I got a camp bed on the floor of my sisters room. I thought this was normal. DH is horrified at the idea of taking someone's bedroom away for visitors. For children, it wouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking more about family/friends (I live in a different country to my family and most of my friends). Our sofa isn't really useable as a bed and we don't have a sofa bed. Just thinking through options for moving DC2 out of a cot.
We would be in a flat, with each having a decent sized bedroom. Rest of flat is open plan.

OP posts:
TheGreatHunt · 23/02/2014 13:45

Two DC, three bedroom. The DC share the smallest bedroom so yes plenty of space for guest. Our square footage is quite a lot I think - its a flat but has two reception room, separate kitchen and utility.

colleysmill · 23/02/2014 13:56

We have a fairly big 3 bed house (quite rural, not overlooked at all) .

there's a futon in the conservatory and a campervan on the drive so any visitors can have our room and we will move to one of these.

PhoebeMcPeePee · 23/02/2014 14:03

We have 2 DC & 3 beds. DC have always shared previously in the largest bedroom that doubled as a playroom but we realised our smallest (single) bedroom rarely got used & became a dumping ground so just put DC in bunks in the little room & the big room is playroom with double sofa bed. Can't believe we didn't think of doing it years ago as we too have rellies who visit from afar & I hated using blow-up bed in the living room or giving up our bed.

Fairylea · 23/02/2014 14:04

We have no room for visitors. But that's ok because we never ask anyone to stay :) (antisocial bastards).

We have two bedrooms on one side of the central staircase and one on the other. We gave our eldest dd the largest bedroom in the house next to the other bedroom which is now toddler sons room and we have the medium bedroom. We like not being right next to the kids as we don't have to worry about making any noise and waking them up.

sleepyhead · 23/02/2014 14:11

We've recently moved to a 3 bed flat. Overall sqm is 72 and the bedrooms are all ok sized doubles (leaving the kitchen and livingroom both smaller than I'd like, but it was worth it for the extra bedroom).

We wanted 3 beds as there's a 6 year age gap between ds1 and ds2 so it would be harder for them to share happily when ds1's a teenager.

Currently ds2 has the slightly larger room (down to my mistake when getting the movers to put furniture into rooms and we couldn't be bothered changing it) and we put a sofa bed in there for when my parents etc stay over. Ds2 sleeps in a travel cot in ds1's room when there' guests.

Ds1 is still in an IKEA junior size bed so when ds2 moves out of his cot the plan is to move him into ds1's room (and bed), and to give ds1 the bigger room with a loft bed. There will be room for the sofa bed under the loft bed so that he can use it for sleepovers, and when guests stay he'll sleep on the floor in ds2's room.

We all shared one bedroom in our last flat though, so I think we're a lot less fussy about personal space than most people. Plus we don't have that many visitors so it's not like the dcs are being turfed out of their rooms every weekend by any means.

thinking101 · 23/02/2014 14:15

We have three bedrooms.

My DM is the only one who comes to stay, shee sleep in our double bed and we sleep on sofas. She has health issues that just mean its more comfy for her to be in the bed.

Im sorry I dont know the floor space. But I feel we are bursting out of our house. I feel it it stresses me out, which I feel guilty for as it is nice, modest and in quite a good area, newish build. I moan about it.

So we dont have anyone else to stay becasue we dont have space. We have had kids sleep on blow on two occasions, but I'm never doing sleepovers again anyway Wink

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 23/02/2014 14:16

We have 3 bedrooms, both DS has their own room, one is more of a box!

Visitors aren't a problem, no one wants to stayGrin

I think if we did entertain regularly, we would get a sofa bed in the lounge. Our kitchen/ diner is a very large and open plan with a sofa in, so we only normally use the lounge during the evening anyway.

I would hate to have people staying though, I'd have to clean, and talk to themShock

CrazyOldCatLady · 23/02/2014 14:16

Ours is 92 square metres.

We don't accommodate visitors. DH and I have a double bed, DD has a toddler bed and DS is still in a cot. The only other place to sleep would be the couch and it's not comfy enough for sleeping.

We're moving the kids into Ikea Kura beds at Christmas which will give us some scope for sleepovers in the future.

Mrsladybirdface · 23/02/2014 14:22

We're in a 3 bedroom bungalow with 2 DCs. DC1 has the biggest bedroom as it was originally the lounge. We have just just purchased this second hand (just waiting for new mattress to arrive)

triple bunk beds

It was so we can have guests and also because we're always bed swapping because of the DCs and I was fed up of ending up squished in a single bed!

ShoeWhore · 23/02/2014 14:27

Not sure on sq m.

But have 3 dcs, 4 bedrooms. 2 dcs currently share, although this may change when they are older (for now they love it and are much nearer to us, so it works well)

Spare room has a double bed, so visiting couples or families with one baby sleep in there. When bigger families come to stay ds1 moves into his brothers' room and we put visiting children to sleep in his room. The dcs find all this loads of fun!

Fridayschild · 23/02/2014 16:16

DC share the biggest room. The third bedroom is a study with a sofa bed, fine for one adult, a bit too small for two. But I am the only adult normally so I can move in there if I need to.

Dcs room is enormous. We cOuld get about eight children in there sleeping on the floor if we wanted too.

Willow33 · 23/02/2014 22:35

Growing up, we gave our beds up for guests and when we went to stay at other people's houses, they gave their beds up for us but am not from a European background.
However I have now adopted the more inhospitable way of giving guests the sofa bed ;-)

RuddyDuck · 24/02/2014 00:48

We technically have a 4 bedroom house, but the smallest bedroom is very small and we use it as a study. Dc each have their own room. If their friends stay over then they sleep on the bedroom floor on fold out mattresses.

We do have 2 reception rooms though. One used to be the dcs playroom but since they became teens they live in their bedrooms and the room is fairly unused. We bought the best quality sofa bed we could, plus put a single bed in there which is dressed up with cushions etc to make it like a sofa. So if we have one adult guest they can choose the single bed or sofa bed, and if it's a couple they have the sofa bed.

Most of our visitors are family. When one set of relatives visits, they opt to stay at a nearby b&b, because they hate not having their own bathroom. Hmm

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