Would you split a bedroom into two very small rooms to ensure children have their own space?

[Wiifitmama]

We are in a 3 bedroom flat with 3 kids (all boys). Eldest teen has smallest bedroom which is fine. Two other boys have a shared room. It's double, though not massive at all.

We recently tried to sell to move to a bigger house without success. We have decided to stay put for a good few years now. We really do like everything else about our place, but wanted the two younger boys to have their own rooms as they got older. (11 year old is already expressing his dissatisfaction with the current situation). I should also mention, there is no possibility to extend our flat at all as we are in a conservation area with very strict rules.

We plan to do a rebuild of kitchen/conservatory now that we are staying and could possibly gain a little space for their bedroom when we do this as it has a shared wall with the kitchen. If we gain this small amount of space, I think it would be possible to split their bedroom into two small rooms (each would be like their elder brothers which fits a high bed with desk and chest of drawers under, a single wardrobe and a book shelf - no extra floor space really except to walk through). We have high ceilings so it works to go upwards with furniture and doesn't feel as cramped.

My gut tells me this is the right thing to do as they could have their own rooms. But I do wonder about resale in the future. Our bedroom is a very good sized master bedroom with ensuite, but it would leave three other very small bedrooms.

So would you do this?

Wall length folding doors (splitting room in half) with access from reception for the new room next to the kitchen? Industrial specifications with good sound, insulation, etc may cost no more.

This will appeal to a variety of buyers who value one room or two rooms, and even allow a guest room to be separated from say a study. The only structural change would be the new door.

Does the part that says ensuite belong to the neighbors? If not you could rip it out and you could have two decent sized rooms.

or how about this but higher s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/c8/06/1f/c8061f63aca3933d5c2c96d6e04318a5.jpg

Would it be a big problem if the beds overapped into the windows by a few inches.

Celing height folding partition sounds a good idea

The bedrooms , by coincidence, would be pretty much exactly the same size as your bathroom if that helps you get an idea if that's a workable size or not.

Let the boys share the bigger room with the bay window and you have their room ?

I really wouldn't reduce your kitchen for this.

Would it be ridiculous to consider re-purposing themail boys bedroom to be a slightly smaller master bedroom and split the bay-windowed room instead?

Or split their room and add another entrance to the inner bit from the kitchen ? That way you wouldn't waste space for an extra corridor. Not sure if you can actually have a bedroom off a kitchen though.

If you let the beds overlap the window slightly it could still work perhaps ? If you have blackout blinds inside the window reveal ?! I was hoping you had 2'6" beds !

I wouldn't take anything from the kitchen.

I agree about putting in a 2nd door from the lounge - it should give enough space to split it as is, much cheaper and just as easy to remove if/when you come to sell.

Actually I stayed in a house with high ceilings and they built a bed platform in one room very high up that jutted into the room next to it - so a partition wall where the room was wider about 3' from the top of the ceiling than further down.

If you have high ceilings could you spit the room into two by putting a mezzanine in?

How about a room in the garden for the eldest...

It's a conservation area so no buildings allowed in the garden.

I can't give them the big bedroom as I also use it as my office - I work from home teaching online. I need a reasonable desk space.

I am intrigued by the whole mezzanine thing or bed platform but just can't picture what you mean. I would be amenable to having bespoke furniture built if it ended up with a good usable space. I would also consider a movable wall.

How high is the ceiling?

Well I have never measured but they are very high. It was built around 1890.

Something like this? You could section off the sleeping areas so that they both have their own private space.

I split a bedroom into 2 spaces with a curtain rail. Not really 2 rooms but at least they both had their own space.

Obviously on a slightly smaller scale.

I appreciate the help but i really don't understand those pictures. They are not separate bedrooms? I can reconfigure their current room so they have separate sides. But what I really am trying to achieve is two completely separate bedrooms - with walls and a door that they can shut.

Perhaps you could box in the mezzanine (and build in a hallway so the 'downstairs' room is private too).

Hence asking about room height - need to know if it's really high enough to do it!

The cheapest, easiest option would be to split room in 2 and have a new door from the lounge. Presumably the rooms would then be 6'5" wide by 11'1 each. High rise bed etc in each one.

Could you have bedroom 2 with the layout Scoop has illustrated with the photo- bed under mezzanine platform which is your office space. Make the access to the en suite from that bedroom. Block off access to en suite from bedroom 1.

Boys have bedroom 1 split into 2 (would they both have a window)

I really don't want to put a door in the lounge if I can avoid it. I already don't like the fact that our lounge is a sort of hallway (as there isn't one) through to the kitchen. Putting a door to the bedroom in there seems like it would make it more so. On the other hand, it would certainly be the simplest.

You can't access the ensuite from bedroom 2. On the floorplan where it says ensuite, that is because they couldn't fit the word into the actual ensuite. That space is the stairs to the upstairs flat (accessed from outside) so it is not a space we can utilise.