Third bedroom off the second

[Misty9]

Nearly every house in my budget is a terrace in this configuration. How does it work with two kids though?! Is it really workable to have one sleeping in a room off the other? And one is usually much smaller than the other too. Or do people only put nurseries and walk in wardrobes in these rooms? It seems so impractical.

I have this layout. Only 1 dd though so it works. I turned mine into a big en-suite.

I would keep looking tbh, unless your kids are happy to share? Some of the terraces I’ve seen have the kids in the bedroom with the one off and they both have both bedrooms. But as a pp said this may not work as they get older.

Can you split the master bedroom into 2 bedrooms and you have the two bedrooms and make a shower room or dressing room?

Look for one with stairs which come out on a landing on the same side as the kitchen extension. Get one like that, and it's an easy job.

OR look for one with two windows at the front, so you have the option of splitting the front bedroom into two.

You'd have to create a hallway. You could probably do it with cheap stud wall. The only lintel you'd need would possibly be above the back bedroom door if it's in a new position.

In the example you showed you'd have to double back at the top of the stairs so there was a hallway along the left hand wall running up to bedroom 3.

Relatively cheap to sort but you'd be losing a fair bit off bedroom 2 - 3 feet in both direction in the example.

Could you change the stair case to a spiral staircase - not ideal but would give you extra room upstairs to use

This one would be easy.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/fullscreen/view-floorplan.html?propertyId=60929913&index=0&width=1280&height=800

I don't think you need to discount them all, you need to look at each one and see how it could be made to work. Eg in the example you give you might be able to do this - you would loose space from both bed 1 and 2 and would have to remove the fireplace in bed 3 though.

Our house row is a load of terrace semidetached... size and look of a a terrace but in pairs. Our adjoining house (and all the right hand houses) have stairs running the opposite way to us. They have the corridor, and have a loft conversion, so have 3 proper bedrooms and the bathroom where our 3rd bedroom is (off a corridor) (and their opposite sex teenagers in separate rooms).

I just wouldn't touch that if you need 3 bedrooms. Most things you can work around, but every bedroom needs its own access.

I think you could get a corridor in there if you lose the fireplace. Tight turn at the end to get to the back bedroom. Both rooms would be small but separate.

Not an ideal solution though. Personally I would discount those properties as the corridor bedroom person will never have any privacy.

Lived in similar as a child. We had the stairs moved in the end.

We bought a house like this , had the stairs turned round and a stud wall put in to create separate hallway and access. it is possible. Is this a house you would stay in long term if you did make big changes ? If not I would carry on looking.

Our old house was like this so we turned the stairs around which worked brilliantly. Obviously not a quick / cheap fix but improved the layout of the house ten-fold.

I think you could get a corridor in there if you lose the fireplace. Tight turn at the end to get to the back bedroom. Both rooms would be small but separate.

I thought that but in the example house I then realised it would leave the middle bedroom with no window

These are actually real gems. Kent has a ton of these. Buy it and turn the staircase around. Stuff wall from new staircase into the now third bedroom. You've just increased value by making it into a proper 3 bedroom. A friend of mine used to do these regularly.

*stud wall

SoupDragon Ah yes, didn't notice that! A good bedroom for a toddler though, you wouldn't have to worry about getting blackouts.

I live in a row of identical houses.

All have turned it into a bathroom.
Some have added a corridor but it makes the 2nd bedroom small and no longer a usable double.

The lofts of these houses have enough headroom to convert so I don’t see why you would add corridors and reduce space unless you were doing that.

Ps - love these houses.
Because they have character and large room sizes /ceiling heights they command a premium
It’s a premium I’d always pay as if much rather something quirky than a larger new house.