To buy or not to buy

[fluffybunny2001]

Hi All

My OH and I are currently at odds over a potential move and thought it might be useful to get some thoughts. Just to say we have DD (8) and DS (4). Thanks in advance to anyone who offers their nuggets of wisdom.

We are currently in a detached three bed house with allocated parking spaces in a shared car park out the back of the property. All three rooms are double size. We have a biggish front garden we can't keep on top of and the back garden is big enough for what we need.

Locally there is a lot of building and we started talking about potentially up-sizing to a 4 bed with garage and driveway. My OH has his heart set on a particular model which has some cons: larger kitchen, utility area, garage, drive, closer to DD (aged 8) next school which she will be walking to and it would be a shorter walk than she would have to where we are now, on a no through road so minimal traffic, small fourth bedroom for toys and a sofa bed for guests - we have a lot of people coming and going including in-laws, cousins etc.

There are few cons but one of them is huge for me which is that DS would move to a much smaller bedroom and our room would be very compact too. This move would probably be a home until the kids reach adulthood so for me downsizing DS feel wrong given what we have now. I have gone back and forth arguing in my head "rooms are only really for sleeping", "more space downstairs would encourage more family time" and it goes around and around!

I am just wondering what similar experiences people might have that they can share. I know he will probably not care right now - but down the line I am just not sure it is fair to take away all the space he has now for the long term.

Just to say I feel very grateful for what we have now - it is just given the option it is something we want to explore properly.

Thanks so much!

Well, if the thought of small bedrooms annoys you before you've even moved, it will annoy you even more down the line. If you can't get decent wardrobes in your bedroom you are stuffed for storage. I know a lot of them have built in ones now, but they often aren't that generous.
Some show homes near us had bedrooms (and the obligatory en suite) crammed in. The master bedroom was so small that you would not have been able to fit a superking bed in there - it would have blocked the bathroom door.
And teenagers like to spend time in their rooms. They seem to like alone time rather than family time.
If you like your current house, could you extend instead?

Thanks. Our roof has these weird cross beams as we are on a corner so the house makes a v shape. Our friends who live in the same house type looked into it but were told it would be a no-go due to the roof set up. It is a shame though as that would be the ideal!

We spent a long time looking for houses with two similar/decent sized rooms for our children so it was important as my brother always had the box room at home growing up and resented it. but overall downstairs space was more important and it sounds like the new house would offer that?

We've just renovated our bedroom to expand it from 2.8×3m to 2.8×4m and the difference is amazing. I always hated our bedroom and I would definitely not buy something so small again as placing the wardrobe and bed (couldn't open door fully without bashing off the end of the bed) was awkward and made me feel like I was second best to the kids and had no room for my stuff so I'd be wary of going too cramped in your bedroom.

Is the 4th bedroom you plan to use as a spare room bigger than the 3rd bedroom for DS so could swap your plans around?

"Is the 4th bedroom you plan to use as a spare room bigger than the 3rd bedroom for DS so could swap your plans around?"

Thanks! The fourth bedroom is two mtrs wide and about three and a half mtrs long so would still be on the compact side for him. It is long and thin....I do love everything else about the house - just this bedroom issue.

This is the floorplan upstairs:

bloorhomes.com/developments/south-midlands/st-andrews-park/the-bredon/plot-76

Could you extend your current house to get more room downstairs?

I find this house very claustrophobic. The rooms in the show home have been dressed very skilfully but they're all pokey. Is the sq footage actually any bigger than your current property?

What is the total sq ft? It seems like they have crammed in a LOT of bedrooms and bathrooms into a small footprint.

The kitchen is not big enough for a kitchen/diner/family room. Bad layout IMO

The two smaller bedrooms are def on the small side.

I'm not a fan. Is this really an 'upsize'?

Even the bigger bedrooms are small. No way could you get a wardrobe for two in that master.

There are no wardrobes in either of the small bedrooms as far as I could see, and no room for them either.