Move or not? How small is too small?

[Toolateplanting]

We live in a big (rented) flat. Secure tenancy.
Have found a house with a garden in budget to buy (rare). Also it’s within our secondary school catchment (also rare).
It is only 69square metres. 2 bedrooms one of which looks titchy (2.5m wide). There are four of us - me partner two girls of primary school age.
Any thoughts? Our flat has probably close on 100square metres but no outside space whatsoever, not even shared. But how would it feel living with so little indoor space?

Yes - I think it's too small.
You would barely get a set of bunk beds in the 2nd bedroom.

Could it be extended / loft conversion? Would you have funds to do this immediately on moving in

Couldn’t do extension for a while but would aim to do a kitchen extension first (couldn’t get a dining table into kitchen without this) and then add a shed/garage that could be a home office in daytime and a kids’ space for hanging out with their friends in evenings/weekends.
Give the girls the bigger bedroom and us take the little room.
But I don’t think we could even fit a wardrobe in that room!! Right now I am working from home full time and likely to still be 2-3 days a week in perpetuity. Got to put a desk somewhere.

I guess this is why it’s affordable.
Really torn because that beautiful outside space would be so so good.

But no one moves into somewhere with an unfeasibly small second bedroom just when kids are needing more of their own space, do they…

Bedroom 1 3.5 x 3.8
Bedroom 2 3.2 x 2.5

2 growing DDs, WFH full time with bedrooms so small the DDs couldn't play in them whilst you're working from home.

And if it's so small the re-sale potential is poor too

Sorry this house is a recipe for disaster

I'd do it to get on the property ladder. Can you show a floor plan? I bet there are ways to make it work.

Thanks for being so blunt… I need to print out that post and stick it to my forehead!!!
And somehow add £100k (ha ha ha) to my house shopping budget to be able to get the home that would actually work.
I should pace out those bedrooms and imagine cramming our lives into them.

Pics here of floor plan.
Imagine small kitchen extension maybe 3m deep after a few years. But don’t imagine a second storey extension! Don’t think we could afford that for so long it’s not worth figuring it in.

I think those room sizes are totally doable.

I would do it for outdoor space and getting on property ladder.
You and DH in small bedroom with clothes storage discreetly placed elsewhere in house,
Bed like this for most of your clothes!

www.argos.co.uk/product/7237096

You only need to sleep in your bedroom becuase you can relax in living room after kids asleep

The girls are not going to stay the same size! They are going to get bigger, and their needs will change. Where for example will they have space to do their homework in comfort, to have their friends round to socialise (let alone sleep overs) , where will they be able to have some important time away from each other (and you!) . That house is barely big enough for two people, let alone four.

Or even kids in small room with something like this would fit

www.argos.co.uk/product/8271893

If the plan is to extend eventually it's not tiny for a bedroom. My son's room is 2.2x 3 and if it had bunk beds instead of a mid sleeper would work for 2. There's a desk by the window on the right and a chest of drawers on the left, we can fit all of us on the floor for stories at bedtime. There can be some really great ideas for small shared rooms on Pinterest etc

@Modestandatinybitsexy that’s the bed we have now ! Great minds :) with the IKEA hack to turn it into a bunk bed.

Also the age gap between the girls is 4 years so they do have different needs at times… they share well just now but ideally the move would be to somewhere with more space, not less!

@nellly I really like that bunk bed link! Looks grown up enough for teenagers too.

If I managed the home office/garden room that would give them dedicated space to have friends round with a bit of privacy.

I do feel anxious about still not being on property ladder. Not a spring chicken either.

I would do it if there is room in the garden for a home office. Worth it to get on the housing ladder. I can't see the links above at the moment but beds in an L shape can work and give the kids their own space.

@Toolateplanting It's a very similar layout to mine. I bought my house as a single person and it was perfect, add another person and a dog and it now feels cramped. I absolutely couldn't imagine trying to squeeze two kids in too. I'd stay where you are in a bigger property.

@userxx it would be perfect for a single person I reckon! Maybe that’s the problem I’m dreaming of my alternative reality where it is just me, thousands of books, plants and several cats…

My DP has a house identical to this. It’s him and his teen PT. there’s no way it’s big enough for more than the 1.5 of them.

The bedroom is only a couple of square metres smaller than where they are. All the rooms are a bit smaller but having paced out the shapes we lose one desk space (currently DP and I have one each) all of our useful large square hall where we currently keep bikes, all 3 big useful storage cupboards and the space for the dining table so that would have to squish into the living room.
We would gain front and back garden, scope for kitchen extension, scope for sheds and storage in garden. And maybe a cat!!

Still sound worth it.

When I bought my first house it was massive for one.....we then expanded and became 2, 3, 4 and finally 5......it was tight but we did it. Other people on the street had 5 in the 3 beds..... you just make it work. You use every bit of space there is. Pull down work desks, ottoman beds, book shelves on the landing etc etc I used my loft a lot for storage....have a good loft ladder so it's easy to get up and down.
Bikes will go in a shed outside. You'll survive.

Honestly, I would get on the ladder too. Especially if there's things you can do to add value to the house eg kitchen extension.

We lived with our family in a too small house, and have just moved up to a 4 bed. But we needed the equity that built up from sticking it out in a house that was too small for a good few years to do it.

There’s a reason you can afford it.

I’d look for a flat with a larger footprint. A garden is lovely and this is the time of year when you dream of time in the garden. But the rest of the year, when you’re all stuck in one room because the kids have a bedroom too small to play in?

I wouldn’t do it.

My daughter has a similar sized bedroom (albeit to herself), a few inches narrower but a few inches longer. She currently has a single bed with drawers underneath, a double wardrobe, desk, bedside table and toy storage. We could fit a chest of drawers in if she didn't have the under bed drawers. She still has enough floor space to play a game.

I think a garden is invaluable, as is being in a good school catchment area, and of course you're not throwing money away on rent.

I think you could make it work.