Help me make our small home work better for us?

[FullHousehere]

We currently live in a small rented terrace - I guess you'd call it a 2 up 2 down? We moved from a more spacious 2-bed home mainly to be in a better greener area for our DC. We have one 2 year old and currently TTC. We can't afford to buy a bigger place in this area and need to try and make it work a few years longer before we anticipate we will have saved enough for a bigger place. We are thinking 4-5 years which would mean living in our current home throughout the pre-school / early primary years (if we are lucky enough to have a 2nd DC). Importantly we are renting so there is only so much we can do to the property, and only so much expense we want to commit.

Looking for ideas or tips on having 2 DC in a "smaller" home and ways to make it work. Especially worried about sleeping arrangements once baby moves out of our room. How do people arrange this this please?

For context our set-up is:
tiny kitchen
tiny backyard not very usable as overgrown, shady and full of spiders
living room / dining room knocked through
2 bedrooms upstairs - small master bedroom includes desk for WFH
1 very small DC room currently has 2 year old's bed, chest of drawers and a chair. Not really space for more than that.
Bathroom with bath and shower thankfully
1 under the stairs cupboard is the ONLY storage for coats, shoes, Christmas decorations etc etc! We also have a storage double deb in the master where we keep suitcases etc. Literally no other storage!

We are close to the best primary school in the area so another reason not to move straight away.

Any tips for making our set up work for the next few years? Thank you!

I think Ikea and Facebook Marketplace are your friends here. I think with your timescales, you have probably at least 18 months maybe before you have to worry about putting the 2 children in one room? Your DC can stay in a toddler bed for now and when the new baby has to move into the 2nd bedroom, would therefore be enough room for a toddler bed and a cot? You probably don't need the chair so could it go there? Everything needs to have double us - so beds with drawers (IKEA), cot with under-cot-drawers, toddler bed with drawers. You can get very low loft beds (Ikea Kura - although check the age) where you can use the space underneath. Have a look on FB for large, freestanding wardrobes. I have just upcycled one, its beautiful and can hold tons of stuff (3 deep drawers at the bottom, shelves at the top). We've a family of 5 and it now has all of our bedlinen / towels, all cleaning products - but if you have space in the lounge / diner, it could house all the toys etc. You can also take it with you when you move. I'd also get one of those plastic garden storage containers and store whatever you can outside of the house too.

tiny backyard not very usable as overgrown, shady and full of spiders

Clear it so it is usable. Volume of spiders will reduce

I highly recommend an ottoman bed. I live in a house same as yours and the ottoman bed is brilliant! I keep all our bedding and towels in it. Also the out of season clothes and coats. I use the vacuum bags for maximum storage and to keep it fresh!

I have ikea kallax absolutely everywhere! I have 2 of the ikea pax wardrobes with drawers in. One is for me and one is for the kids.

I use a chest of drawers in the dining area as a sideboard. We keep all the kids school uniform in it which is handy as a have a downstairs bathroom.

Can you fit a double bed in the smaller room? Would it be an option for you to just have a bed in the small room and then have wardrobes in the kids bigger room?

Also if you can clear the garden get a shed. Amazing extra storage, you can take it with you when you move as well.

Clear the garden for full use
Small child play stuff for outside like wall mounted chalk board, mud kitchen, sandpit, aqua play.
Get two storage benches for the garden to a) sit at b) store all garden play stuff/ folding scooter/ beach toys

Everything indoors, careful furniture.
footstools or coffee tables with storage. Ottoman as extra seating and storage for hats/ bags/ stuff.

Don’t need to have everything toy wise. Use local play areas, or nursery to provide certain larger things

We have experience in this sort of living. We were in a central city flat when our children were small. The key to making it work is being organised, not having too much stuff, and DECLUTTER all the time.

Can you fit a small toddler bed and a cot into the small bedroom? Take the chair and chest of drawers out and just have it as a sleeping room.

I would suggest having the future DC2 in with you for as long as you can manage it. Maybe a year? But it will depend on their sleeping habits, maybe could move them in with DC1 sooner. (We were surprised at how well our DC shared a room and did sleep peacefully.).

Have your room as the storage place for all family clothes. It won’t look stylish but it means you can probably squeeze both children into the other bedroom. We even had some plastic storage boxes stacked in our bedroom because they were effective storage that didn’t take too much space.

Have the toys downstairs and use this as the play space. Don’t have too many toys. Use a toy library if you have one in your area.

Make the best of your outdoor area but you could also just go to the park a lot?

Good luck, op. It takes more effort to live in a small space but you can do it.

When it comes to kids toys buy as much second hand as possible. Certainly in larger items. You don't have room to hold onto them for passing down but second to third hand they don't lose value. So once they outgrow something, sell it again. Same with clothes.

Your rooms need to be versatile. Do you want a permanent table in dining room or is a drop leaf in the corner more efficient? I'd have a big side board for kitchen over flow and hidden toy storage.

Similarly a toddler bed does til a decent age. IKEA do extending beds. We have one. It's on middle setting so bigger than a toddler but not as long as a single. That bit of extra space is enough for a big toy box.
Or if they have to share a small room later something like this is much smaller than a proper bunk bed and surprisingly sturdy NDzYeg4MXSmdDy8OdsPlr9U1u2xLAQ7OlaK86lWhoCGyEQAvDBwE

Clothing rails take up less space than full wardrobes if there's not the room.

Plenty of people brought up well more than two children in these houses just a generation or so ago so you'll manage.

Like others I would recommend a ruthless declutter. Agree that you need to use the garden, if only for a storage bench. See if you can use the loft, or rent someone else’s for stuff which you’re not using at the moment but which you don’t want to get rid of. Could you get built in storage under the stairs? Re the kids room, we used an IKEA kura bed with a cot underneath for a while which worked well (google kura bed and cot and you’ll see some pictures).

I would have a discussion with the landlord about shelves/attaching things to the walls. Commit to making good, even professional redecoration when you move out, but a good selection of shelves, hooks and bookcases will make your space twice as useful compared to a mish mash of cheap freestanding furniture and stacks of plastic boxes.
Also you have to live lightly. Imagine you are camping or on a boat or something. One or less of everything.

Is there room to have a freestanding unit between the lounge and dining area that will give you storage for books/toys etc. Might feel counter-intuitive to divide a space when you don't have much room but could be good to feel as though the lounge is a more adult space and the dining area for family/toys, or however suits best. Plus you'd have a tall unit for storage and you could have some compartments with doors rather than all open shelving, to hide crap.🙂

Like this www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kallax-shelving-unit-with-8-inserts-white-s69017475/

Can you put DC(s) in larger bedroom and you and DH take smaller room? You'll be glad of more play space for DCs and more ways of dividing room, organising bedtimes if you have DC2. You can also have a wardrobe and other storage in there for you and DH.

Wall to wall shelving 18 inches from ceiling is also ideal for storage. We put IKEA boxes on a shelf like this when our DCs were small and kept clothes for DCs when older in there: DC1's outgrown clothes for when DC2 could use them and clothes from sales etc for DC1 to grow into. Under bed/sofa storage is also good, esp for toys so you aren't always tripping over them.

I think the key is putting stuff away when not in use, maximising floor space. Also clear the tiny garden.

Clear out ANYTHING you don't use regularly. Absolutely anything. Beds with storage under and maybe foldaway furniture like small dining table that extends out etc. Cabinet in dining room to store bits from kitchen if you are running out of room.

Clear the garden !

Why can't suitcases go in the loft? If you can't spread out, then go up, so bunk beds, tall wardrobes, floor to ceiling shelves, storage over the stairs with the landlord's permission. Definitely see if you can get a small shed or storage boxes in the garden.

I wouldn't have a second child but I don't suppose that will be a popular suggestion!

Agreed with clearing the garden definitely, and all of the furniture will need to be storage friendly as possible, under couch etc utilised as much as it can be.

So we bought a cabin bed and my husband made slats for the bottom - which created bunk beds. Except the bottom bunk is on the ground more or less and the cabin bed is lower than usual bunk beds.

My ds2 had a guard rail for a while when he moved from the cot into that bed.

I was much happier having him lower to the ground.

I second the declutter - my sons had markedly less toys than friends but the toys they do have they played with/really loved. I also think it’s made them appreciate what they choose themselves now they are old enough to do that.

Floorbeds. Our friends two boys are in a tiny bedroom and because they both have floorbeds it makes the room feel bigger. They sort of use them as an extension of the floorspace for games, sitting, fighting on!

Also renting a small storage unit can be worth it - say up to £100 a month? If you pack smartly you can get masses in even the small ones.

if your garden has no grass, get lots of these mats and put them down to make a play-space. Add a storage bench for a few garden toys and some pots with plants in, and you will have much better use of the space in the summer.

www.argos.co.uk/product/1587247?clickPR=plp:1:28

www.argos.co.uk/product/9444715?clickSR=slp:term:garden%20bench:4:42:1

Are there high ceilings anywhere in the house? if so, can you use any high-up space for storage?

My DD's were in toddler beds until they were nine. Admittedly they aren't very big people but it's not worth getting a single bed, which people probably do to save money in the long term, when you are short on space.

Buying storage isn't the answer, you need less stuff. Don't buy anything without thinking where you are going to keep it. Only have two bedding sets per size of bed for example. Don't buy Christmas bedding or keep that kingsize sheet you bought by mistake in case you ever get a kingsize bed.

We were on a toy library when mine were little.

We live in a back to back terrace, so one room downstairs and a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor with a tiny landing. We also have the attic converted into a second bedroom. No garden.

Obviously with it being a back to back terrace there is no scope for extending!

There's not much you can do with a space like that. We basically all sleep in the attic room together, use the first floor bedroom as a lounge, with the ground floor being the tiny kitchen (essentially an oven, a fridge, a sink and one cupboard) and the rest of the room is for stuff like bikes, toys etc.

It doesn't look like a show home and it's quite messy when you first walk in through the front door but it's the best use of space.