Would you move from a 3 bed house to a 2 bed?

[tigerbear]

Even if the 2 bed was bigger?
Saw a house at the weekend like this - ideal location for us, very peaceful and secluded, end of terrace.
A bit bigger than where we are now, meaning DD would get a bigger bedroom (one of the reasons we’re considering moving).
However, I work from home and have to do a lot of video calls, so our spare room is our office, plus the room for hanging out to the washing in, and just generally hiding stuff in when people come round.

Am I stupid to consider losing a spare room? The house we’re considering has a conservatory (which we’d change into a proper sun room), but this is where our dining table would go.

Would there be scope to make a study/bedroom elsewhere?

Loft, garden room, convert garage, move walls to make 3 bedrooms etc?

If it ticks every other box, location etc, and you can accommodate a room somewhere, then I'd go for it.

Garden office?

I wouldn’t move unless you could eventually extend for a 3rd room for work from home and/or guests - eg a loft conversion, converted garage or garden room

But that’s because I’ve done the opposite - small 2 bed to a 3 bed with a 4th room downstairs and I genuinely like having a separate space for wfh

No space for a garden office, due to the size of the conservatory
not sure if there’s a useable loft space - will check at next viewing
Other houses in the terrace have divided one of the rooms to make a 3 bed, but then DD would have a much smaller room than now, we’d be talking 6x5ft
There’s a garage, but not right next to the house

So you are wondering if you can downsize from a 2 bed plus office to a 2 bed as that is actually the set up you have. Focus on seeing if a house can accommodate an office first before deciding on a 2/3 bedroom, whether that's a third bedroom, dining room or outside shed thing.

For me the location would override the work calls space, work needs shouldn’t have that much control over location.

Personally I wouldn’t ever go less than a 3 bed no matter how small the 3rd was. Always good to keep washing out the way or work from. I’m assuming that you won’t be having any more children or if there is a possibility then a definite no. If you have your heart set on it could you work from the dining room? Maybe get a nice sideboard to store your work stuff out the way when not in use? Is there a large cupboard that would fit a desk? I did this in one of my old houses and when I opened the door my chair would sit in the hall but had all my computer stuff/files. Not ideal as if on an important call had to give warning so I didn’t have family members walking past!

@Ineedtoloseweightnow there’s actually a space in the porch type area, which is all glass, where I think I could install a fold down desk … but thinking about it further, I could actually probably use the dining table in the conservatory to work from and do Zoom calls.

def not having any more DC, and DD is nearly a teen, so doesn’t need as much space for toys now.

We went from 5 to 3 because of location, and love it.. location trumps size for me everyday..

I did when I lived on my own - sold my semi detached 3-bed for a mid terrace 2-bed, because the latter was in a much more desirable area with a lovely view.

As someone who just spent the last couple of years working from home in a conservatory as a fudge-around for a 2 bed... don't. Too hot... too cold and the light levels was what was the biggest pain in the arse - people complaining on calls that I was silhouetted out against the sun and could I turn off the lights... no mate I cannot turn off the bloody sun. Blinds had their limits too.

I wouldn’t lose the spare room, no. It will also be harder to sell than a 3-bed if you want to move.

We went from a 5 to a 2 and really regret it!

Only two of us living at home these days, but it's awful having to juggle desk/bookcases (we love our books!) and guest space. Like @Ineedtoloseweightnow said, having somewhere separate for putting the washing makes sense too. In our (large) two bed we struggle with all the above. I certainly wouldn't move to a two bed if I still had a teen DD/DS living at home - however perfect the location. I also wouldn't want to work in a conservatory as I recall the extremes of temperatures we had in one at a previous house - it was never exactly right.

In our case there's loads of space outside for a garden office and we were going to build one as well as an extension. However, we've decided that although our location is really lovely, we'd rather have more bedrooms/slightly larger house and a garden building - however practical - is never going to feel like part of the home (although would make a great teen den!). So we're going to sell instead.

Currently our desk is on the upstairs landing but when dressing the house to sell I'm planning to either put it in the larger bedroom where there's lots of room for it, or else in a walk-in cupboard that's in our - otherwise fairly tight - bed 2.

I think a buyer might choose to reconfigure our upstairs layout, because a third room could definitely be squeezed in with a bit of ingenuity. So, as well as a potential loft conversion, that's definitely worth considering too @tigerbear

personally no because I hate having my work stuff out in my living space on an evening (I have a full desk set up with monitor, keyboard etc because I couldn't work off a laptop on a small desk) and I need a spare room as family and close friends live miles away.

If you work from home a lot, I wouldn’t lose that room. It’ll impact on everyone else in the house if they have to tiptoe round you. And it would be awful working in a conservatory if you don’t have to.

No space for a garden office, due to the size of the conservatory

This would put me off regardless of the bedroom numbers as it sounds like the conservatory is too large for the garden.

@Kennykenkencat we didn’t go for that house, and I see it’s still on the market, so think over priced at £700k!!