Tiny third bedrooms

[mnahmnah]

Hi

Every house we look at has a tiny third bedroom. Some tinier than others, but all small. We have found a house that is otherwise perfect. We could convert the loft, but obviously until we moved in we couldn’t get a quote to know what the cost so and whether we can afford it. So just in case we can’t…

Have any of you made a room work as a bedroom on the measurements of 2.34 x 1.7? It would be for a 6 year old. Hopefully by the time he is bigger we could definitely convert the loft!

We had bedrooms like this and by the time DC1 is year 5 or 6, it’s too small. It only fits a bed and a desk and some toys. I can’t even fit a wardrobe.

That kind of dimension is good for a study but not as a bedroom. I have one to WFH now and it’s bliss.

He’s only 6, so by the time he really would need more space we should have converted the loft. We can certainly make it work for now I think. Thanks all!

I don't know why architects design houses with such small third bedrooms. Why can't they design houses with three equal sized bedrooms?

I had one like this as a child and loved it. So cosy!

Bedroom 3 should be described as an office really not a bedroom, with a width of less than 6 feet.

Ok for a 6 year old but he will grow out of it soon, would be my worry. Sorry, but I would personally carry on looking for a house with a bigger bedroom 3.

@KnickerlessParsons

I keep saying that in every house we look at! Did they have different requirements in the 1930s?! They certainly didn’t work from home and need an office

@Twiglets1

Give or take a couple of inches, every single three bed house is like that around here. The only one we have found that has a bigger third bedroom needs tons of work doing that we just couldn’t do

Pre 60s people had more kids and you would have several in the bigger room and 1 or 2 in the box room. People just have massive expectations now compared to when they were built.

I live in a house that was like this. My friend has similar and her 9 year old is fine. She's been clever with the type of bed she picked and storage is largely under it and on the wall. The room does have a built in wardrobe which helps.

In my case, we converted the loft and the tiny bedroom became the lobby for the new staircase. It's still a reasonable space and has storage for towels and sheets etc. At one point we had a small office in the space. So I'd say you can manage for now but a loft conversion is great and I have a big room and small en suite up there. It also adds considerable value.

We have a teeny tiny box room and 10 year old girl has it and loves it! We built her a bed using ikea kallax so she has clothes storage under the bed, books and niknaks on the shelves above her bed and just enough hanging space in the bulkhead boiler cupboard for her school uniform. The room is so cozy and lovely. The boys share a not much bigger room and have bunk beds.
We do already have a loft conversion but it's full of crap and I'm not convinced safe as a bedroom. The kids play downstairs and bedrooms are really just for sleeping, so for us we've gone for living space (2 reception rooms) over bedroom space & it works fine.
If we do use the loft as a bedroom someday then one of the kids will still have the tiny room anyway unless the boys choose to share forever.

We have a 2.1 x 2.3. it is very tight. We can only fit a bed under the window. It won't fit the other way. We also have a small wardrobe and a pull down desk attached to the wall although they have to sit on bed to use it.

It isn't ideal but after 13 yes of sharing my 14 yes old is absolutely thrilled to have a space of their own.

As soon as one of the older kids moves out we will rotate rooms and turn it into an office as she currently works in the kitchen.

Whilst not ideal it was the best solution for our budget with three teens, because at that age having their own space is way more important than the size of it

I had a smaller bedroom than that until I was 19 & went to Uni, you could JUST get a 3' wide 6' bed in it, but not open the door fully. After I left , my parents got 5'6" bunk beds & moved my sister in with me (we were both 5'7" tall...) so I had to share during the holidays. First thing that I bought when I got my own house was a king sized bed.

As long as it can fit a single bed in, it can be described as a bedroom.

Many areas are full of houses with box rooms this size. I'm not sure it would realistic to suddenly expect the owners to market them with 1 less bedroom than they bought it with.

We have a 1920’s house with one of these, though you can just fit a bed across the width so it’s slightly bigger.
it was fine for younger kids, then one older DC had it and also insisted on a double so now it has a small double and a chest of drawers!!
we have always had a tv lounge in addition to ‘our’ lounge do always space to play and have friends round.
I think if you have that you don’t need big bedrooms.

My smallest bedroom is 7 x 6.4/2.13 x 1.92.

I hate it. It's DDs room and it's so unfair to her. She can fit a midsleeper bed, some shelves and that's it. Her clothes are in my room which also isn't big enough. She can never have a sleepover because two people don't fit. She sleeps downstairs when she does but then it's awkward for the adults who wake up earlier.

It's a lovely area which makes up for it but the cost of an extension and the work involved is massive and I wouldn't have it as a solution.

We have this ‘shorty’ bed for our 6yo along the window wall https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3929755?clickSR=slp:term:shorty%20bed:1:277:1

and can fit a small wardrobe and slim chest of drawers along the opposite wall.

He then has a small Ikea cupboard and toy box under the bed which can be moved to make room to play. Not ideal but he seems to like it!

I wouldn't buy a house with a third bedroom smaller than 9 foot by 8 foot. None of the children would want a tiny room. We had a loft conversion. They take 1.5 metres from the second bedroom to make way for new stairs. The fitted wardrobes had to be made smaller too. It only worked for us because the second bedroom was very large to start with.

Well, how lovely that you have the budget to be able to afford that.

Clearly, many, many people don't.
Presumably, if the OP had your budget, she might choose a house with 3 larger bedrooms, but most people have to work with the budget they have.

As others have already said on this thread, many dc would choose to have a room of their own, even if it is a tiny room.
Growing up, friends of mine's parents offered that their 2 dc swapped rooms every year to keep it fair in terms of the amount of space they had, but the lad (a lanky teen, who grew to about 6'3") preferred to stay in the box room. He was quite happy there until he moved out in his mid 20s.

@UsingChangeofName it does seem mad how expectations have changed. I had the box room growing up and it honestly never bothered me. I had a single bed, drawers, small wardrobe and a shelf, not much room but really cosy.
The main reason we are going to split our two rooms to be more equal sized is so they both have a desk. We don't have a big downstairs, so as they get older they will need their rooms for quiet study too.

@UsingChangeofName

Thank you. Despite this being anonymous, I still feel a sense of embarrassment that we can’t afford bigger and better. Especially when all our friends do. I really just need to know if we can make it work because otherwise I don’t know what we could do, other than convert the loft if that is in budget

It's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it that counts 😂

I've seen plenty of vast homes that are vulgar inside. I'm sure you can make your home look gorgeous, whatever it's square footage.

Our house has the same size third bedroom. Our 9 year old Dd has it. We've tried our best to make it feel spacious but at the same time fit everything in. She has a slim bookcase, a wardrobe that goes from bulkhead to ceiling, a bed with storage underneath and then a small desk with shelving above. She has a lot of cuddly toys, books and toys. You just have to be clever with the space.

I do feel embarrassed sometimes when she has friends round and they make comment on how small it is, but I always point out that her older brother got the big room and that's just how it is.

We are lucky to have a large 2nd reception room downstairs, so we have made half of it into a gaming zone and tbh my kids spend more time in there than their room. Is this something you could consider? The other half we have as a dining room/office space.

We have a strict no tech rule upstairs, not including tv, so my kids spend a lot of their time playing in the games zone on laptops or ps4. You will find as your ds gets older, he will have less toys etc and you can adapt the small room as he grows.

@ThisIsntMyUsualUsername

Hi, when you say you made a kallax bed.....do you mean you literally fixed a mattress on top of two kallax?? With the empty boxes on the sides? That's genius!

give the 6yr old the box room, by the time he needs a bigger room your older son may have left to go to uni so they could swap rooms then

When DD was younger her best friend had a room like this with a high sleeper and desk and storage underneath, and all the girls really envied it- it's easy to personalise the desk to make a really lovely snug little space with stickers and posters etc. Takes some thinking about but you can end up with something really good. If the budget stretches, a local joiner will be able to make something that exactly fits the space and your needs.

My sister’s older teen has a room
that size. It’s fine.