Tell me about about you 2 bed+ box room home

[ShimmyingThroughTheChaos]

Currently house-hunting. Most of the 3-bed housing stock in the area we are looking in (which is in zone 3/4 London) that is within our budget is 1930s built and consists of 2 bedrooms and a box room which is literally only big enough to fit a single bed (at a push) or a desk.
Does anyone else have a home that is similar, and how do you manage if you have more than one DC? Or relatives who come to stay?
Any inspo about how to configure the box room so that it could be a bedroom? or anyone who can tell me that I wouldn't be a monster for expecting two children to share a bedroom, and could share some positive stories of family living in this kind of set-up?
We just have the one DC at the moment and it's not certain if we will be able to have another... but hypothetically I would like to think we could have another and still fit in the house!
Houses with a more sizeable 3rd room or a 4-bed are stretching our budget a bit more than I'm comfortable with what with interest rates and cost of living ATM so I've made my peace with going for a slightly smaller home. We love the area because the schools are really good, there is loads of green space and family are close by. Doing a loft conversion in a few years is definitely an option.

Do you mind giving the dimensions of the box room?

I'm currently 're-doing' ours. Absolute nightmare.

6ft 7 X 5ft 11 was the size of the one we just viewed.
The rest of the house was extremely promising which makes it soooo hard!

We’re in a 3 bed house, but the 3rd bedroom is small (actually, all the rooms are pretty small.

We have eldest in the 2nd bedroom, which is not massive but ok. Youngest has the little room. It fits a single bed and chest of drawers. No wardrobe so most things go in the drawers, few odd bits on hangers on hooks on the back if the door.

Youngest’s toys all live downstairs, his bedroom is just for sleeping.

I’d love more space but can’t afford it. We manage ok. It’s definitely do-able.

We swapped it with the bathroom which was bigger. Originally, it would have been separate toilet and sink/bathroom but had been squared off and made into one room.

If you make sure the house is wider than 3.66m - you'll find the upstairs quite versatile in terms of remodelling / adding stairs for a loft conversion.

The wider the better obviously.

If you have a narrow home you'll have much fewer options. (I work in architecture)

Ours is fractionally bigger but not much (maybe 6 inches or so) and we can fit a single bed, small built in wardrobe (bespoke so shallower than normal) and bedside cabinet. I think a lot of it is window and door placement. The bed will need to go down the longest wall but you can get one that is slightly higher with drawers underneath a bit like this https://moderncomfortliving.co.uk/products/alba-single-bed-with-6-drawers-white

having the built in wardrobe uses the space really well and it goes right up to the ceiling. It’s not an ideal size, but it’s plenty big enough for a child (especially if they are in a cot/ toddler bed), you can always upsize or convert the loft in 10-15 years if you need more space when they hit teenage years. Stretching yourself financially to get a bigger room for a child you may not have sounds a bit crazy (sorry).

And relatives can stay in a hotel or on a sofa bed downstairs, it will be cheaper than paying a bigger mortgage. A lot of people don’t have a spare room for occasional guests.

We lived in a 3bed semi with a 6ft sq bedroom. Ds1 had it and it was ok, tho no room for a desk. Space for a small (2ft 6) bed and drawers tho. High sleeper would have worked even better.

We did move when he was 13 - think no desk space would be tough for GCSEs.

Just definitely check and check again that a single bed will fit in. We rented a 3bed house where the smallest bedroom we knew for a fact a single bed would not fit in. And yet it was still sold to a young family needing a third bedroom.

We have one of those and we’re currently extending but up until now:

8 & 6 year old share
1 year old in box

Would have done a built in bed in the stair bulkhead in the box room, and either had the older 2 share forever or done a loft conversion and one go up there - so realistically would probably have moved if we hadn’t extended (double garage becoming kitchen/utility/downstairs loo with 2 single bedrooms above).

I think you have the 2DC share, or give the baby the box room, until you can convert the loft. Little kids generally like sharing til they are 7+, or if you had a big age gap, the little one will fit in a joining bed til they are about 7 which means the box room is big enough.

Oh and re guests: we have a sofa bed in living room and a play sofa which sets up into an actually very comfortable double bed in the playroom (would be dining room on floor plan). But parents stay in local premier inn.

Our house is like this - it was one of the factors in us deciding not to try for a second DC.

a single bed is 6 foot 3 long which will give you 4 inches to open the door. They shouldn’t be allowed to describe a room that small as a bedroom! Can you remodel the upstairs? There’s not much you can do with That room other than a study

Sorry - re guests - as we still live in our home town, this doesn't happen often . We used to have a mattress in DS room for his friends to use on sleepovers - so we just used this and someone on the sofa, with guests in our room .

We have a 70s house like this. The rooms are a decent size and all have built in cupboards. The box room is currently our 1 year old’s, but we’ve worked out that a single bed would fit along the long wall in front of the cupboard. There’s no bulkhead, but the loft is too shallow to convert so we will be moving at some point. It’s fine for now though and I can see both dc sharing for a few years while they’re still little if need be. Currently our 5 year old has the 2nd bedroom, with an ikea day bed that used to be used for guests. When we have guests 5yo will sleep on our floor and we’ll pull the bed out. This wouldn’t work if he was older though. To be honest I'm not sure what we’d do if we were planning to stay long term, but if you have the potential for a loft conversion then I think you’d be fine.

Ours Is slightly bigger - 5ft 9ins x 7ft 6ins. We built a small wardrobe over the box. If you remove the box, the structure follows the slope of the stairs, so you get decent height for much of it; ours has a door that opens towards the room door, which is a tad inconvenient, but means we had space to build a short (5ft) bed up to the window wall, using the side of the wardrobe as a headboard, with a light above the bed. The bed is a fairly high, and we have pull out storage drawers underneath, and shelves above.

Theres a small built in desk on the window wall next to the bed, with more shelves above that on the other (non-bed) long wall. The radiator is also on that wall.

It is a spare room, tbh, used when we have three or more grandkids staying, but I think it would work okay for a young child more permanently.

We have a 3 bed. The third bed isn’t a box room but DH is FT WFH so is configured as a study. Our children have to share. So if we were to have a couple stay, we’d get the children to “bunk down” in the study and the guests would get their room which we can configure to fit a double aerobed. I shared with my brothers until I was 7 (3 children in a 2 bed). A guest room (!) is a luxury.

Kids share a bedroom, we share a bedroom, box room is a very spacious home office room (would be miserable as a bedroom). Kids are different genders so will need their own rooms eventually- we are saving up for a loft conversion before they are teenagers.

iWe have one of these. Oldest is in the box room with a cabinbed and integrated dedk. His wardrobe is on the landing.
Youngest is in the biggest room - but we also have our work from home desk (with a massive desktop computer) in there. We are in the medium bedroom. it works, but gets tight on days we both work from hime.

DS was in ours until he was 8 - cabin bed so his clothes were in a set of drawers underneath then we did a loft conversion

Pending the ages, if they are a little older actually have the kids share the 2nd room and use the box room with a Murphy bed with built in desk - that way you have a office/ somewhere quiet for kids to do homework, you've also got a decent spare bed for visitors and if a child is poorly, you can pop one in here so they don't disturb each other
We have the double bed version of this: https://www.wallbeds.co.uk/solutions/complete-systems-furniture-mechanisms/primer-happy-single-desk-wall-bed-system/

These guys are more expensive than other brands but when the bed folds down, it goes within the frame, some of the cheaper ones when folded out wouldn't fit in our box room.

We've also added IKEA picture shelves - makes a great bookcase for books to stand facing out, adds colour and usefulness without taking up too much room

Final space saver is a pull out rail, again, ideal for guests but folds flat so takes up no room when not in use: Coat Hangers for Laundry Folding Clothes Hanger, Wall Mounted Clothes Rail, Aluminum Space Saving Coat Hanger Storage Organiser for Laundry Room Bedroom Indoor Outdoor（1，silver） https://amzn.eu/d/avbJgsh

We have a house like this, possibly in the same area. We have just done the loft but before that dd had the box room and ds and dd2 shared the other room. Now dd2 is in the box room she is only 2 and very happy in there but I do worry once she gets to teenage years.

DD4 has our box room, which is 6x6 square. She has draws under her bed for cloths, then a strip of floor with the door at one end and and a tall set of selves that holds 4 kallax size and 4 smaller toy boxes at the other.

So far it's been fine. We just bring bigger toys downstairs to play in the living room.

It's normal for kids to share rooms.

I'd be tempted to stick a bunk bed in the box room for them to sleep in. Then the larger bedroom for their wardrobes/toys/playing, with a sofa bed in case of guests.