Where would you put a fourth bedroom?

[Elisheva]

I live in a small three bed Edwardian terrace. I have three dc and although I was sort of hoping the the oldest would leave home before the youngest needed her own room that was never really going to happen!
So I need to create a fourth bedroom.
Options:

1. Partition the largest bedroom. This would be difficult because of where the door is and the large window across the front wall. Would end up with two tiny rooms, approx 6’ x 7’.
2. Bathroom is currently downstairs. Move it upstairs, which would make the middle sized room in to a box room, and put the bedroom where the current bathroom is.
3. Turn the front room into a bedroom. Currently the front room/dining room are knocked through. This means we’d be left with just one small room downstairs which wouldn’t be big enough for both a table and sofa.
4. Put a sofa bed in the front room and I keep my clothes etc. in the bedroom, but sleep downstairs. Possibly I could create a sort of separate storage ‘room’ for my stuff so the bedroom would be entirely dc’s.

I can’t afford an attic conversion or an extension. I think the front room would be the easiest and cheapest, but where would we eat?
Has anyone done anything similar?

None of these sound ideal, is moving not an option?

Can a smaller part of the front room be partitioned?

Moving the bathroom sounds very expensive but could add loads of value, especially if it left a downstairs loo and small room?

I would partition the largest bedroom. It will be great for the children to have their own bedroom even if small, plenty of children have box rooms, even if you have to go through one room to get to the other this is a perfectly normal home layout in lots of th country. Downstairs space is also important with all of you - eating together, chilling out etc. and it's important that you have a bedroom! Particularly if they all want to hang out together downstairs and stay up later than you.

I wouldn’t be able to afford the mortgage on a bigger house. I have a budget of around £30,000, but also need to replace the windows.

Is the bathroom at the back, behind the kitchen (we have a similar sounding Edwardian house and that's commonly where they are here)?

If so, move bathroom upstairs (as its so much nicer for a 3am wee!). Knock through kitchen into bathroom space, giving room for a dining space at the end of the kitchen. Retain a downstairs loo in that area if space allows.

Then you can redivide the reception rooms, use the downstairs front room as a bedroom and the other half becomes the living room.

We divided our middle bedroom and have a 4ft3 x 9ft3 shower room upstairs which works well. Remaining bedroom is about 6ft7x9ft3.

Of your stated options, I would move the bathroom if you can afford it. I think it’s the option that would ultimately add value to your property.

From how you describe the window situation in the front upstairs room, that doesn’t seem as easy/feasible as it should be.

Going against popular opinion on Mumsnet, I would have two children share the biggest room before I would awkwardly partition (possibly removing value) or before I would take away communal living space.

I’d put a partition up in the biggest room, that’s what we have done, it’s created 2 small bedrooms, one big enough for a bed and a wardrobe and that’s about it. It’s still gives each child their own space and when one of my children move out we will put it back to one big bedroom.

we have slept on a sofa bed in the living room for a few years but the older the children got the harder it became.

I wouldn't do anything permanent or dramatic if on a tight budget so I would have them share the biggest room. Something like this perhaps if you know someone handy?

My oldest two are boys aged 18 and 16. They currently have a bedroom each and I share with my dd who is nearly 12. The boys spend a good deal of their time in their rooms and have friends over etc. so would be massively impacted by having to share or having a tiny room.
I like the idea of extending the kitchen but I suspect it will be too expensive.

Might be worth getting some ballpark figures and finding out how much it would be - is the bathroom in an extension off the kitchen or is it part of the original kitchen thats been sectioned off (may give you some idea if its a load bearing wall needing steels or just an internal dividing wall which would be cheaper to remove).

We borrowed a bit extra on our mortgage for some of the works we've done - you may find its doesn't add a huge amount to monthly mortgage payments so if its work that could add value and give you a better quality of life for the foreseeable future, it may be worth doing.

Is there space in the garden for a small garden office? Not for sleeping but the family members sharing a room could use it for private space during the day. It would add value. Have to say that it seems more appropriate for your boys to share that you and DD!

The 2 boys will have to share the biggest bedroom and you and DD have the smaller ones each. You’re in charge, you’re paying the bills. If your eldest doesn’t like it, he can always move on with a friend??? If they decide they want their own space, they can partition their bigger bedroom.

If the sizing works, I would turn the front room into your bedroom, but I'd use wardrobes or a curtain to block up the knock through bit so that it isn't permanent. And bear in mind that the new temporary 'wall' doesn't have to go where the old one was, you could shrink the front room a bit, as long as you have room for a bed and some clothes storage. Bedrooms trump a dining table for me.
Will your eldest go to uni? If yes, then the boys could share the biggest room, given that one of them will be away a lot.
I'd talk to an estate agent about wether moving the bathroom upstairs would be worth it.

Put them together on bunk beds! You can’t be sleeping on a sofa bed long term just so they can have their own rooms!

For a bit of context my dh died last year, so my dd was sleeping in my room anyway. One DS desperately needed his own space so I made the decision at the time to give them a room each.
DS1 will not be ready to leave home anytime soon. And although I know I can put them in a tiny room each, if I can find a way of letting them keep their space then that would be the best all round.

I would be looking to do a garden room with bathroom if possible. Then the oldest can sleep and wash there, but still use the house for meals. It would allow for more independence too.

We did the front room for years and I remember a boyfriend back in the early 90s had a similar arrangement in their house. It is the most logical because it’s a temporary solution to a temporary problem

How will she afford that if she can’t afford a loft conversion? They Certainly aren’t cheap

I’d do 3 - you’d get space
can you have some kind of folding table for the living room?
or make it into a family joke and each choose a nice tray so you each have a personal dining table

I misread the budget. It says £30k, but it seems windows are needed within that amount too.

But of you can, don’t partition half and half. Leave slightly more space in the back room and create a bedroom at the front.

We lived in a rental like that for a few years, it was fine. Ds was a young teen and had it as his bedroom.

The back room living area was okay. It was big enough for a sofa day to day and we had a table from Ikea that was the size of a console table, but could be folded out to make a large 4 seater (had 6 around it over Christmases).

Putting up a partition wall and adding a door from. The hall to one of the rooms left without one won’t break the bank.

We need a house plan!!!

Another vote for partitioning the front room but bot necessarily where the original divide was, depending on where the doors are make your bedroom smaller.

Possibly just a temporary partition if you can get that to work, so you can put it back to a through room once your eldest does leave.

This isn’t my house, they’ve already moved the bathroom upstairs. But the dimensions are the same.