Making a small bungalow work with new baby and drying laundry

[futurista]

Not sure anyone can provide a solution really, but interested in opinions. We live in small bungalow, DD (14) in one room and us in another, plus a box room. We are expecting, and box room will become future baby's room. We may move down the line but it's not in our current plans. The house is small but we like our location. We explored extending but with current building costs its prohibitive.

For the first 18 months DS/DD will likely sleep in with us. After that we will lose our box room which is currently (a) a spare room - most guests we can put into the living room on an air mattress, except in laws who live far away - we do need somewhere to put them, and (b) our clothes drying space.

For problem (a) I have ideas of putting toddler straight into a small double bed once they exit their cot. Is this insane? Is there a way to make it work? It can then be used as a spare room on the rare occasions we need to. I'm slow to have DD (14)'s room double as the spare room as I feel she rightly deserves her space, particularly with new baby, and additionally her room is entering a new phase of teenage mess and would require more work to clean up when in laws visit.

I'm less clear on problem (b)'s solution. We dry clothes outdoors for maybe 7 months of the year, which I far prefer. We don't have a tumble dryer, both by choice and I'm not sure where I can put it space wise.

I really don't want to have clothes drying around the house, it just looks tatty and they don't dry as well as in a small space with dehumidifier.

Any creative options I haven't thought of? Do I need to bit the bullet and get a dryer? Can I put the dryer in a decommissioned airing closet? Or stack it on top of the washing machine and sacrifice counter space in the kitchen? I can't think of any other space for it?

Get a pulley airer that - we had one and it was a game changer! Amazon have lots if you search for ‘clothes drying ceiling’. Could still put in a bedroom if you have to, but they are amazing for keeping space, washing just dries above everything!

You can get drying cabinets if you’ve room there amazing but very expensive considering there a metal cupboard with a fan heater in

Brilliant these are amazing ideas, thanks. Don't mind a bit of expense given we were basically planning on extending the whole house in order to have a utility room.

It's reasonable to go straight into a small double. However if it really is a box room, won't that eat all the floor space? I'd prefer a single bed with a trundle under it. Other option is you sleep in the living room when elderly guests come.

Personally I'd just put the washing in whatever room you aren't using, but I get that's a bit of a pain.

A condensing tumble dryer can go in any spare cupboard space. Mine is in the garage, but I use it only for bedding and towels, in the winter only.

I'm actually thinking I should convert the ex-airing cupboard into a drying cupboard once we get a combi boiler and remove the immersion. We can find somewhere else to store towels and linens. I imagine it could be done fairly simply, with just rails, dehumidifier and maybe a tiny rad, rather than a full on elextric drying cabinet.

This. You just pull out and empty the water container when it fills and remove the fluff from the filter. Siemens is an excellent make.
Trundle bed already suggested so that double doesn't take up all the floor space in box room when not needed.

@BendingSpoons thanks. Yes, well until now we've slept on the pull out sofa bed in the box room and in laws have slept in our room. They are a bit too fragile for sofa beds - and I imagine also trundle beds unless there is something more adult-oriented than I've seen?

I'm not at all precious but the house is just so small that any bit of clutter at all - a random airer etc - makes it unmanageable. In winter, its in fairly much permanent use. I don't want to dry clothes in the kitchen because of smells, or bedrooms for health reasons, so that basically just leaves the living room. It's an option alright.

We had our tumble dryer outside in the ex-coal shed.

Are there trundle beds decent enough for two elderly adults, do you think?

How big is your bedroom? If decent sized, put in a stud wall to leave enough space for your bed and bedside tables (more if you have more), and have a combined walk-in-wardrobe/drying area on the other side of it hidden by a pocket door

@RandomMess Yeah, I was thinking about this. I wondered would I regret it on a dark winter's night.

How long are your in-laws visits for? Personally if I was concerned about them on an airbed I would rather give them my room over the kids as I avoid anything that might disrupt kids sleeping

We put both DC into low double beds. They hated being in a cot and it meant there was enough room for me to bunk in with them when they were unsettled/poorly/whatever. Neither were very mobile though- neither crawled or rolled 🤣 and they didn't walk until close to 2. We did use a bed guard rail thing so we didn't feel neglectful!

Ex airing cupboard sounds perfect for a dryer, and the new heat pump condenser ones are far more energetic efficient that older models

We have the IKEA Hennes pull out day bed for Dd1s bed and when we have guests bull it in to a double and she goes in with dd2 on a trundle would that work? We also have a ceiling airer which is great and fits loads outside is in a utility room but I could put it anywhere ours is from Lakeland.

Wow this has been a most productive fifteen minutes, thank you! I think a condenser dryer in the space the immersion used to sit in, with drying racks up top, is the best solution. And I'll continue thinkign about the sleeping arrangements! I think I was conflating two issues in that while baby is in with us for the next few years, we obviously won't be in a position to give up our bed. But we can always just have a small double in the box room for a few years and reconsider things down the line.

HEMNES White, daybed frame 80x200 cm - IKEA UK https://share.google/QqMejWKCXxFoTDrM6

Lakeland Extendable Ceiling Clothes Airer https://share.google/ImvYpHmnRY1g7jIfa

Thanks @clareykb !

Lakeland - heated airer. Game changer. They fold up small in summer too.

I would never design my living space with visitors in mind OP. You and your children will be living there 24/7. Visitors can stay in a nearby hotel. Fair enough when you had a spare room but you won’t have one anymore, and your second child deserves just as much privacy as your first. And a condensing tumble dryer all the way.

In wet weather I dry my laundry on airers overnight in the bathroom using a laundry dehumidifier. Once it's achieved it's target humidity - I set mine to 45% - it switches itself off and will only come back on if the humidity level rises above that level again. It's considerably cheaper to run than a tumble drier and it collects any residual moisture in the bathroom. In the winter, I also run it in the bedrooms for an hour a day to collect any condensation. I recommend Meaco dehumidifiers which are a little more expensive than others but good quality, quiet in operation and cheap to run. They take up very little room too.

The tumble dryer in the cupboard is the best option suggested, in my opinion. Now onto beds - a small double is only 4ft wide which is only 1ft wider than a single. It isn't really comfortable for 2 adults, especially if they move at all when sleeping. Very comfortable for 1 person but please don't torture your visitors!

@SleepingisanArt your name is appropriate! I understand what you're saying. But my husband and I are not at all small and we do share a small double intermittently. We can sleep reasonably for two nights.

When you have more than one child, visitors (including parents) are often relegated to hotels, or just get a sofa bed for the lounge and give the in-laws your bed. Ultimately you won’t have space for them soon.