My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Parenting

How small is your house?

28 replies

Jackie2kids · 30/10/2006 12:24

I have a son 3yrs and daughter 18mnths and live in 2bed bungalow. Have tried to move 2 3 bed house but all fell through and wasted lots of money. Can't face it again also can't really aford bigger house in this area. DS starts school next yr so don't want to move out of area once at school. Can we manage in a 2bed bungalow until they leave home? At what age do boys and girls need seperate rooms and how much space do older kids need? Any advice and experiences welcome. J

OP posts:
Report
NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 12:25

Can you extend ?

Maybe go upwards ? Add a second floor or build into the roof ?

Report
babe1 · 30/10/2006 12:32

I wouldn't stress about it too much at the moment. At their ages, your children are okay to share a room for a few years yet. I'd guess that your Son might want his Sister out of 'his' room by the time he's about 8 or 9, but this can vary according to different children. I have two Sons aged 6 and 7 (share a room) and a Daughter aged 10 (own room). They love to all camp out in the one room, and often it's my Daughter who instigates it. I've found as they get older, you don't necessarily need more space, as they grow out of the 'bulky' toys. In another few years, you might be more in a position to move.

Report
Jackie2kids · 30/10/2006 12:40

Thanks girls we could extend a little to give them own rooms. Just wondered how noisy it might get when they want to play music and have friends over. At the moment its ideal as I can see/hear them and they have the run of the house (although ds did go through a phase of putting potatoes from veg rack in my knicker draw!). J

OP posts:
Report
WelshBoris · 30/10/2006 12:40

This small

< >

Report
MrsBadger · 30/10/2006 12:41

Agree no need just yet, but another alternative might be to convert another room to an extra bedroom (this is advantage of bungalow) - do you have (eg) a little-used dining room that you could eventually use as a bedroom for one of the kids?
Or is (eg) the master bedroom big enough to partition off a little bedroom?
Changing the layout of the house can give you much more useful floor space than before.

Report
expatinscotland · 30/10/2006 12:42

So small, it isn't even a house. It's a pokey flat w/no outdoor space at all.

Report
ginmummy · 30/10/2006 12:43

Probably an urban myth but I've heard something about boys and girls having seperate bedrooms by law when they reach 12.

Report
geekgrrl · 30/10/2006 12:43

it's an urban myth...

Report
expatinscotland · 30/10/2006 12:44

Around here, that's a myth.

Report
Mellowma · 30/10/2006 12:47

Message withdrawn

Report
BIGlilBUBU · 30/10/2006 12:48

My friend and her brother used to share a room, they had a wall put in the middle so it was like 2 small rooms. Think it was quite an easy job to do. It was removed easily too when her brother moved out.

Report
NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 12:48

ginmummy, I think that rule only applies if you are in local authority housing ? Even then I'm not sure it is exactly rigorously enforced....

Report
ja9 · 30/10/2006 12:50

i'm desperate for a bigger house...

have spent most of last night and this morn looking for houses on internet. we only moved into this one 6 mths ago!

so sympathies...

Report
Pollybloodyanna · 30/10/2006 12:52

my ds and dd1 shared a room until he was 5 - they would have been happy to continue sharing, but he was turfed out to make room for dd2! i think you are fine for a while

Is there any possibility of expanding? (extension/converting garage/expanding up?)

Report
ginmummy · 30/10/2006 12:53

I was just thinking of the practicalities of enforcing a law like that... I have picked up some crap over the years!

Report
Jackie2kids · 30/10/2006 12:57

Thanks again girls. I know expat that I am lucky to have a garden (a small one so not much gardening required) this kept me sane all summer. Only thought about moving now winter. I hadn't thought about legal requirements I can understand why adolescent boy and girl might not want to share though. I would move if I had the money but don't want to go full time at work. Might give reorganising the rooms and trying to fit table in somewhere else a go. J

OP posts:
Report
NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 12:59

Like I say, I don't think the law/rule about sharing siblings applies to those who privately own or rent their home (if it exists at all, that is)

Report
fairyfly · 30/10/2006 13:01

No no no, it shoulf be NomdeBroom.

Report
NOMurDErousPLUME · 30/10/2006 13:03

Don't you like my halloween name, FF ? Don't worry, it'll be business as usual after tomorrow...

Report
Tiggiwinkle · 30/10/2006 13:03

I think the over 12 thing is just a local authority tool for determining how many rooms you should be entitled to.

Report
BloodRedRubyRioja · 30/10/2006 13:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

marymillington · 30/10/2006 13:11

My best mate and her brother shared a bedroom with a partition wall, and it worked out just fine. And the people across the road from us when we were growing up had 13 children in a small 3 bed house, and none of them seemed overly keen to move out when the time came!

You may find that once they get to the stage of wanting to play music with their mates they clear off round to someone else's anyway.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

SCARErenity · 30/10/2006 13:16

With the over 12 thing....LA can insist that you convert other rooms into sleeping areas, we have a 2 bed flat (5 of us) and I've been told that the living room can be used to sleep in. Quite where we're actually meant to live if every room is a 'bedroom' I don't quite know, and the LA is in such a housing crisis, they don't really care!

Report
Tiggiwinkle · 30/10/2006 17:28

scarenity-yes, I was amazed to read recently that in determining overcrowding they are allowed to consider every room as a possible room for sleeping in, apart from the kitchen and bathroom. I dont think most people are aware of that and would assume
"persons per room"| would mean bedrooms!

Report
TheDivineLiliLaTigresse · 30/10/2006 17:29

we live in a hole in the road we do

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.