Serious lack of space - do you think this would work?

I have a boy and a girl, a 2 bed house that I really love and a lack of money.
Would it be possible for the kids to have a bedroom each and for me and my partner to use the living room to sleep in - using a sofabed and clothes storage disguised as something else?
Would it work out or are there practical considerations that I am not thinking about?

Tere is no way I can extend and there are no dining rooms, offices etc.
I could move technically but it would probably have to be to a rough area since I don't have much money and the place where I live now is just perfect apart from the lack of bedroom!

Of course it's possible and totally reasonable. I'm not sure why you wouldn't have your children share the first bedroom, and You & your partner share the 2nd bedroom. To make your relationship work, you need privacy and it's your house, not your childrens! This way you could all store your belongings in a room, and the loungeroom would be free for all of you to use, not cluttered with clothes. If your partner wants to sit up late watching TV or entertaining friends & you are tired, you can go to bed in your own room.

A friend of mine when she was 17 was still sharing a room with her 15 year old brother. He would sleep on the sofa bed in the lounge at night, and they would share the room for all their belongings, although she was the only one who slept in there. They had personal space when needed in the bathroom. If the parents had friends over & were sitting up late, the son would just sleep in their bed for the night, and they'd use the sofa bed for that night.

The parents moved to this house for the same reason as you, good area, and low price. Five years later they were able to afford something bigger. It didn't hurt either child, even though they were young adults at the time.

We also live in a small house in a good area and my children share a room, although they are only 4 & 7 years old (I'm not sure how old yours are). They often ask why their friends have a big house and their own rooms and they don't, and I answer "because this is our special place that our family lives in and if Mummy and Daddy worked 7 days a week instead of having some time off to spend with you, we could afford a bigger house". I think it's far more important for me to work part-time and be there for my children than earn more money full-time and having them in childcare. They are only young for such a short period of time, we can go without for a few years!

Children need a safe, happy environment and time with people they trust, far more than they need a huge, brand new house and their own bedroom. YOU also deserve some space, which is why you should take the first bedroom for yourself and your partner, and the children can share the second. They might complain at the start but they'll get over it - YOU are the boss!

Have you got room to put some nice drapes or curtains in the middle of the living room so you could separate your living area from your dining area? Or maybe have some concertina doors fitted

That is what we are looking at doing also two kids two adults two bedrooms ,we have a walk in cupboard in the living room we can use as wardrobe .I wouldn't worry about it too much when the kids are grown up you can get the room back.My up stairs neighbors already do this they have three boys and one girl so they moved into the living room they have no problems.Go for it cause i am.

I have a two bedroomed but we have converted it into a three by dividing one of the rooms into two and it works perfectly

You are really caring parents, wanting to give up your personal space for your children.

I suppose it could work, but in the long run you might find it very hard living like that. We tried it while friends came to stay, and it was not only difficult but a little stressful, too. We found that we needed more space, and no time to pack everything away before the household was up and running each morning. And the room really looked lived in even with us trying to keep our bedroom needs hidden.

How old are your kids? Would it be possible to split the room they have together in to two? Have a dividing line so they feel they have their very own space.

It's a tough situation. I can understand you not wanting to move. When things are so ideal who wants to risk it for a possibly worse situation.

I really hope one of us here can come up with some great ideas.

The best of luck.

Sounds like a bad idea to me. If one of you wants to go to bed early or wake up late then nobody can use the living room. The other problem I can foresee is the lack of storage you would have in a living room, most people keep alot of stuff in their bedrooms.

possible solutions include making the children share a room, or putting a wall down the middle of the childrens room or even just a separator curtain so they can have a little privacy.

Depending on the size of the bedrooms you may be able to put in a partioning wall to make one bedroom into two. We have done that and it works well. We had to because my mother in law moved in with us and guys I am here to tell you if your in that position don't. My mother in law will drive me nuts at times I mean I love my wife but her mother is an aquired taste. I still ain't really got the taste for her.

Well it's possible, but I am a big fan of having my own personal space with a door that closes. What if one of you gets sick? If the children are not teenagers, why can't they share a room? I have a friend who also has a boy and a girl and they've always shared a room with no problems at all.

I am having the same problem I have 3 girls and 1 baby boy and I have my son sharing with my 5 year old daughter, but as my son gets older I think I will go with the room dividing idea.

try putting a plaster board wall up to make the largest room in 2 if u got 2 windows in the room i did it in my living room as i didn't have dinning room !!!!!!!!!!

My friend grew up like this, their parents put in a kind of mezzanine (with a removable ladder), in the top area of the house (not the roof, but under the upstairs ceiling). It is the smallest house you can imagine, but they are all very happy. Are you in the UK? you could ask an architect to come round and see if they can help you think of something. I know that may sound too grand, but thats bread and butter stuff for many architects, and before you get them round check if they charge for a consultation, not all of them will. You are under no obligation, and you could always get your own builder in. Web page for architect association in link. Good luck. I think we're all suffering from a lack of space!

Yes, I don't see anything wrong with that. I have the same problem, I only have one bedroom and my son sleeps in the bedroom and I sleep on the couch.

if the bedrooms are big enough put up a partition wall or why don't you convert your loft if you have one .Friend's of mine sleep in their living room and in there sons bedroom they have a big wardrobe for all there clothes

sounds fine to me especially if you don't want to move i would also keep a couch bed in one of your children's rooms just in case one of you are not well , then you can stay up stairs out of the way an then that will not affect the children when they are playing down stairs in the the day . sorry crap at spell check .

I know a few people who have done this. It actually worked out pretty well. The only issue I think of is your lack of privacy...everyone needs their own space. Believe me I understand that for the most part this goes out the window when you have kids, but having even just a little corner to call your own (with a door!) is important. If that's something you can do without, yes the living room would work.
One friend had 3 kids - put her 2 girls in one bdrm and her son in another. She put a futon in the living room with a very nice looking comforter on it and it looked just fine. She kept her and her bf's clothes in the linen closet and her son's room.
My other friend did it also - gave her son the bedroom and slept on the pullout couch in the living room. They shared a huge clothes closet in the bedroom. It worked out ok but not having her own room got on her nerves after a while.
Both situations were a matter of survival; I would do the same thing if I had to. Do what you have to do; I'd rather do this than move to a dangerous neighborhood.

How old are the kids? Why can't they share a room? Or what about dividing off a space in the living room for one of the kid's rooms instead of your room? That way, the adults can have a room with a door! Children don't need as much privacy as you do!

Of course you could turn the living room into a bedroom...no big deal. But you and your husband definately need some space too!

I think that it is fine for you and your partner to sleep in the living room, but I would hold out as long as possible. If your children are both say, under 10 yrs old, they can share a bedroom. You can make his/hers sides.

The problem with sleeping in the living room is making sure you are really neat, and immediately closing the bed up. Also, I would try to invest in a good sofa bed mattress, or else you'll be hurting.

This has been an idea mentioned numerous times here, but if there is someway you can divide the living room by putting up walls, it realitively easy and inexpensive to do. Go to HomeDepot and they can actually tell you how to do it and what supplies you'll need. Even if it is a small room, maybe one of the kids could have it.

Otherwise, good luck!

Yes, that would work. I understand how it can be with very little space - we have a 3-bedroom that is only 900 square feet, so every single inch is used.

I don't know where you live or what kind of stores you have, but in my state we have Ikea and The Container Store, which I use for ideas and space saving items in my house. I recommend checking out the website for ideas.

Offhand, I'm thinking the cons to having the bedroom in the living room is just the difficulty in making it seem like a living room during the day. With tight spaces, anything out of place you know makes it look like the whole room is trashed. :) But you've got the right idea, hiding away the bed and clothing, and I'm sure you'll figure it out. I agree with you that it's not beneficial to move to a bigger place in a worse neighborhood - no while you have kids.

Hope these websites will help:

can you wait a little longer and try and safe some money in that time or you may have to move you all need your space and if it is in a rougher area whats the problem ?

Could you extend into the loft? Easy answer could perhaps get a loan.

i tried this - for much the same reasons - and it was fine for a while.

but in the end it really got on my nerves not having privacy. everyone was traipsing in and out of *my bedroom* all day!!! and if either me or my partner wanted an early night, or had their friends around, the other had nowhere to go...
i guess if your kitchen is big enough to sit in it would be a little easier. you could make a kind of kitchen/living room if there was space for even just an armchair in there. that would help. mine was tiny, not even a table and chairs in there...

the whole arrangement felt *temporary* and i ended up feeling a bit like a vagrant in my own home!

you don't say how old the kids are. mine are now teenagers, and the idea of living like that now fills me with horror :) i think it would have got impossible to manage everyone's needs for privacy and social space by now...

what i did was to take the smallest bedroom for the adults, and give the kids the biggest one. i bought floor to ceiling free-standing shelving units to make a divider in their room. there's not much space in their *rooms*, but you can be clever with their storage - those high beds with a desk and storage underneath are great, and the division is set up so that there are shelves on both sides - and at least everyone has some private space to call their own...

it all depends on how much privacy you and your partner need, how much tolerance you have for noise, and how tidy you are, i guess...