a long running debate with the missus (and colossal first world problem)…

we have 4 bedrooms, and 2 boys (3 & 3 months). One room for us, and one for guests / my desk for when i need to work at home.

Littl’un is in our room for now, but once he’s big enough, we need to sort out the kids rooms.

should we have:
1) A bunk bedroom for both kids and a playroom
2) A bedroom per kid

The two rooms are very different in size (one is twice the size of the other)

So, as a follow up question, for plan 1 fans:
a) Big room as the playroom, and small room just for sleeping
b) Big room for beds, little one for toys

or if you prefer plan 2:
i) Old one gets the big room
ii) Baby gets the big room

I’m a 1a fan personally, but her indoors disagrees.

Whaddya reckon STW?

Dave

separate rooms.

They just wind each other up at bed time and if one of them’s ill the other one gets no sleep either.

Option 2(i)

Or option 3

You get the titchy room for your home office and the boys get decent sized rooms!

I’d put them in the same one and separate when they’re older. Easier to manage. Use the other one for a pool table and mini-bar.

IANAP.

Unless you are running a bread winning payment scheme for the guests its family first, a bedroom each for the kids.

I wonder at some peoples priorities.

Or maybe stick them in the airing cupboard (big shelf for the 3YO), knock through the bedrooms and make an entertainment complex including a sauna and hot-tub?

PS Just agree with your wife. It’s quicker that way.

Our boys share, but they are Twins.

Must admit, never ever had an issue with one keeping the other awake…Pair of them seem to go out like lights.

They do laugh at each other when they fart and I’ve noticed it’s sometimes a bit pongy in the mornings…..they have a lovely habit of leaving dirty shorts and socks under beds every now and again.

We’ve got an extended Bungalow with two bedrooms upstairs (in a Dorma loft conversion) and two bedrooms downstairs)

We also have 2 x daughters (5 + 9 years old)

Currently the kids are sharing 1 room upstairs, and we’re in the other.
Most of the time they like sharing, however we know at some point someone will end up downstairs.

We have a piano in the larger downstairs room, which our eldest daughter plays – I think she’ll end up moving down there at some point.

Divide and rule. It was bad enough when ours shared on holidays. Now they can’t get out of bed, so its a bit of a moot point (16/19).

And kids seldom seem to play in their “playroom” in our experience. A big kitchen dining room was our best investment for a family space.

Unless you are running a bread winning payment scheme for the guests its family first, a bedroom each for the kids.

I wonder at some peoples priorities

At that age though, is it a bad thing that kids share a room? I shared with my brother up until I was about 5 or 6 and I don’t really remember it being anything other than fun most of the time.

Or option 3

You get the titchy room for your home office and the boys get decent sized rooms!

That is the long term (teenage) plan… suppose we could do that straight off, but it’s not that great when people come to stay with small kids (fairly frequent)

You lot aren’t really helping me. She’s started reading the replies now, and is quite smug about all the people agreeing with her!

Separate rooms. Biggest one for you, smallest for the office, middle 2 for the kids, likely the older will have the bigger room. If this means you sacrifice the guest room then so be it.

Play rooms upstairs I don’t understand, get them playing in the living room or somewhere else downstairs.

jon1973 – Member
Unless you are running a bread winning payment scheme for the guests its family first, a bedroom each for the kids.
I wonder at some peoples priorities

At that age though, is it a bad thing that kids share a room?

I wasn’t suggesting its bad, I’m just commenting that, the OP children get second choice over “guests”.

Unless the guests have some massive reason for owning their own space in his house – and they may be frequent visiting disabled parents or something so perfectly justified – I don’t see why the kids aren’t afforded the priveledge.

playroom gets my vote, so use you space as follows bedroom for you and wife , each child gets a bedroom. 4th room the largest is the designated play room and contains your bikes a massive scalextric set up and a small desk. guests can sleep on the floor or boys double up when guests come.

Play rooms upstairs I don’t understand, get them playing in the living room or somewhere else downstairs.

Given that we’ve got the space, it would be nice if the living room was a bit less of a toy shop.

Also, I really like the idea of having a bedroom that is just for sleeping, with no distractions. If one of them gets up earlier, then can go into the play room and not disturb the other (or us).

Current compromise being discussed is the big room shared as bedroom and playroom, the little room as my office, and the guest room as is.

Unless the guests have some massive reason for owning their own space in his house – and they may be frequent visiting disabled parents or something so perfectly justified – I don’t see why the kids aren’t afforded the priveledge.

Capacity for people to visit means that we have more people to ride/drink/talk with (friends spread out over the country, mostly with kids these days, so space for a travel cot / fold out bed is useful)

Also a bonus is that a comfy bedroom == grandparents == free babysitting == date night 🙂

I wonder at some peoples priorities.

That’s assuming that sharing a room is a bad thing.

Our kids love sharing and would be gutted if we separated them.

kids have own rooms.

Revert to sharing when you have guests.

We had odd sized rooms in our house (massive room with en-suite, big double bedroom and then a tiny boxroom), so we moved a partition wall to even out the 2 bedrooms for the kids.

FWIW, we’ve just moved into a house hat has enough bedrooms for my two boys to have a room each for the first time, and as they are old enough to have an opinion (if not a deciding vote) at 4 and 5, I asked them which option they’d prefer. We now have two boys sharing, a girl in her own room and a double guest room. Boys STRONGLY resisted being split; both sleep extremely well and often need a prod to get up at 0730, having gone to bed at 1900, and being asleep by 1930. S’allgood.

Before we moved house 3 years ago, my lad, who was 4 1/2 at the time was a nightmare and would never sleep through. He had his own bedroom but our room was in the attic.

When we moved we put both kids in the same room in bunkbeds, he really seemed settle down, our room is next door so maybe that helped as well but it really seemed to have a good affect.

He now has his own room again because at 8 years old, you really need your privacy!!! 🙄 He opted for the small room though and left his sister in the big room. Nutter.

biggest is a tri-purpose play room / guest room / office (unless play and infrequent office use have a reason to not be together?)

the kids get a room each with sleepover space for visiting kids. just set up a few beds and let em sleep where they like

or.. get a big cheap shed or convert garage if there is one into play room/den

Our kids loved sharing and would be were gutted if when we separated them.

I shared with my brother until I was 13 and he was 7, we had bunk beds which then got put into single beds and then finally bunk beds again. I was on the top and had shelves for my stuff, he was on the bottom bunk and had a little mural of Street Sharks and Biker Mice from Mars painted on the wall next to him. I don’t remember ever getting into any major arguments but if we did it was usually resolved by bed time.
Worked out fine, the only reason I got a room of my own was because I became a teenager and a majority of my friends had their own room so of course I had to have one.

That’s assuming that sharing a room is a bad thing.

Our kids love sharing and would be gutted if we separated them.

this

IME most kids prefer sharing up until 6 or 7.

then once they have their own rooms –

Revert to sharing when you have guests.

my niece & nephew were on that arrangement until they were 13 and 15, and both were quite happy with it (it was probably the only time they didn’t bicker!)

My godsons have Plan 1a.

Having a boy and a girl we have option 2i.

Can you split the big room in half with a partition wall?

We have 4 bedrooms.

1. for wife and I
2. for home office (on the third floor via spiral staircase – no good for the boys anyway
3. for guests and I use the ensuite / cupboards and theres a X-trainer in there
4. boys bedroom

I guess the guestroom may become a play room but that’s a way away. Our 2 and 5 year old love sharing.

Can you split the big room in half with a partition wall?

It’s not that big, just twice the size of the box room. Don’t really want 3 box rooms 😉

Share – get them used to boarding school 😉

We have a similar 1st world problem albeit not an urgent one as we’ve not even started trying for number 2 yet.
House we’ve moved to 3 years ago has a larger downstairs than upstairs – study and garden room are on a ground floor extension. The garden room is nice but access is via the study and I work from home meaning it never gets used.
Upstairs a 4th bedroom has been turned into a dressing room for our master bedroom, with an archway between, we were going to convert it back we are now used the the extra space (our super king bed takes up lots of the master bedroom, and the 4th bedroom would be tiny if it was converted back. 2nd bedroom is the spare room, don’t often have guests but my wife insist it must be there for her parents when they visit from Denmark. The suggestion of paying for a hotel for them didn’t go down well.
Short term plan is for the kids to share whilst young, long term to reconfigure downstairs to swap the garden room and study space to a kitchen diner and use the space they vacate for a downstairs guest bedroom and a study. Having just started a company that might be a while yet….

Could they be arsed to show up at your funeral? No?
Then they ain’t to friends so **** them off…

Our boys share, but they are Twins.

Our twin girls each have a room to themselves and we moved house so they could. Being a twin shouldn’t mean they are treated as a collective, they are individuals.

Guest bedrooms 😆 I dont even like guests coming for a coffee

We have 4 bedrooms and our boys (5&7) “had” separate rooms. They really wanted to share a room!! It’s worked out great for them as they get on well and they have a play room now (not that it stops them having toys everywhere 😆 )

Guest bedrooms I dont even like guests coming for a coffee

Same as, but there are 2 people on the entire globe who aint blood relatives who are welcome to a brew here. The blood relations are only allowed under sufference

Just agree with your wife. It’s quicker that way

What more advice do you need???? 😆

Keep them in a locked cellar.

Could you put a caravan in the garden for the least favourite child?

+1 for shared bedroom and big playroom, look at it this way would you want to change your mancave into a bedroom for your partner!