issue with space - combining rooms

I posted last week about trying to get my house organized. It's a small ranch about 1000sq, two bedrooms (we've made into three), one bathroom, and no basement. Okay so DS and DD1 share a room, DD2 and the twins share. DH just made a comment the other night about taking all the toys and beds out and padding the walls. Well it got me thinking. DH and I rarely spend time in our room. We lay around on the couch or bed watching tv but that's it. We just basically sleep in the room and it has our clothes. Okay so now I'm thinking we can combine the livingroom and our bedroom. We're in need of a new couch and a new bed. So why not clear out all the crappy furniture (we have several pieces that need the boot) and buy a decent couch with a built in bed. Our couch bed now isn't that bad but I know I could have upgrading to a much nicer mattress. I could clear out our current bedroom and put a couple large wardrobes along the one wall for our folded clothes. Then we would have a big free open place for the kids to play. In our living room I could hang our large screen TV on the wall and have the couch with a small table or a something with a couple drawers to the side. We could put the things that are normally in our end table in that drawer. I know if sounds insane but we really need space and moving isn't an option. The kids need open space too. Not just a room with cluttered furniture. They need to be able to move. The kids have gone crazy this winter being stuck in the house so much! We rarely have company. I could leave the bed out the majoirty of the time and only fold it up when we'll have people over. It sounds like a good idea to me because our bedroom sits empty the majority of the day and the kids are cramped. DH is only home about 8hrs a day during the week. Then he's home all day Saturday and part of Sunday. It would be just for the next few years while the kids are still little. So how crazy does this sound?!?!

 

I don't think it sounds insane.
When my twins were babies, my DH was away in grad school. Since I had a year off after they were born, I went to the city where he was studying from when they were 3 months until they were 11 months. There we rented a studio type apartment. Just a big room with a kitchen partially divided off with a half wall. I really like it. We didn't even have a couch, just a king sized bed very low to the ground For taking care of small babies I think this was ideal. I mean the babies were never out of my sight that way. I could cook and see them there sleeping.

I think when you live in a small space you need to get creative. Today's modern houses really stifle our creativity. In olden days in a cabin the parents would sleep in the main room and the kids in the loft. Especially with small children, who is ever going to be in the living room when you two are sleeping. My main concern would be the quality of sleep that you'd get on a sofa bed. You should really look into hideaway beds like these
http://dornob.com/holy-hidden-wall-beds-best-kept-bedroom-design-secrets/


Good luck! And look on the bright side, you small house keeps your family close, teaches your kids to share, and its green without even trying.

 

I hate the idea of you giving up your private space. Maybe if we all put our heads together we could come up with a solution that does not include giving up that space. Do you mind answering a couple of questions? I live in a small house and have managed to keep it pretty orgnaized without going to that extreme although I only have 3 kids.

1. What kind of beds are you using for the bigger kids? Bunk Beds? twin beds? 1 double they share?
2. Are the twins in the same crib?
3. Can you swing new beds for the kids?
4. What size are their bedrooms?

This is cool... and a space saver... My link
this could be GREAT for the room with ds and dd1. You could leave the trundle closed and only open it at night then they would have room to play.(unless you already have a bunk bed then that wouldn't change things much except it has drawers too.)My link

What about a murphy bed for your room? something like this My link this would be a way to keep your private space at night but in the day you fold it up and BAM play space for the kids. I could help more, (I have helped friends design their homes) if I knew more about the room demintions and price range you are willing to spend.

 

We have a small ranch. It has two bedrooms, one bath, a living room, kitchen, and a room off the side of the kitchen, and the laundry room off that room. If that makes sense. Needing an extra room we had a small wall built to divde off the living room and make more of a hallway and now what used to officially be the living room is our bedroom. The room off the side of the kitchen is our living room. There are a nice set of french doors and everyone knows to come to the back door. I found a nice looking dresser that is very modern sleek at Ikea that I really like. I would buy two and line the one wall. I could put our TV there with the Wii and some nice pictures. Then I would have the sofa bed and a small table with drawers where DH and I would keep what's normally in our nightstand. Then the other room would be empty besides the organizer for shoes, coats, etc. It fits nicely in the corner so it wouldn't be bothered by the kids. The rest of the room would be empty where the kids could run, build with pillows and blankets, blocks, whatever. They just run out of room in their rooms for this type of activity and they end up making things a mess.

I don't feel like the bedroom is my private space. The only time I'm in there is to sleep at night, clean, and put away clothes. Otherwise I usually hanging out in the living room or kitchen. DH goes to bed really early but I can still go in there and watch TV. We would have a door to close at night for our private time so we wouldn't be disturbed by the kids.

I will go out next week and see how thick you can get sofa couches. I might look into those hide away beds for us. The only thing is I want the room empty. If their play area is in a room with dressers or whatever they will be climbing all over them. DH needs dressers too. He currently is using a dresser and two small chests. It's very irritating he has more clothes than me.

 

I forgot to add about the kid's room set up. Currently DS and DD1 share and then the twins and DD2 share a room. In the nursery (twins and DD1) there are three cribs. The twins sleep more soundly being in their own crib. They wake each other too easily if they share. DD2 is using the toddler bed set-up with her crib. Then in the big kid room both of them have car beds. DS's bed is a twin car bed and DD2's is a toddler car bed. They take up A LOT of space. This summer I plan to move DS back into the smaller room (the nursery now) and giving him his own room again. Then DD2, DD1, and the twins will share. I found a bunk bed I plan to buy and DD1 will sleep on top and DD2 on bottom. So we'll be cutting out a crib and a toddler car bed. The twins will still have their cribs. Even though there will be four in the room I think they will have more space than DS and DD1 have now. DS cannot use a bunk bed because he would be jumping off of it more than he would sleep. There's no way he's responsible enough for a bunk anytime soon. I figured in a couple years I would sell the car bed and buy him one of those loft beds where you sleep on top and there's a desk underneath the bed.

 

I've seen one of those twins cribs/bunk thingy at my friends' church's nursery! It is really awesome! I can't swing $900 for it though.

My family has space issues as well. We have a 3 BR 1 bath 2 story house...our BR is pretty large, and the only room with a closet. I am not willing to give up our room (we would drastically have to downsize, clothes, our bed, etc). My DD's room is the smallest, she has a bunk, with the desk and whatnot underneath, with built in drawers. The 3rd BR was a 'loft' the house had a fire years ago before we bought it, and for whatever reason they made it into a loft. When I was pregnant with my DS, we put up drywall to enclose the loft part of it, so it is kind of an L shaped room now. DD was in that room until the twins were a couple months old. DS who is now 2 1/2 was climbing out of crib, so we moved him and the twins to the loft room. Each twin has his own crib in the main area. Then there is a little 'nook' area, about 6x6 that my 2 YO DS sleeps in his firetruck bed. He has some of his toys in his area. Babies dresser is in the hallway outside of DD room. Boy's room has oldest DS dresser, changing table, the 2 cribs, a glider/rocker and a toy box. This is where we also store the car seats (so they aren't cold when we go somewhere, also a place to 'put' a baby if he gets cranky.)

I too have been working on getting organized and clearing out the clutter, I tend to have a lot of 'things' lol. We have a living room where most of the toys are, a family type room where our wood stove is, a fairly large kitchen, and a dining room that I converted into an office/computer room. I plan on getting a table and chairs set from Sam's Club, that has 6 chairs....and instead of using high chairs (that we have NO room for) I am going to be getting 2 of those space saver high chairs from Fisher Price, they go right onto a regular kitchen chair. I also got one of those super yard plastic fenced in thingys (came today!) to make a safe area for the babies to play, probably in the corner in the family room. My 2 YO won't leave their stuff alone, and I can't leave them play on the floor when he is up, afraid he will fall on them.

This is great thread by the way!!!! I think we can ALL relate to space issues, especially those of us with 3, 4, or more kids!! :babyflips:

 

I have several friends who bought those for "space saving" reasons and tell me they are far from space saving because you can't push the chairs in under the table. We bought 2 of the kind that hook to your table and if we ever needed more room they fold flat and would lay on the washer or dryer without taking up any room.

 

You're right. They don't fit under the table. At least not my table. I have a more generic version that Wal-Mart sells and then a pink booster seat (also from Wal-Mart). My two girls 4 and 2.5 use those. They do fit under the table. The blue seat doesn't recline but it does have a tray so it doesn't have to be up to the table. I'm acutally thinking of dumping it for another of the pink boosters because the girls are always fighting over the pink seat. I have the Ikea highchairs for the babies and really like them. We have a decent size kitchen though I do clutter it up with stuff. I don't have a ton of cabinet space so I have one of those plastic five shelf things loaded down with food. I would like to get the closetmaid pantry because it has doors and is more compact. I have to move our large freezer in here soon because I'm putting another wash/dryer in our laundry room. So I need things to be better organized.

I've pretty much gave up on the combo rooms. I still like the idea but I doubt it will ever happen. I don't think I can find a couch bed comfortable enough for us to sleep on all the time. Plus I'm getting ready to buy a second washer/dryer set and that's going to cost about $1500. Then the girl's room will be about $500 this summer. So everything else is on hold right now.