small house - how to make it work?

[dara1012]

DH & I bought our 3 bedroom split level townhouse when we first married. 7 years later we have a 3 1/2 yo and owe significantly more on our townhome than it is worth so we are stuck with the space we have.

I would like to consider the possibility of adding another child in 2 years or so. Any ideas for how to make this work space-wise?

DH's company just moved to NYC and he is able to work from home, but that means that our downstairs bedroom is being used by DH for work. DS's bedroom is small, there isn't room to add a crib or anything. I really would prefer not to have a baby in our room.

What do other people do in a small house/apt?

[mommylinz]

We were in a townhouse with my DD for her 1st year, and making space for everything was hard. I found that you had to create creative organization spaces and use any space you could find. They have a lot of furniture now with storage built in (ottomans, coffee tables). Store things under the beds, put special storage/hanging systems in the closets. Get rid of anything you don't really need. We even use to store things in our car trunk. Also if a crib won't fit, maybe a pack and play would be a better option. I know a lot of people use those instead of a crib, my DS slept better in that than in the crib. And maybe your husband could use a laptop at the kitchen table:) Option 2, would be check into renting out your townhome, I know many people who have done that and been able to buy a larger house.

[sweetpeamom25]

We went through the same thing when we were in our small townhouse. I agree with another post, you have to get creative with storage. I had things stuffed everywhere! I stored games, etc. under couches, our china was in ‘china keepers’ in my husband’s closet. Anything that could handle hot or cold went in the garage. We had rafters in the garage where we were able to put a lot of stuff too—and we were still able to park both cars in the garage. I even had my griddle stored under our couch. Our daughter’s closet doubled as storage too for misc. stuff—light bulbs, extension cords, stuff like that. We had no basement, no storage closets. More serving pieces, etc. went under our bed along with winter boots, extra leaf for our table, etc. Those storage bags that you put stuff in and vacuum out the air work ok, they tend to puff back up over time though. Would going to one of those public storage places be an option for you? I know it’s an addt’l cost, but even the small units can hold a ton and it might just be worth the extra monthly cost to get some stuff out of the house and give you a little more space. Good luck, I know it’s hard when you feel crunched and long for extra space!

[dara1012]

We have definitely done the same things you suggested with storage. It is less about storage issues and more about where to physically put another child. I was even considering giving DS and the new baby our bedroom since it is bigger, but our queen bed doesn't even fit in DS's bedroom. I was thinking about making our den DH's workspace, but that eliminates a whole room in our house.

DS is a graphic artist and makes laser shows, so he needs two monitors and a laser system set up....this currently takes up the whole room and obviously with kids we can't have a laser system in our living room for safety.

I am trying to think out of the box....but coming up short and it makes me sad that the housing market may mean we only have one kid....I don't want that to be our reason to stop at one, but it might have to be.

[sarahisis]

could you move dh's office into ds's bedroom and make the bigger bedroom for a possible two kids? You could put bunkbeds on one side of the room, and the crib on the other, then eventually phase ds to the top bunk when hes bigger and a baby into the bottom bunk when they are bigger etc.

Since we have people from out of state come stay with us for lengthy amounts of time we don't want to get ride of our guest room, so I was thinking of making the bigger second bedroom into a kids room when that time comes and making the smaller room(now ds' room) into a guest room...

Were underwater w/our townhome too.. would love to move, but def. can't anytime soon.... space is always an issue! I want to build wall to wall floor to ceiling shelves along both walls in our garage.. that would def help with storage.

good luck!

[apryllraye87]

I was just gonna say what Isis said.

[love]

We had a local company install something similar to these: www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=212427187&sellerid=16881584
Our whole garage ceiling has them and they also went along the walls with a thin rack. Basically the garage is where we keep our storage. But we are running out with the stuff we want to hang on to.
Does DS has a toy room? Do you have an under stair area? We recently took our under stair well and made it into a mini play room/toy storage. We had an electrician come in and install light and outlet. It actually is really neat and cuts down on the clutter look.

[mwatkins11]

We lived in a 2 bedroom apartment when my daughter was born and 4 months later my husbands 13 year old brother moved in. That is 4 people in a 2-bedroom apartment. I also didn't want my daughter in our room, but we had no choice at that point. It worked surprisingly well and although small, we still had enough space for everything. When we moved into our house (after 9 months with 4 people in that small apartment), it took me a few weeks before I moved my daughter out of our room. It was a harder transition for me than her. I say, if you really want another baby, go for it. Everything will work out and you learn to be more creative!

[supermommy]

Anything is possible if you really want that child! My aunt lived in a one bedroom apartment with two kids. One of them slept in their room and the other in the hallway...no joke.

[supermommy]

The best place to look for ideas is IKEA, they have those apartment set-ups to give you ideas on how to manage fitting people into small spaces.

[bunsy]

DH works from home. Our family room in the lower level became his office. The kids had the living room and their bedrooms for hanging and playing.

[ReneeW]

I think the baby could stay with you and DH while he/she is a newborn and then when bigger could move in with your DS. I have a friend who had a split level and although their kids were closer in age than yours will be, she had the two kids upstairs on the same level as the master bedroom so they'd be closer and easier to get to at night. (Their downstairs bedroom stayed as a guest bedroom.)

My sister just moved to London and they're living in close quarters ... when she came home she was like, 'All of the houses here are SO BIG!' I think we're used to having so much space in the U.S., but with creativity and using ideas like the ladies suggested above, I'm sure you can make it work!!!