Jump to content

Menu

Making a Small House Work for a Big Family


rainbowmama
 Share

Recommended Posts

My small home constantly feels cluttered. I'd love some help troubleshooting. We are a family of six in a three bedroom ranch. We have a small eat-in kitchen, a single bathroom, and three bedrooms.  There is a basement, but it it unfinished with very low ceilings. If we finished the basement, the ceilings would be less than six feet tall.The eat-in kitchen feels really stressful: having a table large enough to fit all of us and a high chair makes it really hard to move around the kitchen without constantly moving the table to have space. In the living room, we have a piano, a futon, and a school desk for one of the kids, plus book shelves for books and mostly school stuff. My only daughter, a tween, gets her own room. I have two boys sharing a small bedroom: it is always very cluttered, because just having two beds and two dressers looks really cluttered. I don't have room for their toys and stuff in the living room, so it goes in there, too. The ceilings are too low for a bunk bed. Right now, the baby is in our room, but I'd like to move him out of our room in the next year. Even if I got rid of all the toys from the boy's room, I don't know if I could fit three beds and three dressers in that room. I would strongly prefer my tween daughter not to share a room with a brother. I know the previous owner managed to raise six kids in this home, so it must be doable... I just don't know how. 

 

How do other larger families make small homes work?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mother was raised as a family of six in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house  (Grandma, Mom and Dad, two daughters and one son).  The son got a room to himself and the three girls shared a room. It had bunkbeds in it.  The sisters shared a bed and Grandma got the other one.  This was how she lived all the way through until she married my dad and moved out (She was the oldest; Grandma, my Nanny, died when I was about 7 years old)

 

Edited by vonfirmath
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would give the largest bedroom to the boys, and take the smallest for myself and my husband. (When we no longer have a baby in the room)

 

Ikea has many bunk beds that are really low to the ground. The lower bunk is actually, from the looks of it a futon on the floor. The upper bunk is low enough that it is below my shoulders. So I'm sure you can fit in a low bunk bed. 

 

If you have a basement laundry area, then I recommend you keep the clothes, as much as possible in the basement. Also look into getting rid of extra clothes. My boys both share a normal size dresser for all their indoor clothes. Out of season outdoor clothes is kept in the basement. 

 

If you and your husband end up in a smaller room, you can get a high bed with lots of storage underneath. That way you wouldn't need a large dresser in your room. 

 

When your kids are short enough to comfortably fit in the basement, make use of it. See if you can make it a comfortable place for them, and keep all the toys in the basement. 

 

can you get a highchair that clips onto the table? I have seen them before, but didn't need the space so never looked into if they were safe or not. 

 

Edited by Julie Smith
  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our house sounds a bit bigger than you, we have a small dining room and garage, but no basement. Also 3 bedrooms but 2.5 baths as well(the second full bath is really a waste of space though.

 

We currently have 4 kids in one room. We can do bunk beds but that is only because of how we organize clothing. All 4 kids clothes fit in a single short 6 drawer dresser that is in the closet. The closet also has a hanging bar for dresses, nice, shirts, etc. It also has 3 built-in shelved that have bins on them for more clothing space. We would not be able to live in such a small house if each kid had their own dresser.

 

In your situation, I'd suggest trying to make the closets as efficient as you can and folding in a way that utilizes the space perfectly. We fold and put clothes in drawers vertically. So each kid has their pants and shirts together in one drawer. The bins on the shelves hold PJs, kung-fu uniforms. Socks and underwear are in small bins in another drawer. They all know which bin is theirs, even the 2 year old.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived in a house with an unfinished basement for a few years as a preteen. They had painted the walls and rafters white and the floor was painted gray. We really loved being down there and thought nothing of it not being "finished." If it is a dry basement, you could make an amazing play space for your boys. I have known a number of families that made some fun bedrooms in spaces like that, too. I even knew one family that put a floor in their attic space and their boys loved to "camp" up there. My brothers were so jealous of their cool bedroom and would sleep over there as often as possible!

 

Also, we gave up our master for a few years when our kids were younger. In college my bunk space was very short, so it might be worthwhile to see if there are plans for shorter bunk beds. Many of the girls' rooms had three beds stacked together.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When the kids were younger and could share a room, dh built a set of bunkbeds that would fit under out low ceilings.  Basically the bottom bunk was a platform at floor level, and the top bunk the normal distance above that.    My oldest dd was in her own room with a custom built loft bed to account for the low ceilings.

 

Other than that, we follow the usually advice -  we have shelves along the top of every wall, the beds all have drawers underneath, we use plastic drawer sets more than traditional wood dressers because they fit in a smaller footprint and can be stacked higher. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are a family of six in a small home, too.  Here are a few ideas that worked for us...of course, YMMV. :)

 

Definitely go with the trundle for the boys.  Or a low-clearance bunk.  We have two sets of bunks in two bedrooms here, and a mattress that we slide in and out from the bottom of one of the bunks.  So, at night, the mattress comes out for sleeping.  During the day, it slides back under the bunk bed to give floor space.

 

We have a similar table to this for our eat in kitchen:

https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/andover-mills-delano-3-piece-dining-set-andv3136.html?piid[0]=24759629&piid=24759629

The bench seats on ours have storage space in them, which is a great place for current school books.  When we just had a standard table & chairs, I pushed it against the wall when we were not eating at it.

 

I have IKEA Trofast as my boys' clothing drawers and toy storage nearly floor-to-ceiling on one wall, instead of separate dressers and toy storage. 

 

If the basement area is usable, then go for it!  It doesn't have to be completely finished.  That might even be a great bedroom for the boys?  Depending on what you mean by 'unfinished' of course. 

 

Best wishes to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a similar sized house with 4 kids, soon to be five.

 

Bunk beds. We hang clothes to free up dresser space and keep items to a minimum.

Store extra clothes in totes in your basement.

Do you have a tv? We had one in a stand, and I asked dh to get rid of out to free up space. (We did, changed to a flat screen that is mounted above a bok case).

The dining room is ALWAYS a problem. Ours a small space. But I NEEDED a big enough table to do school, so it IS cramped. Once thing that helped was I replaced two chairs with a bench. I intend to build another bench this winter to get rid of two now chairs. Honestly, this single change was huge!

If you need to keep homeschool books, can you store the ones you aren't using this year somewhere else? (I have storage shelves that are NOT in my house. Everything mom not using is there-and not in my house)

 

Sometimesr, living in a small space with many is hard! I wish my house was bigger or that we could build a new home. But it isn't, and we can't. So we make do.

One suggestion upthreadis to move into the smallest room and give the three kids the largest-I wish I could get dh to do this, but our need won't fit in that room!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have three girls in one room. We have a cape and the upstairs bedroom ceilings slant and are less than 5Ă¢â‚¬â„¢ tall on the sides. We inherited a custom built triple bunk from friends. We cut the bottom bed off and flipped it upside down so itĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s about two feet off the floor. Toys are stored underneath in baskets or bins. The other two beds fit along the 5Ă¢â‚¬â„¢ wall. The lower bed sits pretty much on the floor. We have two small dressers that go at the ends of the beds. Older DD gets the three drawer one to herself (but craft supplies are stored in the bottom drawer) and the other two share the five drawer dresser. The have a small closet thatĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s about three feet long. ItĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s short though because itĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s on the slanted wall. We only have out one season of clothes at a time and limit how much we have. 4-5 pairs of pants, 5-6 shirts, 2-3 outfits for church, sweats to sleep in, it all fits in two drawers. DH and I have a bed with drawers underneath and one dresser. Do you have an IKEA nearby? Their furniture is designed for small spaces. A lot of it has built in storage. They have rooms set up too which is awesome for getting ideas. Our closest one is about an hour away but I go sometimes just to get ideas. Also, clean out as much as you can. But you probably already know that. If I can figure out how to post pictures IĂ¢â‚¬â„¢ll try to post some of the girlsĂ¢â‚¬â„¢ room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you put the baby in with your daughter? We did that with our oldest and youngest, though there was less of an age gap. Is the baby a boy or girl?

 

We have a family if 6 in a small 3bed. The girls shared a room till my eldest moved out. My disabled son sleeps in our room, so that doesnĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t help you.

 

My biggest advice is to get rid of stuff. My next would be to rethink your spaces. Can the piano go in your ddĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s room? Do you really need a desk or can you just use the kitchen table? Would putting 3 kids in the master and you/dh in one of the smaller bedrooms be better? Can you finish the basement and make it a playroom (allowing NO toys upstairs)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We too are a larger family in a smaller home.  Ive done a number of things at different times to manage.

 

I would look int the low IKEA bunks - I did not actually realize until I went to a store how much lower the low bunks are - they will even work in our small upstairs bedroom with sloping ceilings.  Alternately, they have low loft beds where you could still have two beds but use the area underneath for low dressers, toy storage, etc.

 

I would think seriously about tuning that downstairs into a very organized storage area, and severely limiting the amount of stuff you keep upstairs.  I'd look at keeping bedding and extra towels etc down there.  Kitchen items that are used less often.  You could look at a cold-room type area which does not need high ceilings, and even use it for larger food storage and just keep small amounts to hand.

 

Another possibility is to make an area in the basement that is not really finished, but could function as a play area or "away space."  Low ceilings won't matter for that.  For a playroom I'd get some kid of large rug or other floor covering, and maybe low shelves to delineate the area, and you might want to make sure any wires and pipes are not obvious/accessible in that area.   You could store toys there and it would probably make things quieter up-stairs.  For an away area you could have a smaller rug, a comfy chair, lamp and side table, maybe a book-shelf- you could even use fabric to create some walls.  If you have a tv, it could go in with of these spaces if you wanted.  

 

I'd also try and think really out of the box on what you use rooms for.  If the table in the kitchen is a problem, could you put it in your living room, and then put a small sitting area in the kitchen table space?  Or perhaps a desk you have elsewhere?  It's hard to suggest what would work without knowing your lifestyle, but sometimes changes like that can be very effective.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you really can't put even a low bunk bed in the boys' room, consider the dorm hack of getting elevation cups to put under the legs of the beds.  That way you can raise them enough to have significant amounts of under the bed storage, which might enable you to get rid of one of the dressers.  (ETA:  Also, just in general, it might be a good idea to visit a college store and/or an RV show to get other ideas for how to efficiently use small spaces.  There are lots of ingenious hacks that might be easy to implement in your home.  Also, IME Danish modern bunk beds are lower profile than the typical American ones and can sometimes fit under eaves that would not normally work.  Also, you don't need boxsprings on beds with fully filled in supports underneath, so loft beds only need a mattress and an indoor washable sleeping bag/pillow on top, with drawers and/or low desk or table underneath.)

 

Also, you ARE storing out of season clothes in the basement or attic, right?  And hand me downs that don't fit yet?  In a crowded situation, it's good to think of bedroom, kitchen, and living room space as 'prime' space, reserved only for things that are currently in use, and off load other stuff elsewhere.  

 

As others have said, there is a middle path between using the basement and 'finishing' it.  I encourage you to figure out how to use it for a play/storage, and maybe one school desk or one craft table area.  That might be a good place for a locked science cabinet as well.  None of this actually requires it to be completely finished.  A craigslist carpet can keep the dust down beautifully, for instance.  Just the other day I saw a free Persian rug, 9 by 12 feet, with a few little moth holes, but beautiful.  If properly fumigated that would be a fantastic basement rug.  Laid out on the floor it would not attract more moths as it did all rolled up.

Edited by Carol in Cal.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 in a small apartment.  

 

We have bunks- find a set of low ones somewhere.  Other options might be bed frames that include under-bed drawers so you can get rid of some other storage furniture.  

 

More importantly:  declutter.  Each of my kids only has two drawers worth of in-season clothes.  They each have one pair of in-season shoes.  I got drawer dividers, and while each kid'd setup is different, one girl has top drawer divided into undies and socks, plus a stack of 6 long sleeve and 6 short sleeve t-shirts.  Bottom drawer has two dresses and two stacks of pants- leggings and jeans/trousers.  All four kids share one laundry hamper, which is in the hallway.  

 

Toys are also minimal.  Mostly lego.   I have some other toys in the basement that come up form time to time, then go back down.  Good for the fifth day of rain in a row, that sort of thing.  

 

I like the ikea high chair that pulls right up to the table, way less bulky than a chair with its own tray.  You can also look around for narrower tables.  You'll need length to get everyone seated, but typically you don't need much width, especially if you can serve at the counter rather than setting the food on the table.  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 2 boys can share a dresser when out-of-season clothes are stored. They each have their own shorts/pants and shirt drawer, and share a socks/underwear/swiwstuff drawer. They habe a closet organizer for hats and gloves and other winter stuff. They hang their coats and jackets. Their hanging area isn't large. The floor of their closet is mostly toy storage, I have one bin for shoes not currently worn -- the shoe bin saves a lot of room.

 

They don't have a lot of clothes. My daughter has a lot more clothes than they do.

 

They have a shelf for toys and books that wouldn't be possible if we had two chests for them. But they have some toy and book storage and off-season clothing storage out of their room.

 

Edit: clotheswise, if I added a toddler boy I would hang my older son's shorts/pants (maybe shorts in the hanging organizer during summer and swim stuff in the other sections) and then let that make a drawer for the toddler. My twins shared a two-drawer dresser when they were little..... I have since switched to having my two boys share and my daughter gets more space. I do laundry daily and never go 3 days without doing laundry. If we travel I will do a load on the 2nd or 3rd day.

 

It works out, I never get too big of a laundry pile.

Edited by Lecka
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For shoes we have one pair of sneakers, one pair of boots, and one pair of summer shoes for the boys. My daughter has two pairs of house shoes and a pair of dress shoes, and she has an extra pair of boots as I think she is about to outgrow one pair. I would get rid of the 2nd best now if we didn't have room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For beds that won't be bunked (master, maybe tween), consider getting rid of the box spring and replacing with an elevated metal box spring to increase storage underneath (fits the rectangular plastic storage tubs).

 

Like these - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006MISZOC/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1511370073&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=box+frame&dpPl=1&dpID=51xRCWncpvL&ref=plSrch

 

Put shelves along the ceiling if you don't want to store books or supplies in the basement. Put rarely used books, off unit curriculum, or supplies.

 

Consider rotating some studies so you need supplies only a few months of the year: spring and summer: arts and crafts, fall and winter science and ... ? Store off season stuff in the basement.

 

Move the piano to the basement if it's dry. You only play sitting down, and it's probably a large footprint.

 

Tween- smallest room

Boys- master

Adults- leftover.

 

Even tiny closets can benefit from a closet organizer to maximize wall and shelf space. People in our parents and grandparents generation did not have as many clothes or toys as our children's generation does (in general). They maybe had a few outfits. See how few you all need.

 

Store toys in the basement. If they are too young to play there, they (or you) can take one container upstairs to play in their bedroom, and rotate out as needed, or replace each night.

 

I assume you are storing out of season clothes in the basement. Even in a musty basement, you can get clothes bags or plastic containers and they will be fine.

 

Loft bed for tween with her desk underneath?

Edited by displace
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think most people just have too much stuff. My children share a dresser, and hang up some outfits.  They have a few nice toys each, but not a lot.  We have designed our house to use a lot of vertical space (tall bookcases, but with opaque doors to hide the stuff behind.    I have a few simple colors throughout the home--white, wood, and turquoise.  Everything fits into that your eyes can glide over the space.

 

I would move all of the storage that you can into the basement, in plastic tubs for protection. Toys in rotation, out of season clothing, books not in immediate use....all would go into stacked, labeled bins down in the basement. 

 

Does everyone NEED desks? We used to have desks for everyone, and we ditched that for the table.  Desks weren't a need, a place to work was.

 

Is there anyway to move the floor print of the dining space to open that up? Or switch table shapes/dimensions?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

At once place we lived, we opted to use the living room to make a nice dining room instead of crowding in the kitchen. We just didnt have a living room in that house. It sounds like you only have a futon in your living room now, so you wouldnt lose a lot of seating. You could make a rec room in your basement.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you loft the beds to put  the dressers underneath and make floor space?

Are there closets? Can you sue the closet space more efficiently and get rid of the dressers?

 

One kid currently has a loft bed. We tried putting the dressers underneath it, but the loft is so low to help with the low ceilings that everyone hated it. My older son hated crouching under the bed to get clothes out of his dresser. I hated crouching to put clothes away for the younger child. The younger child is young enough that I need the furniture up against walls to anchor them.

 

We are currently using the closet to store the toys, which I think take up more space than the dressers, but I'm not sure...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would give the largest bedroom to the boys, and take the smallest for myself and my husband. (When we no longer have a baby in the room)

 

Ikea has many bunk beds that are really low to the ground. The lower bunk is actually, from the looks of it a futon on the floor. The upper bunk is low enough that it is below my shoulders. So I'm sure you can fit in a low bunk bed. 

 

If you have a basement laundry area, then I recommend you keep the clothes, as much as possible in the basement. Also look into getting rid of extra clothes. My boys both share a normal size dresser for all their indoor clothes. Out of season outdoor clothes is kept in the basement. 

 

If you and your husband end up in a smaller room, you can get a high bed with lots of storage underneath. That way you wouldn't need a large dresser in your room. 

 

When your kids are short enough to comfortably fit in the basement, make use of it. See if you can make it a comfortable place for them, and keep all the toys in the basement. 

 

can you get a highchair that clips onto the table? I have seen them before, but didn't need the space so never looked into if they were safe or not. 

 

I've talked to my spouse about giving the three boys the master bedroom, but he's pretty opposed. I've also talked to my husband about splitting the master bedroom into two very small bedrooms, which he also doesn't like. 

 

I will have to take a look at Ikea again, though for mold purposes, I really want mattresses off the floor.

 

We store out of season/hand me downs in the basement. Do you store day-to-day wear in the laundry room?

 

With our third kid, we tried a high chair that clipped onto the table, but it didn't feel very sturdy. Maybe there's a better brand. Anyone have one they love that doesn't destroy your table?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived in a house with an unfinished basement for a few years as a preteen. They had painted the walls and rafters white and the floor was painted gray. We really loved being down there and thought nothing of it not being "finished." If it is a dry basement, you could make an amazing play space for your boys. I have known a number of families that made some fun bedrooms in spaces like that, too. I even knew one family that put a floor in their attic space and their boys loved to "camp" up there. My brothers were so jealous of their cool bedroom and would sleep over there as often as possible!

 

Also, we gave up our master for a few years when our kids were younger. In college my bunk space was very short, so it might be worthwhile to see if there are plans for shorter bunk beds. Many of the girls' rooms had three beds stacked together.

 

It's dry, but the floor is pretty uneven. It feels weird (and dark and depressing) to be down there. I'm not sure how to fix that without finishing the basement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 in a small apartment.  

 

We have bunks- find a set of low ones somewhere.  Other options might be bed frames that include under-bed drawers so you can get rid of some other storage furniture.  

 

More importantly:  declutter.  Each of my kids only has two drawers worth of in-season clothes.  They each have one pair of in-season shoes.  I got drawer dividers, and while each kid'd setup is different, one girl has top drawer divided into undies and socks, plus a stack of 6 long sleeve and 6 short sleeve t-shirts.  Bottom drawer has two dresses and two stacks of pants- leggings and jeans/trousers.  All four kids share one laundry hamper, which is in the hallway.  

 

Toys are also minimal.  Mostly lego.   I have some other toys in the basement that come up form time to time, then go back down.  Good for the fifth day of rain in a row, that sort of thing.  

 

I like the ikea high chair that pulls right up to the table, way less bulky than a chair with its own tray.  You can also look around for narrower tables.  You'll need length to get everyone seated, but typically you don't need much width, especially if you can serve at the counter rather than setting the food on the table.  

 

I go back and forth about our table. This table has been in our family for over a hundred years, so it has this huge sentimental value and I know I won't get rid of it, even if I took it out of the kitchen... I have no idea where I'd keep it, though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 2 boys can share a dresser when out-of-season clothes are stored. They each have their own shorts/pants and shirt drawer, and share a socks/underwear/swiwstuff drawer. They habe a closet organizer for hats and gloves and other winter stuff. They hang their coats and jackets. Their hanging area isn't large. The floor of their closet is mostly toy storage, I have one bin for shoes not currently worn -- the shoe bin saves a lot of room.

 

They don't have a lot of clothes. My daughter has a lot more clothes than they do.

 

They have a shelf for toys and books that wouldn't be possible if we had two chests for them. But they have some toy and book storage and off-season clothing storage out of their room.

 

Edit: clotheswise, if I added a toddler boy I would hang my older son's shorts/pants (maybe shorts in the hanging organizer during summer and swim stuff in the other sections) and then let that make a drawer for the toddler. My twins shared a two-drawer dresser when they were little..... I have since switched to having my two boys share and my daughter gets more space. I do laundry daily and never go 3 days without doing laundry. If we travel I will do a load on the 2nd or 3rd day.

 

It works out, I never get too big of a laundry pile.

 

Right now, I am doing 2-3 loads of laundry a day. The idea of making the laundry situation more intense seems unworkable. Maybe when the youngest is out of diapers...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more thing--high chairs are BIG but 'sit up to the table' highish chairs are not.  Could your 'baby' use a higher bar chair pulled right up to the table?  That would take up a lot less room in the kitchen than a high chair.

 

I'm not sure what you mean. He is still wobbly when he sits, so I'm having a hard time imagining him sitting in a chair like you'd put up at breakfast bar, but maybe I don't understand you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what you mean. He is still wobbly when he sits, so I'm having a hard time imagining him sitting in a chair like you'd put up at breakfast bar, but maybe I don't understand you.

 

 

We used this ikea high chair without tray until kiddo was stable, then moved to this tall ikea chair.  Both can be tucked right into our table, like a normal chair.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are a family of six in a small home, too.  Here are a few ideas that worked for us...of course, YMMV. :)

 

Definitely go with the trundle for the boys.  Or a low-clearance bunk.  We have two sets of bunks in two bedrooms here, and a mattress that we slide in and out from the bottom of one of the bunks.  So, at night, the mattress comes out for sleeping.  During the day, it slides back under the bunk bed to give floor space.

 

We have a similar table to this for our eat in kitchen:

https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/andover-mills-delano-3-piece-dining-set-andv3136.html?piid[0]=24759629&piid=24759629

The bench seats on ours have storage space in them, which is a great place for current school books.  When we just had a standard table & chairs, I pushed it against the wall when we were not eating at it.

 

I have IKEA Trofast as my boys' clothing drawers and toy storage nearly floor-to-ceiling on one wall, instead of separate dressers and toy storage. 

 

If the basement area is usable, then go for it!  It doesn't have to be completely finished.  That might even be a great bedroom for the boys?  Depending on what you mean by 'unfinished' of course. 

 

Best wishes to you.

 

Oh, that's a pretty table! I don't know how I'd make something work like that. We have a picture window on one wall. One wall has our fridge, sink, and cabinets. The other wall has our stovetop (with cabinets underneath) and oven (with cabinets on top). The last wall is the wall with the entrance into the kitchen from the stairway that leads into our house and the exit to the kitchen into the hallway...there's no free corner or even really large empty wall space except for the wall with the picture window

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a similar sized house with 4 kids, soon to be five.

 

Bunk beds. We hang clothes to free up dresser space and keep items to a minimum.

Store extra clothes in totes in your basement.

Do you have a tv? We had one in a stand, and I asked dh to get rid of out to free up space. (We did, changed to a flat screen that is mounted above a bok case).

The dining room is ALWAYS a problem. Ours a small space. But I NEEDED a big enough table to do school, so it IS cramped. Once thing that helped was I replaced two chairs with a bench. I intend to build another bench this winter to get rid of two now chairs. Honestly, this single change was huge!

If you need to keep homeschool books, can you store the ones you aren't using this year somewhere else? (I have storage shelves that are NOT in my house. Everything mom not using is there-and not in my house)

 

Sometimesr, living in a small space with many is hard! I wish my house was bigger or that we could build a new home. But it isn't, and we can't. So we make do.

One suggestion upthreadis to move into the smallest room and give the three kids the largest-I wish I could get dh to do this, but our need won't fit in that room!

 

No tv. I need to look into the bench idea! My spouse feels the same way

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you really can't put even a low bunk bed in the boys' room, consider the dorm hack of getting elevation cups to put under the legs of the beds.  That way you can raise them enough to have significant amounts of under the bed storage, which might enable you to get rid of one of the dressers.  (ETA:  Also, just in general, it might be a good idea to visit a college store and/or an RV show to get other ideas for how to efficiently use small spaces.  There are lots of ingenious hacks that might be easy to implement in your home.  Also, IME Danish modern bunk beds are lower profile than the typical American ones and can sometimes fit under eaves that would not normally work.  Also, you don't need boxsprings on beds with fully filled in supports underneath, so loft beds only need a mattress and an indoor washable sleeping bag/pillow on top, with drawers and/or low desk or table underneath.)

 

Also, you ARE storing out of season clothes in the basement or attic, right?  And hand me downs that don't fit yet?  In a crowded situation, it's good to think of bedroom, kitchen, and living room space as 'prime' space, reserved only for things that are currently in use, and off load other stuff elsewhere.  

 

As others have said, there is a middle path between using the basement and 'finishing' it.  I encourage you to figure out how to use it for a play/storage, and maybe one school desk or one craft table area.  That might be a good place for a locked science cabinet as well.  None of this actually requires it to be completely finished.  A craigslist carpet can keep the dust down beautifully, for instance.  Just the other day I saw a free Persian rug, 9 by 12 feet, with a few little moth holes, but beautiful.  If properly fumigated that would be a fantastic basement rug.  Laid out on the floor it would not attract more moths as it did all rolled up.

 

Oh, I really like the idea of elevation cups to put storage under the bed. The boys and I already fight about them keeping stuff under there that should go there... it'd be great to block off that space. Or attic is not really usable right now, but we are storing off season and hand me downs in the basement.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think most people just have too much stuff. My children share a dresser, and hang up some outfits.  They have a few nice toys each, but not a lot.  We have designed our house to use a lot of vertical space (tall bookcases, but with opaque doors to hide the stuff behind.    I have a few simple colors throughout the home--white, wood, and turquoise.  Everything fits into that your eyes can glide over the space.

 

I would move all of the storage that you can into the basement, in plastic tubs for protection. Toys in rotation, out of season clothing, books not in immediate use....all would go into stacked, labeled bins down in the basement. 

 

Does everyone NEED desks? We used to have desks for everyone, and we ditched that for the table.  Desks weren't a need, a place to work was.

 

Is there anyway to move the floor print of the dining space to open that up? Or switch table shapes/dimensions?

 

Where are your kids doing independent work? Are you teaching them all together? Right now, I teach at the kitchen table and then kids have their own work at their desks. (We only have two desks right now: the youngest kid only works with me.) I'm not sure how school would work without a quiet space to work. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For shoes we have one pair of sneakers, one pair of boots, and one pair of summer shoes for the boys. My daughter has two pairs of house shoes and a pair of dress shoes, and she has an extra pair of boots as I think she is about to outgrow one pair. I would get rid of the 2nd best now if we didn't have room.

 

Right now, the kids have sneakers, boots, and dress shoes upstairs. The dress shoes will go to the basement after the holidays, when all the recitals/performances/etc... end, but we have a bunch between now and the new year. The kids don't wear house shoes, just barefoot or socks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love our unfinished basement. We've put those rubber floor mats on part of it to make a play area. My daughter has a short lofted bed in her room that has dresser drawers and a desk under it- it's short, the desk pulls out. It fits under her sloped ceilings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh- the dark depressing aspect of the basement might be solved with full spectrum light bulbs. Honestly, in our cloudy winter it's more cheerful to be in our basement. I am really sensitive to light and have replaced most of our light bulbs to the full spectrum ones.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've lived as a family of 7 in a 3 bedroom ranch with no finished basement, and for a short while, with my mother as a family of 8 (so 9 with my mom) in the same scenario.  My first advice is to get rid of stuff and furniture.  Keep off-season clothes stored in tubs in the basement or a closet/under a bed; your two boys should be able to share one dresser.  In fact, all of my boys (4) can share one dresser; my two girls can and have shared another.

 

Short ceilings in the basement are fine for kids as they are short :)  And it would also probably work as a study area for your older kids.  If you can finish it cheaply, I'd do it; if not I'd at least paint, put in cheerful lighting, and lay carpet remnant and padding on the floors.

 

You also might try to find one of those tables that folds down on the sides, so you only need it to be folded all the way out when everyone is sitting down to dinner, and otherwise it can be folded inward and set against a wall so it takes up less space.  Like this: https://www.target.com/p/40-square-drop-leaf-rustic-dining-table-gray-black-threshold-153/-/A-51267495?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Furniture+Shopping&adgroup=SC_Furniture&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9029007&gclid=Cj0KCQiA3dTQBRDnARIsAGKSflmwZV-iBd8CWIjDAGwbuHM8Fol7r6Cuz13EER63reVmpqyGwSWjfpgaApeeEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds But try to find a really well-made one, used, of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually shoved my table against the wall and set one of those mini high chairs on the table. Yes, his feet were on the table but they were cute baby feet not big gross ones. He couldn't push himself off backwards because he was up against the wall. The downside is I couldn't really just leave him there since he wasn't actually strapped to the chair but I had lots of helpers at that time. If everyone was gone and I would be tempted to step away to grab a wash cloth or something it was fine because I could just put him in the chair proper since no one was sitting in them. We could not have our table big enough from the family and away from the wall. We had to choose.

 

We had all 4 kids in the master bedroom for awhile. I took the doors off the closet to make the room bigger. The closet became an alcove and the foot of the bunkbed went into the closet so we could fit another bed in. Think outside the box. This may not work for you but having an extra foot of closet space as part of the floor plan made a huge difference. Trundle beds would help if you can't fit bunks.

 

We also got rid of dressers. They take up so much space! My DH and I hung almost everything we owned in the small closet and had a tub for underthings which went on the top shelf of the closet. Under the bed would be another option but we didn't own one at the time only a mattress on the floor which didn't help with storage.

 

I agree with the others that toys and such could definitely go in the basement. If you store books down there just make sure it isn't damp.

 

The top of the dog kennel had a blanket over it and became a spot for daily school work storage when we weren't using it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've used a few ideas already mentioned:

 

1. Put a small table in the kitchen, with just a couple of chairs, or even stools that fit under the table, as workspace. A bench against one wall might allow everybody else to crowd around sometimes.

 

2. Schoolbooks and materials in a laundry basket or box, in the bottom of each child's closet or under their bed; put it back after school each day. Once, when we lived in a townhome, I put the school stuff in a kitchen cupboard, and stored some canned goods and pots and pans in the linen closet. (I was teaching in the kitchen, and needed my materials handy, but it was a very tiny kitchen so I also needed to put it all back out of sight after school.)

 

3. Move the family dinner table and a small china cabinet or cupboard into the living room. Our living room had table and chairs, the china cabinet, a loveseat, one upholstered chair, one rocker, one shelf of books, and a piano.

 

The "dining room area" and the "sitting room area" were each in half of the room, kind of...if we were all in there together, to watch a movie or something, some people sat at the table. It was not a big deal. It was also cozy for a couple of people to be watching TV and a couple of people to be playing a board game or something. 

 

So move furniture for better flow, pare down until there is almost no clutter visible (and put stuff where you need it, which might not be typical), and really stay on top of "everything in its place."

Edited by Tibbie Dunbar
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

Ă—
Ă—
  • Create New...