Trying to squeeze into tiny bedrooms...

[joannqn]

...is driving me crazy.

 

The kids' bedrooms are approximately 9x11 feet, give or take a couple of inches. I'm dealing with the boys' room right now and I'm having a really hard time making it work.

 

One long wall has the door and the closet. There's maybe 2 feet of wall space. The other long wall has a window and the heat register right smack in the middle. So, I have DS9's loft bed along a short wall so to not block all of the limited light that comes through it. The wall space isn't as wide as the bed so it is partially in front of the window. DS4's bed is perpendicular to and under the loft covering the heat register. Next to DS4's bed is a short bookshelf that holds toys/belongings. Between the edge of the loft bed and the wall is another short bookshelf that holds more toys/belongings. Above the bookshelf, I'll be adding four wall mounted shelves. The final wall is just long enough for a dresser (3 drawers each) and space for the door to open. I'm saving the space above the dresser for a couple of posters we bought DS9 for Christmas (before we knew we were moving). I also don't want to fill up ALL of the wall space with shelving. I also need to find space for his TKD belt holder, a row of pegs that hold his medals, and a trophy.

 

There's about 4x4 feet of play area.

 

Did I tell you that it is so cramped in there that they can't actually play in there? Or that their stuff never makes it back where it belongs? Or that they don't get along in the first place?

 

I have no idea how we're going to fit DD2 into DD11's bedroom. We'll be buying a bunk bed but there's no place to put toys without taking out DD's decorative shelf, computer, or the dresser (2 drawers each).

 

ugh

[jennsmile]

Have you looked at Ikea? They have awesome solutions for small spaces.

[ilovemy6kids]

Ugh, I so hear you!! We have 8 kids in 3 small rooms. We have loft beds for them but there is only a tiny spot in the floor. My kids spend time playing on their beds and other places in the house. I really encourage playing at the kitchen table with most of the little toys like legos. I do feel bad that they can't leave things out, because they have to put things back every time we have to eat. My dh put some shelves in the garage and we keep shoes, boots and coats out there. He put shelves in my tiny entryway closet and we keep most of their toys and games in there. That gives a little more room for clothes. The toys are in bins and they are only allowed to have one bin out at a time. They only have a few dolls or action figures that they play with in their rooms. I would love to have a big room for each of them to play in, but it is just not happening right now. I do wind up taking alot of pictures of lego creations and doll set ups because they have to put the stuff away and can't save it until later. That has helped a little, but there is no perfect answer except to keep things at a minimum and get creative with storage. Our computer is in the hallway on a narrow desk. I really do wish that my kids had a desk or a school space, but we keep that stuff in the laundry room closet.

Sheri

[Coffeetime]

We have 5 kids in 2 small bedrooms.

 

It's great motivation for keeping the toys at a minimum. :glare:

 

The hardest thing for me is clothing storage.... the boy's room has absolutely no room for dressers, so their clothes live in laundry baskets on a shelf in their closet.

[Spryte]

We have tiny bedrooms, too. We use a lot of the ideas Sheri listed above, and try to be very creative with storage. I love her idea of taking pictures of creations and set ups - we are going to do more of that!

 

All clothes go in the dresser, which frees the closet for toy storage - DH installed shelves and we have bins to fit. Books for pleasure reading are on one big bookcase in the bedroom, and lots more books on bookcases in the living room, along hallways, and well, lining any free wall we can find.

 

Ikea is great for storage ideas - just browse their online catalogue to get ideas. We've scored some great finds on freecycle, and craig's list.

 

We have toy bins in the living room, inside cabinets under our bookcases. Outerwear and shoes in a coat closet and/or shoe basket. Art and science supplies in the kitchen.

 

I find that the kids don't play in their rooms, but rather all over the house. And, honestly, I sort of like it! Maybe we're just used to it... :)

[Kathleen in VA]

At one point I had three boys in a 10x12 room. I used all the vertical space. We had a loft bed and bunks. The loft bed (STORA at IKEA) was high enough for an adult to walk under comfortably. I put two dressers and a bookcase underneath. On another wall I put another tall bookcase. I did use all the wall space but it helped to keep the floor space open.

 

My two girls share an 8x9 room. They have a bunkbed, two dressers and a tall skinny bookcase. It's tight in there. I also use all the wall space for added shelving.

 

Visually, both rooms are nightmares, but I don't really see any other way to do it. We're just biding our time. I think it builds character in them and me.

 

I also have a garage. I put a large old carpet remnant out there and we bought two large wardrobes, also from IKEA, for overflow clothes and stuff. I don't know what I'd do without that garage. It's really my basement.

 

Btw, my oldest son moved out in June, 2010 and it's still crowded in the boys' room.:confused:

 

My consolation is this house is the ideal retirement home. Everything is on one level and I can vacuum the whole house without switching the plug to another outlet. :D

[AdventureMoms]

Is there anywhere else in the house that they can play? We also have small bedrooms (DD's is smaller than 9x11, the twins share a room about that size) but it doesn't bother us so much because we don't really keep toys or stuff in there. They sleep and dress in their rooms (and diaper changes for the boys) but playing happens in the living room or dining room for the most part. It does mean there aren't really any "adult" spaces in the house but it works pretty well for us. DD does spend some time playing on her bed when she's playing with little bitty stuff that the boys can't have. I do struggle with whether or not to have a 4th child, because if we have a 4th either DD will have to share or I'll have to squeeze a 3rd into the boys' room.

 

That said, DD has asked to share with the boys when they're bigger. So I may end up with all three together at some point, which would leave us with a playroom or schoolroom.

[DusksAngel]

Could you put a dresser in their closet? You could also look at under the bed storage.

[KidsHappen]

I have a couple with a king size bed in a 9X10 room. The only other thing they have in their room is a single bedside table and a sofa table at the end of the bed with their tv on it.

 

My 12 year old also has a 9X10 room (directly above the other room). One entire wall is covered with two doors (door to room and closet door) and another wall has a window on it. There is only one logical way to put her furniture in her room and that uses all available wall space and leave a 2X2 area in the middle of the floor.

 

The 15 year old lucked out because she was next in line when older sisters moved out and she nabbed the 12X14 room although her double bed is in the middle of the floor and all other furniture is around all available wall space.

 

All bedroom furniture is from Ikea so we have maximized usage of space and we are lucky because we have plenty of common space for everyone to spread out and almost no one is ever home. The only real problem is clothes and art supply/game storage. We are very little closet space and I have teenage girls that accumulate clothing from thin air. We are past the toys stage so that helps but I can sympathize. It was rough when I had five at home and they were all still little.

[joannqn]

Most of the toys are actually in bins lined up against the wall in the entry way. My living room floor is typically covered in Webkink, Nerf darts, library books (kept in a basket on the living room floor), and other toys.

 

The biggest issues are:

 

It doesn't take much on the floor to make it impossible to walk into the room. Typically, they have hangers, dirty clothing, and toys covering most of the floor.

 

Housing two boys that don't get along in such a small space. There's constant bickering when they have to be in the room at the same time.

 

And then I can't see how housing a preteen and toddler (or teen and preschool) together will work well. There's a 9 year ago difference there. They're needs are to0 different.

[VA6336]

For a little while longer, you could put the bunk bed up in the girls' room, but not put the bottom bunk in. Just use a little toddler bed for your younger daughter. We just screwed in a couple of extra brackets to keep the bed as steady as it would have been with the bottom bunk rails. Good luck, it sounds like a conundrum!

[ktgrok]

A few thoughts....can you put all the clothes somewhere else? Either a garage or your bedroom? That would free up some space. Or, can you make one bedroom a sleeping porch type set up, with all the beds in there, with just enough space to walk between them, barrack style, and have the other room be a play room?

[2squared]

And then I can't see how housing a preteen and toddler (or teen and preschool) together will work well. There's a 9 year ago difference there. They're needs are to0 different.

 

What about putting your two olders together and your two youngers together? I know they are boy/girl, but maybe they could room together until the other relationships are more solid. My 9yo girl, 7yo boy, 5yo boy, and 3yo girl all sleep in the same room. Their belongings are spread throughout other rooms, but for now the sleeping arrangement works. I actually like it because I can read to everyone at the same time at bedtime and tucking in kisses and hugs go so much quicker with everyone in one room.

[Hannah C.]

What about ditching the beds and using mattresses or sleeping bags on the floor, or a couch that turns into a bed? (Not a fold-out bed, but a couch that reclines.) The beds come out at night and go back in during the day so there's more floor space and room to play.

[ktgrok]

What about ditching the beds and using mattresses or sleeping bags on the floor, or a couch that turns into a bed? (Not a fold-out bed, but a couch that reclines.) The beds come out at night and go back in during the day so there's more floor space and room to play.

 

OOH! Futons could be laid out and picked back up, allowing more space. (just the mattresses, not the frame.)

[redsquirrel]

we also have small rooms upstairs. They don't really keep many toys in the bedrooms. Bedrooms, in our house, are for sleeping or quiet time. They have the rest of the house for playing. They have books and some legos in their bedroom and a CD player for audio books. Aside from clothes that is about it.

 

Now, I would love to have their toys in their bedrooms. We have some friends whose kids have such big rooms they have couches and reading areas etc. Sigh... not in this lifetime I am afraid.

[SKL]

My two daughters' room is smaller than that. They have a bunkbed with trundle drawers. They actually both sleep on the bottom bunk, and use the top bunk as a play / toy storage area. I put some bins up there, but I want to get more, nice-looking, bigger bins so that it is a better use of space, more flexible, and better looking. A child could still sleep up there if it were set up better. When the girls eventually sleep in separate bunks, I'll have bins at the foot of each of the beds so as to not waste space.

 

My kids have hundreds if not thousands of books in their room. They have large bookshelves above their dresser, as well as three bookcases. One bookcase is short and doubles as a table (shoved up against the foot of the bunkbed). They have a sturdy storage bin cube that doubles as a stool, and I'm looking for another of those. They also have other storage bins. The storage bins are under the easel when not in use.

 

I bought some hooks with the thought of installing them behind the bedroom door. I bought a stupid size, though. I plan to go back and get some small ones, so they won't make a difference in opening the door all the way. I also put low hooks inside the coat closet near our front door, for their coats/jackets. Doesn't take any extra space, and keeps things neat without adult intervention.

 

Their world map is taped to the wall between the bunkbeds (so you can sit on the bottom bunk and check out the map). They have a magnetic white board against one wall (between the bed and dresser; 2.5' wide by 3.5' hi), with magnetic dry-erase pens, letters, etc.

 

My kids' "big toys" (play kitchen, train table, dollhouse) are in another room. As they get older, I look forward to them outgrowing the big toys and needing less space. Outdoor toys (sports things, etc.) get stored in a weather-safe box outside or in the garage.

 

If I had it to do over, I would not have bought the big easel. But the kids like it and use it, so it stays.

[joannqn]

Well, I got DH to put the shelves up on the wall. There are three shelves above the bookcase. Each shelf holds two square fabric boxes to everything up there is neat. Then there's another matching self above the side of the bed near the foot for DS9's nighttime reading, clock, and a framed picture.

 

Adding the shelves helped a lot. I have two boxes to unpack in there still but it feels more doable. I think I can put the TKD between the window and adjacent wall. I have an extra big plastic bin that I think will go on the floor of the closet for tossing Nerf guns/ammo in.

 

What do you put on the top shelf in kids' closets? It's hard to put anything up there because they can't reach. We don't have out of season clothing. We never have enough clothing to put things away; we just wear things year round and put a coat on.

 

I won't worry about the girls' room just yet because we can't afford a bed for the little one. Until we get one, she sleeps with us. She's not ready to move out of our bed yet anyway.

[Starr]

Could you store sheets, towels, kitchen stuff you don't use often? I would use the top shelf for general storage. it might give you some more space in another part of the house.

[lewelma]

My boys (11 and 8) share a room 6.5 by 9. We have tall bunks, so all the toys fit in boxes under the bed. They share a dresser, 2.5 drawers each for clothing. There is no closet. The only other thing in the room is a beanbag, so that one child can read in their room while the other reads in the family room. Less is more! Get rid of the toys and clothing. If you really have to, put half in storage and rotate every 3 months. We live in a 700 sq ft apt in the middle of the city but right next too the town's "green belt". My approach: if they are getting on each other's nerves, I kick them outside. :001_smile:

 

Ruth in NZ

[KidsHappen]

What about ditching the beds and using mattresses or sleeping bags on the floor, or a couch that turns into a bed? (Not a fold-out bed, but a couch that reclines.) The beds come out at night and go back in during the day so there's more floor space and room to play.

 

We once had a room with wall to wall mattresses. They all slept in there and then used what would have been another bedroom for the toy room. They really liked that and remember it fondly.

[SKL]

It doesn't take much on the floor to make it impossible to walk into the room. Typically, they have hangers, dirty clothing, and toys covering most of the floor.

 

Do they have a hamper? Do they know what to do with it? Can they be convinced to hang their hangers up?

[2squared]

We have very small bedrooms too. To free up floor space, I put their limited wardrobes in their tiny closets or in other rooms of the house.

 

I love our bunk beds, but our old farmhouse has sloped walls, so the person in the top bunk doesn't get much vertical space. :tongue_smilie:

[nd293]

The kids rooms are about the same size. Both have a window along one wall, a door in another, and dd's room also has a cupboard (the size of a bedroom door). Our room is not much bigger. We have found a couple of things that help:

 

1) Furniture that looks "light" - in dd's room she has a wrought iron bed and wrought iron shelves, which make the room look more spacious that "heavier" timber furniture would.

 

2) Replacing conventional doors with "space saving" doors - we have a bi-fold door to our bedroom, and we have replaced dd's cupboard door with a concertina style door. Both free up space along the wall, as we don't have to allow room for the doors to swing open.

 

3) As someone else mentioned - Ikea furniture. It was only once we got the Ikea Trofast storage system for ds's room that the toys stayed where they belonged. We can also easily move toys into the living area where there is more space to play, and then back them away quickly.

 

Good luck!

[2squared]

I won't worry about the girls' room just yet because we can't afford a bed for the little one. Until we get one, she sleeps with us. She's not ready to move out of our bed yet anyway.

 

Our 9yo dd and 3yo dd usually share the upper twin bunk, so that is always an option for a while. I expect my 7yo will want to share his twin bed with my baby when the baby is ready to move out of his crib.

[CalicoKat]

...is driving me crazy.

 

The kids' bedrooms are approximately 9x11 feet, give or take a couple of inches. I'm dealing with the boys' room right now and I'm having a really hard time making it work.

 

One long wall has the door and the closet. There's maybe 2 feet of wall space. The other long wall has a window and the heat register right smack in the middle. So, I have DS9's loft bed along a short wall so to not block all of the limited light that comes through it. The wall space isn't as wide as the bed so it is partially in front of the window. DS4's bed is perpendicular to and under the loft covering the heat register. Next to DS4's bed is a short bookshelf that holds toys/belongings. Between the edge of the loft bed and the wall is another short bookshelf that holds more toys/belongings. Above the bookshelf, I'll be adding four wall mounted shelves. The final wall is just long enough for a dresser (3 drawers each) and space for the door to open. I'm saving the space above the dresser for a couple of posters we bought DS9 for Christmas (before we knew we were moving). I also don't want to fill up ALL of the wall space with shelving. I also need to find space for his TKD belt holder, a row of pegs that hold his medals, and a trophy.

 

There's about 4x4 feet of play area.

 

Did I tell you that it is so cramped in there that they can't actually play in there? Or that their stuff never makes it back where it belongs? Or that they don't get along in the first place?

 

I have no idea how we're going to fit DD2 into DD11's bedroom. We'll be buying a bunk bed but there's no place to put toys without taking out DD's decorative shelf, computer, or the dresser (2 drawers each).

 

ugh

For the covered heat vent: register extenders!

[joannqn]

Do they have a hamper? Do they know what to do with it? Can they be convinced to hang their hangers up?

 

We have one shared hamper in the laundry room. The four year is pretty good with putting his clothes in it. The nine year old still has issues with both putting his clothes in the hamper and putting clean clothing away. I found five pairs of his underwear behind the dresser yesterday.

 

The hangers fall because the four year old can't reach. He pulls on the bottom of the clothing item trying to get it to fall down. Sometimes it works, sometimes the hanger breaks, sometimes the hanger falls with the item.

[justamouse]

This may not work for you, but for years we had our livingroom into what we called 'the dorm'. I switched the rooms around and used the living room as a bedroom for 5 kids. Then you could use the bedroom as a den? But the thing that made it work is that we had doors put on the livingroom.

 

:grouphug: Been there, I know how hard it is. :grouphug:

[joannqn]

This may not work for you, but for years we had our livingroom into what we called 'the dorm'. I switched the rooms around and used the living room as a bedroom for 5 kids. Then you could use the bedroom as a den? But the thing that made it work is that we had doors put on the livingroom.

 

:grouphug: Been there, I know how hard it is. :grouphug:

 

I've thought about doing something like that with the master bedroom, which isn't all that large either but might work. It wouldn't work because DD11 is modesty and likes her personal space. She's more like a teen than a child. She would not appreciate sleeping with the boys.

[Upward Journey]

Most of the toys are actually in bins lined up against the wall in the entry way. My living room floor is typically covered in Webkink, Nerf darts, library books (kept in a basket on the living room floor), and other toys.

 

The biggest issues are:

 

It doesn't take much on the floor to make it impossible to walk into the room. Typically, they have hangers, dirty clothing, and toys covering most of the floor.

 

Housing two boys that don't get along in such a small space. There's constant bickering when they have to be in the room at the same time.

 

And then I can't see how housing a preteen and toddler (or teen and preschool) together will work well. There's a 9 year ago difference there. They're needs are to0 different.

 

Kids do what they have to do. My oldest always shared with both of his younger brothers. At the time that we moved they were 5, 8 & 18. Not ideal, but when you've got a small house..... their room was approx. 8x10. They had bunks and another bed going perpendicular to it, as well as dressers in various sizes. There wasn't much play space. My oldest sons' vast lego colletion was *supposed* to live in bins under the bunks, but mostly they were strewn all over the floor :)

[Susan in TN]

My kids share rooms - 2 per room. They're not large rooms, but maybe slightly larger than yours. They all have bunk beds and storage under the beds. They have "relatively" inexpensive closet systems. And recently I bought them all "hang on the door" shoe holders - these are great for holding toys and other "stuff" besides shoes. http://www.amazon.com/42-Pocket-Over-Organizer-Natural-Canvas/dp/B002V91962/ref=pd_sim_hg_2

 

It's true that we also have a bonus room, and that's where most of the toys stay. Each room does have a basket or bin for holding misc. toys, a dresser, and one room has a changing table, another room has a desk, and the other room has a rocking chair.

[mom2jjka]

We have small bedrooms too.

We make the most of the space by using bunk beds, and then putting one of the dressers in the closet (otherwise we couldn't even have a bookshelf in there) The dont' have desks or too many decorative things though.

 

Something else we did was to take off the bi-fold closet doors and hang a curtain over the closet instead. The doors prevented us from pushing the dresser up against the closet - and even those few precious inches count.

[J-rap]

We had two (small) bedrooms for 5 children. Here are a few things we did:

 

They rarely played in their rooms -- no room. I actually liked it this way, because this way we were usually all together and not hidden upstairs behind a door. Most of their toys were kept in cupboards in the dining room, and they played in the living room. We don't have room in the kitchen to eat, so our main floor is mostly two rooms: a dining room and a living room (no family room). It looked like a disaster zone for about five years. :) (Barbies, legos, puzzles, etc.)

 

We only kept clothes out that they were wearing for the season. (Everything else was kept in the attic.)

 

We had storage containers that slid under beds. Every night before they went to sleep, we tried to do a quick pick up job, putting misc. toys and things into the storage containers so the floor was kept free.

 

Eventually one child moved to the couch. For about five years this child pulled out a sleeping bag every night and slept on the couch.

 

We kept an extra dresser in our bedroom for the kids.

 

We have an upstairs sleeping porch, and in the summers, the kids all slept out there in sleeping bags.

 

We tried to make it fun and cozy and I made a point of never complaining in front of the kids. :) They all have great memories of their cozy days in our over 100-year old house. We still live there, by the way.

[AdventureMoms]

If the 4yo can't reach his clothes, can you install a lower closet rod? I got one that just hangs from the upper rod at Walmart for something like $8. It took about 2 minutes to set up and it is plenty low enough for my 3yo to pick out her own clothes.

[SKL]

We have one shared hamper in the laundry room. The four year is pretty good with putting his clothes in it. The nine year old still has issues with both putting his clothes in the hamper and putting clean clothing away. I found five pairs of his underwear behind the dresser yesterday.

 

The hangers fall because the four year old can't reach. He pulls on the bottom of the clothing item trying to get it to fall down. Sometimes it works, sometimes the hanger breaks, sometimes the hanger falls with the item.

 

My kids also can't reach the closet rod. Ideally, they hang their hangers on the doorknob and then I take them to the laundry room when I get around to it. They have a hamper in their closet.

 

They use stools (sometimes piled up) to reach their clothes.

 

I forgot to mention how I use every inch of their closet (which is maybe 3' wide). On the floor is a short bookcase, their hamper, and a bunch of stackable plastic drawers - large and small. Their dress shoes sit in a box on top of the stack of large drawers. Their jewelry, belts, and hair pretties are in small plastic drawers atop the bookcase. This leaves a few inches for their umbrellas, brooms, skates, hobby horses, weights, etc. On top is a shelf that holds additional plastic drawers, bedding, out-of-season outerwear, and a few other things.