Does anyone live in a 550 sq ft or less tiny/small house or apartment with children? - Page 2

[justmama]

Ours is a little bigger.  800sqft. 2 beds, 1 bath.  One adult, 3 children ages 12, 7, and 4.  We love it.  I could even go smaller if we needed to.  The challenge is all 3 kids in one room.  We make that work by having clear rules on who is allowed where.  NO ONE is allowed on anyone else's bed except mama's.  That means that your bed is your safe space and if you are on your bed, no one may touch you or bother you.  If you put a toy on your bed, it's safe until you return from school, potty, daddy's house, etc(at mama's discretion of course).  So basically they all have a space where they can go to get away from their sisters or play with a toy that they don't want to share.  In small spaces it's hard to have solitary play/time so we created the bed rule.  They are never ever ever allowed on each other's beds.  No exception.  You may NOT invite someone onto your bed.  Sometimes I wish it was different because they do love to snuggle and I bet they would sleep together at night and give me time to sleep alone.  But the bed rule does help with the fighting over toys and bickering when they want space from each other so I'll take it.  :)  I really think that the key to children living together in a small space is giving each of them a safe quiet place to go to when they need it.  Sometimes I'll watch one of my kids drop everything in the middle of a game and retreat to their bed with a toy for a few minutes and then rejoin her sisters to play again seamlessly and that's when I know that the bed rule really is important to peace in our house.

[mamaUK]

Originally Posted by justmama 

Ours is a little bigger.  800sqft. 2 beds, 1 bath.  One adult, 3 children ages 12, 7, and 4.  We love it.  I could even go smaller if we needed to.  The challenge is all 3 kids in one room.  We make that work by having clear rules on who is allowed where.  NO ONE is allowed on anyone else's bed except mama's.  That means that your bed is your safe space and if you are on your bed, no one may touch you or bother you.  If you put a toy on your bed, it's safe until you return from school, potty, daddy's house, etc(at mama's discretion of course).  So basically they all have a space where they can go to get away from their sisters or play with a toy that they don't want to share.  In small spaces it's hard to have solitary play/time so we created the bed rule.  They are never ever ever allowed on each other's beds.  No exception.  You may NOT invite someone onto your bed.  Sometimes I wish it was different because they do love to snuggle and I bet they would sleep together at night and give me time to sleep alone.  But the bed rule does help with the fighting over toys and bickering when they want space from each other so I'll take it.    I really think that the key to children living together in a small space is giving each of them a safe quiet place to go to when they need it.  Sometimes I'll watch one of my kids drop everything in the middle of a game and retreat to their bed with a toy for a few minutes and then rejoin her sisters to play again seamlessly and that's when I know that the bed rule really is important to peace in our house.

It sounds like you have it all figured out! I can't wait to actually move so we can start figuring out how it is going to work for us. My children are so used to having a room each and not sharing, I knew I had to make sure they each had there own bedroom in our new home. The third bedroom, which is for my four year old, is super tiny but I think it will fit a single bed and a tiny chest of drawers. We are considering a floor bed for this room as the room might get swallowed up with a regular size bed, we are not sure at the moment. It has a sliding door as the room is not big enough for a door to open into (or out of!)

[MPsSweetie]

We also do the bed thing! We got low lofts so on top and underneath is private space! They've been just fine leaving each other stuff alone as long as it's contained there!

[WittyNameHere]

We (me, DH, DS, DD, and one very big cat) are in a 395 sq foot basement apartment. There's an open plan kitchen/living room, bathroom, bedroom, and a little uninsulated foyer. Since the kids are still young (3 1/2 yrs and 15 months) we bedshare on a queen-sized futon with a toddler bed side car. I don't know what we'll do if we're still here in a few years (God forbid) and the kids need/want their own beds. I am eternally indebted to the geniuses at Ikea who designed their storage systems because I don't know what we'd do without it. You know those little mock apartments in the Ikea showroom that displays how their furniture and various storage solutions work together to create an efficient multi-tasking environment that's affordable and stylish? We completely ripped off those ideas and made them our own, minus the stylish part because I am just not that creative and my husband still thinks horror flick model toys are acceptable room decor. Every single piece of furniture has some sort of storage component to store books, clothes, stationery, toys, seasonal stuff, etc., or has multiple uses like the toy chest/coffee table/bench. This means we don't have a lot of stuff and things don't always match, but we try to adhere to a less is more policy. 

[chel]

Originally Posted by mamaUK 

It sounds like you have it all figured out! I can't wait to actually move so we can start figuring out how it is going to work for us. My children are so used to having a room each and not sharing, I knew I had to make sure they each had there own bedroom in our new home. The third bedroom, which is for my four year old, is super tiny but I think it will fit a single bed and a tiny chest of drawers. We are considering a floor bed for this room as the room might get swallowed up with a regular size bed, we are not sure at the moment. It has a sliding door as the room is not big enough for a door to open into (or out of!)

Think twice before giving up the underbed space. Ikea has a nice low loft that is nice for young children. Then you have extra floor space for play/storage

[Lovesmila]

I don't know how big our house actually is (we rent) but I'm sure it would fit into the small house category. It's not that unusual here in New Zealand, but I'm aware that in the US mega houses are pretty common. We have one small living room with an open plan kitchen, bathroom, and two reasonably small bedrooms. That's it. Oh, and one 2.5 year old toddler!

I don't love this house - until I finish studying it's more about financial necessity than lifestyle choice. But more and more I have come to appreciate that it means we need to keep tabs on our belongings and think about "where will we put this?" before buying anything. It also means we have a much sparser toy collection for our daughter, although we do keep more toys in her closet and rotate them. I think that's a bonus for her too, less commercialism and more imagination :)
 

[justmama]

Originally Posted by chel 


Think twice before giving up the underbed space. Ikea has a nice low loft that is nice for young children. Then you have extra floor space for play/storage

YES!  The Kura.  That's what we have for my 12 year old.  She adores it.  It creates a nice little playspace underneath and you don't waste floorspace with a bed.  It's large enough for a regular twin mattress so it can be used on older children but it's also a very low loft(I'm 5feet 5inches and it comes up to my chest) so it's suitable for the younger ones as well.  I'm completely comfortable with my 4 year old on it.  I don't however want her on the top bunk bed though because it's so high.  I think the Kura is a lovely middle-sized compromise.

ETA: I think it was either $150 or $199 when we bought it 2 years ago??  It's been DEFINITELY worth the money.

[Freedom~Mama]

We are a family of 4 plus 1 dog, and live in about a 700 sq ft home (it is 2 bedrooms and 1 bath) and honestly it isn't too bad.  We don't have a garage, but we do have a front and back yard, a covered car port and a small storage shed.  During the summer we are outside so much that we don't really notice the size and right now we are just trying to de-clutter as much as we can, so that it will feel a little bigger and just more peaceful this winter when we are inside more.  We would love to get a bigger place when we can, mostly we are in this place because of financial reasons.  I have to say though living in a house and having a front and back yard helps a ton, I am not sure if I would do as well if we were living in an apartment with no yard.  I think there can be advantages to living in smaller spaces.  Utility bills can be cheaper, and it can have a much cozier feel since it is small, plus it really forces you to be organized and de-clutter. 

[LilyKay]

We (2 adults, a two-year-old and most like a second one on the way) are living in a 600 sqf apartment (around 55 m2) and we're moving next year to a 920 sqf one that we bought (it has a 900 sqf rooftop terrace - that's what sucked us in..). I purge on a regular basis and right now on a mission to have the William Morris quote apply to our home: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

I really love living in small spaces that's why we dished out money on a new condo in the city even though for that amount we could have gotten a much bigger house in suburbs. A lot of eyebrows were raised at our decision but I do love that we're in the city center and all I have to do is go out the front door and I'm there. Living in a small space really puts the brakes on acquiring new things. And the small-ish 920 square feet allowed us to get better quality things for the new apartment (like nice hardwood floors and decent bathroom fixtures) that would've been way too expensive for us in a bigger place. We can also continue to live car free (we walk everywhere and occasionally use the bus or car sharing).

And every time doubt creeps in that maybe we should've just moved out to a bigger home, I add up in my head the costs for heating/cars/parking places in the city/commute and I feel easy again. Then I remind myself that my grandparents successfully raised 8 children (7 girls and a boy) in a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment (that was in the Middle East in the 60s and 70s).  I should be grateful for all the space I have.

[orangekoolaid]

we did with our DD for 3.5 years.  now we live in a small house and I told my DP that I miss our small apartment.  We maximized the wall space (stacked vertically) and it was really a great way to keep our stuff limited.  People knew we had not space so they didn't buy us stuff.  It was less stressful on me to clean, etc- and was so much cheaper than what we are paying now.  The only downside is that it's nice having space now to just 'get away' from DD or DP when I need to (or they need to).  Otherwise, I think a small place is perfect.  

[crazyms]

I think the key to housing is how you use the space especially in a small house. We have been living in a camper with three kids for a while now first to travel with dh now so we can build on our property and its challenging at times but not too bad. It mostly sucks when we can't get outdoors because of weather like this week . Other than that we keep possessions down and use wall space. I've learned to get creative. We are about to remodel some though... turn our bed across the wall to make more walk room and use as a couch now so the little couch can go and i can add a desk. Also planning a freezer to fridge conversion (yes i have a deep freezer in here lol) so we can go solar. Then I'll take out the fridge and have a nifty space for kitchen stuff storage. It works but i really believe it's only because we get outside. Even when we build we plan too stay small.

[alaskanmomma]

We have a bit larger(about 900-950 sq ft.) but I have 2, soon to be 3 kids, plus DH and I. I don't mind the space, but I DO find it feels cluttered pretty quickly. 

[LeighPF]

I have lived with little ones in some pretty small places. When it worked it was because we could be deliberate about how we used space and where we stored things. When it did not, it was poorly designed space, too many things, and no were to put things away (the kitchen with one cuboard). Have a plan and be deliberate.

I live in a bigger space now (1800sf, oddly with only one real closet), but still love our Ikea Kuna bed. Though some days I dream about a Tiny Tumbleweed House.

[mamaUK]

So, here's an update, we did it, we've bought our tiny house and we're moving in three weeks time! It isn't the house I originally wrote the post about, it's another house in the city where I live. It's a two bed/two reception room victorian period property in the south west of England (for people new to this thread we're a family of four.)

The house is 540 sq ft.

I'm extremely excited to be downsizing like this and am really looking forward to the challenge!

[crazyms]

Congratulations! The house sounds adorable. Good luck settling in.