Will I have enough room?

[peanut1982]

My fiance and I bought a one bedroom flat a couple of years ago, we've just finished refitting the bathroom and feeling like the place is really ours. When I discovered last week that we were expecting, we discussed looking to buy a bigger place but the thought of the upheaval of moving just doesn't appeal to me right now! We have our own front door, garden and plenty attic space and I just feel so comfortable here just now.

Do babies really take up that much space? I have a feeling when we tell family the news they'll bring up the space issue and just need convinced that we'll be able to fit baby in for the first while at least?

 

[Kazz]

hey hun.

We are currently living in a 1 bedroom flat and space has become a nightmare since christmas! Iain is still in our room luckily enough it was big enough to fit the cot in but only just. My house always looks a mess cos of lack of space

we are pestering the living daylights out of the council to try and get bigger house as there is no way on this earth we'll be able to fit another baby in beside us in november. If they dont move us soon I can see us having to go private let which i grudge as it's sooo much more expensive than council

 

[AliCat]

Hi - we've got the same problem too. We're renting a one bedroomed flat (with house cat) and I'm wondering if we'll have enough room. My husband says we should apply for a council house, but we don't want to move from our flat as we love the area and get on really well with our neighbours. The other option we may have is that my husband's brother-in-law was looking to buy a property to rent out, we considered asking him to buy our flat off our current landlord, and we have a cellar area below that's not really used and undeveloped. We thought if the bro=in-law buys it, he could buy a section of the basement and get it done up ready for the baby. Plus it will be warmer as we have wooden floors in the lounge area and it's not insulated so flippin' freezing in winter - heating bils are phenomenal!! Oh and it gives the mad cat more room to run about, the loon!

 

[Sherlock]

You say you have attic space? Can you expand into there if need be? Save moving? Is it a large flat? Open plan or rooms? Lots of storage? Room for a shed in the garden to possibly store things (like buggy) in?

I think for the first 6 months or so (or for as long as you are happy to have LO in with you at night) then you can manage fine. Yes space might be short, but if you are careful with your purchases for baby and consider your lack of space then it can be done. Make sure you have room for a full size cot in your room. Even if you start off with a Moses basket LO will need to be in a cot before long, so you must have room for that.

We live in a 2 bedroomed house. Huge master bedroom and good size second bedroom. Cupboard/drawer wise, we bought a modular shelving unit (6 spaces) and put baskets in it. And thats it for storage for LO's clothes, nappies and so on. It all fits. I just had to juggle and also be practical. A wardrobe or drawers would have eaten into the bedroom space but this unit fits on top of a large platform in the corner of the bedroom therefore making use of the dead space. Of course baby bath and so on don't fit in it, but they live in the bathroom until needed.

Longer term, past say a year old I think you'd need to consider moving. If for nothing else than maybe valuing having your bedroom back for yourselves and having room to store all the things that a small child will accumalate. Clutter can drive you barmy. And unless you have space to put away toys, dry clothes, fit high chair and so on, you might be hard pushed.

 

[peanut1982]

Thanks for your replies, never thought on the shed for storing buggy etc, we've got three sheds(!) so plenty space. I've been out with the measuring tape this morning working out arranging bedroom furniture to fit in a cot!
There are quite a few 2 bed places around that we could afford (just) but would mean no longer having our own garden, drive, sheds etc and a couple of hundred pound leap in mortgage payments. The thought of upheaval of moving just doesn't appeal to me at the moment, perhaps this will change as I'm further along. Definitely would plan to move within the first year after the wee one arrives.

Thanks again for your advice, off to check out cot dimensions!

S

 

[dannii87]

Hey! We have a 3 storey house (I live with my mum at the moment) and althought the house is big upwards, the rooms are very small. Every bedroom is occupied so baby will be living in my tiddy bedroom til he/she is 4 months at least! I guess you just "make" the room. It's like money I guess, people say you just "do it" there's no way to plan it, it just happens.

Rachel Green (in Friends) coped in Joey's little flat for a while!

I'm sure you'll be fine xxx

 

[HideiLu]

Me and OH just signed up to another year lease on our flat just before we found out about baby, so we're here until Jan.

We can squeeze in the cot beside the bed and thankfully have a few built in storage cupboard but have been looking up some other cheap sets of bedroom furniture and storage solutions to start putting away baby bits. ANything from drawers, shelving, underbed boxes etc, plus we have a large sheltered balcony so we could create some space there.

The plan is to see how we get on until the lease is up and decide then how we are coping and whether we'll need somewhere bigger.

 

[Ally1979]

We live in a 2 bed chalet at the mo which is too small for the 3 of us so we are deff thinking of changing our situation. We want to stay on the farm so i think we will sell our chalet and buy a 3 bed chalet with a bit more space.

 

[Bee]

I live in a studio flat and can't afford to move before the baby is born so I am going to have to manage.

I am hoping to move by the time the baby is 6 months old though - but till then I will have to make the space