When we bought our house nearly ten years ago, we did so knowing that we ultimately desired to fill it with children, yet our options at the time limited us as far as choosing a floorplan that would easily accommodate kids. When I think back on the plan we had for the future, I'm not convinced we really had much of a plan at all beyond buying a house we could afford with the limited funds we had. I think we assumed that it would all just kind of work itself out as our needs changed.
Overall this has turned out to be mostly true. Each time we've faced a new challenge regarding fitting all the members of our family into our tiny space, we've met that challenge head on and figured out a way to make it work. We've moved beds and bought a mini crib and replaced it with a homemade toddler bed before ultimately redoing the whole bedroom. We've rearranged and updated the loft as well and even used the living room as a sleeping space at times.
Living in such a small home with kids requires us to think outside the box a lot. We make it work, and I'm proud of the solutions we've come up with to create a home that meets all of our needs as they arise.
Nonetheless, I often do wish that we had made one slightly different choice when we chose our park model floorplan--a choice that would have given us more options for the future.
I wish we had chosen a model with either a double loft or a second bedroom.
Having only two "bedrooms," especially when one of them is an open loft, can be very limiting for a growing family. I remember when I was pregnant with Sweetheart I would wonder how we would handle long-term sleeping arrangements if we ended up having a boy. How long could opposite gender children share a bedroom before "helpful" people started to express some concern? Would it be weird to have a sister and brother share a bedroom as they got older? Ultimately we decided that we would cross each bridge as we came to it, but it was a situation that never arose as we were blessed with a second girl instead.
(That said, at least one person has already asked us how we are going to find room for them when they are too old to share a bedroom. Hmm. Like when they're adults and they move out? I think it will be up to them to figure out their own sleeping arrangements at that point. But seriously, I don't think we need to worry about it.)
We still feel the pinch that not having that extra place for sleeping quarters brings, though. It affects decisions we make about the number of children we choose to have, for example.
In hindsight, that one change to our space would have made quite the difference for us long-term, but we really didn't know what the future was going to hold when we made the choice that we did. We did the best we could with the information and funds we had at the time.
Just like we've done every step of the way, though, I know that we'll be able to figure it all out as new obstacles arise. We've managed just fine so far.
This post was written for inclusion in the September 2018 collection of the Small Family Homes Blog Community. Read below for more writings on living small from our community of writers. Check back next month for a new topic and posts in the series. And if there is a topic you'd like to see us write about, let us know!
Tiny Shiny Home-- “If I Could Change One thing” : Of course there are things we would have done differently in our renovation. It's rare to get something right on the first try, but that doesn't make us love our home any less.
Little Bungalow-- “The Budget is Broken” : I've always felt that one of the big benefits of living small was the ability to renovate on a budget - but our max spend has been reached and we still have projects on the wish list.
Tiny Found Us-- "Needing a little more space?" : After living small for over a year, I realize we haven't been living grand enough.
Tiny Ass Camper-- “Bathroom, Bathroom, Bathroom” : We intentionally chose to omit the bathroom from our camper and honestly haven't missed it much - until we did.
Fourth & West-- "Sunlight and SAD" : I wish I lived in a glass house
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