How Do Bedrooms and Baths Work in Your Home?

[freeazabird]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for advice/input on beds and baths. My husband and I live in a modest 1400 sq ft bungalow. We LOOOOOOVE our home and got it for an absolute steal two years ago. We never planned on having kids and thought it was the perfect size for us. We now have a surprise baby on the way and don't know how long our home will continue to work for us. The house has 3 beds 1.5 baths. One of the bedrooms will become a nursery and the other is used as an office (my husband and I both work from home full-time). I think for a family of 3 the house works, though there is the issue of where to put guests? If we have a 2nd child I'm not sure if the house will still work for us. How many people, beds, and baths do you have? What level of accommodations do you feel you must provide for guests? For us to move and get an additional bedroom and bath would cost another $175K, do we need to start saving?

[iris lily]

Do you have a basement in which to make up a simple double bed situation? Also, consider giving up your room to guests when they come.

You are right to frame the additional bedroom as costing you $175,000. For that you can put guests up in a hotel room.

[stevesteve]

Two of us live in a 2 bedroom 1 bath 900sqft row house but I don't think we'd have any problem with it for a kid and maybe not for two.  Space is more flexible than you think if you choose to make it so.  It's also important what outdoor space you have.  If you can let your kids go to the local park or your yard is big enough then you really don't have much of a problem.

I will never plan an extra room for guests.  If guests need a place to stay we will just double up or give up our room.  It makes no sense to me to spend tends of thousands extra to have an extra room for guests.

[freeazabird]

Do you have a basement in which to make up a simple double bed situation? Also, consider giving up your room to guests when they come.

You are right to frame the additional bedroom as costing you $175,000. For that you can put guests up in a hotel room.

Our basement is in really bad shape.....very low ceilings, poor air quality, completely uneven floors, flooding, inadequate electric, and no plumbing, Plus it inconveniently can only be accessed from the outside of our home. For now we only use it for storage. We've had a few estimates for remodeling and every contractor says we have a complicated situation and estimates  average 40k for remodeling, so we've decided to just leave the basement as is. It currently is not in a condition where using it as a guest room would work.

Two of us live in a 2 bedroom 1 bath 900sqft row house but I don't think we'd have any problem with it for a kid and maybe not for two.  Space is more flexible than you think if you choose to make it so.  It's also important what outdoor space you have.  If you can let your kids go to the local park or your yard is big enough then you really don't have much of a problem.

I will never plan an extra room for guests.  If guests need a place to stay we will just double up or give up our room.  It makes no sense to me to spend tends of thousands extra to have an extra room for guests.

If we moved it would not only be for a guest room. If we have a 2nd child of a different gender than the first then they would occupy the 3rd bedroom leaving us with no home office. We would also have 4 people using one bath, which is doable but undesirable. Anyone out there doing 4 in one bath? If so, is it a huge problem?

[Wolf_Stache]

Two of us live in a 2 bedroom 1 bath 900sqft row house but I don't think we'd have any problem with it for a kid and maybe not for two.  Space is more flexible than you think if you choose to make it so.  It's also important what outdoor space you have.  If you can let your kids go to the local park or your yard is big enough then you really don't have much of a problem.

I will never plan an extra room for guests.  If guests need a place to stay we will just double up or give up our room.  It makes no sense to me to spend tends of thousands extra to have an extra room for guests.

If we moved it would not only be for a guest room. If we have a 2nd child of a different gender than the first then they would occupy the 3rd bedroom leaving us with no home office. We would also have 4 people using one bath, which is doable but undesirable. Anyone out there doing 4 in one bath? If so, is it a huge problem?

Kids of different gender CAN share a room. My brother and I shared a room for a long time. I also think you are throwing out a lot of 'what ifs.' You can't plan for everything and will just spend a lot of extra money on things that will maybe never get used or needed.

[A mom]

We raised two kids just fine with 1 1/2  baths. The bathroom situation was never a problem, though our children were both boys, so maybe that makes a difference.

[stevesteve]

If we moved it would not only be for a guest room. If we have a 2nd child of a different gender than the first then they would occupy the 3rd bedroom leaving us with no home office. We would also have 4 people using one bath, which is doable but undesirable. Anyone out there doing 4 in one bath? If so, is it a huge problem?

I have some in-laws who do it and it works out fine for them.  Kids shower at night, adults in the morning.  Kids can even brush teeth / go to the bathroom in the half bath in your case.  It sure helps to enforce shorter shower times and better punctuality since your routine becomes more time sensitive.

[Self-employed-swami]

The cheapest way to put an extra bed in your house, is to buy a sofa-bed.  You can either have the guests sleep on it, or you can sleep on it yourself, and give your guests your room.

[freeazabird]

If we moved it would not only be for a guest room. If we have a 2nd child of a different gender than the first then they would occupy the 3rd bedroom leaving us with no home office. We would also have 4 people using one bath, which is doable but undesirable. Anyone out there doing 4 in one bath? If so, is it a huge problem?

I have some in-laws who do it and it works out fine for them.  Kids shower at night, adults in the morning.  Kids can even brush teeth / go to the bathroom in the half bath in your case.  It sure helps to enforce shorter shower times and better punctuality since your routine becomes more time sensitive.

Thanks, that's a great idea.

[pdxcyn]

I grew up in a 1000 sq ft home, no basement, with 1 bath for a family of four and somehow survived. This was in the old days of the 70s when home offices and guest rooms weren't really the norm.

Now I live in a house of similar size to yours, and my suggestion would be to reconfigure your office space if possible for a sofa bed or murphy bed so that it can double as your guest room.

[GoCubsGo]

Depending on how your bungalow is layed out, can you dormer out an attic?  I did that on a bungalow I flipped and added a bedroom and a small full bath.  It's pretty straightforward framing for most contractors and could get you that 2nd bath and a small office potentially for a reasonable price (as long as your not over-improving for your neighborhood). I personally would exhaust all options on the current house especially if the mortgage rate you got two years ago is better than current rates.  If done economically, it will add a good amount of value when you do eventually sell.

[kudy]

I'm curious, if you weren't planning to have any kids at all, why suddenly the assumption that you'll need room for 2?

[C. K.]

Search "Home Office and Guest Room."
You could have a twin sized trundle bed which serves as a couch most of the time.

[freeazabird]

I'm curious, if you weren't planning to have any kids at all, why suddenly the assumption that you'll need room for 2?

I am not assuming I will need room for 2. We would not consider moving unless we actually were in the position of expecting a 2nd child. It's just something that's on my mind because our first child was unexpected despite precautions. Though we never wanted kids we are now excited about being parents. Who knows, maybe we will enjoy it and want another, or get hit with another surprise. I guess I just want to be financially prepared for that possibility, if it were to require a new house.

[totoro]

We have a house about the same size but it has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

Guests - sofabed, in one of the rooms or put them up in a hotel or airbnb nearby.

Can you expand the half bath to include a shower - I like having one bathroom for the kids and one for us. 

Could the home office go into your bedroom?  What do you really need a home office for anyway?  Storage of documents?  Privacy for calls?  Printer?  Does it really need a separate room?  In my case my scanner/printer/fax is wireless and in a cupboard.  Docs are all stored electronically and backed up separately.  Private calls can be taken in the bedroom if others are around during the day.  I use a laptop and cell phone exclusively so I can work from anywhere in the house and usually this means the couch.

The problem you may have is working from home during the preschool years.  You can keep the office until the kids go to school if it doesn't fit in the bedroom or you don't want work stuff there and have the kids together in the same room.  After this you'll have the days at home to yourselves and might not need a dedicated space, freeing up another room.

[stevesteve]

Search "Home Office and Guest Room."
You could have a twin sized trundle bed which serves as a couch most of the time.

I'm a fan of that.  It only takes closet space during the day.

[lizzzi]

Just a couple of thoughts. I would not worry about room for guests. They could use an air mattress, a sleeper-sofa in the living room, or just stay at a nearby motel. If you will be having help from a grandparent or two when the newbie arrives, put an air mattress in the baby's room and have the baby in some kind of bassinet or port-a-crib with you in your room. If you do have a second child and it is the same gender, your two kids can share the bedroom forever. If your hypothetical second child is a different gender, they can still share the same room up until age 5 or 6. This gives you plenty of time to decide what you want to do about housing. A bath and a half is adequate for four people. You will be fine. An extra shower or tub is not crucial, but an extra toilet somewhere is more than crucial. In all honesty, I would not buy a house that did not have the all-important extra toilet, or at least a place to have one put in. It sounds like your basement is a no-go at the moment, but I'm wondering if in the future it could ever be turned in to a downstairs office. 

[iris lily]

We raised two kids just fine with 1 1/2  baths. The bathroom situation was never a problem, though our children were both boys, so maybe that makes a difference.

For one thing, if a family has girls, you teach them to sit in front of a mirror in their rooms, fussing with their hair and makeup. There is no need to do that in a bathroom.

[Ricky]

I don't mean to sound rude but the whole idea of going out of your way for others when they are capable of making a few sacrifices their selves sounds very anti-"Mustachian" to me. A perfect analogy is the friend that wants to go eat out all the time and expects you to pay half of everything even if they order a steak and you order a salad (or just always expects to go out in general instead of hanging out at home) - and they otherwise don't like hanging out with you. In other words - if you have to spend money to accommodate others in a way that severely hampers your finances - find new friends!

Now if your intentions are simply for a bigger family then of course that one is a little different. It just depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice. My family of four basically shared one bathroom for 18 years so I don't see it as a real necessity to have 2 full baths. And you already have 3 bedrooms which should be enough for 4 people assuming you and your husband share the same room. But again, this situation would be different given your tolerance levels on privacy/comfort. It's definitely doable either way though.

[ashem]

We bought a 3 bedroom 1 bath bungalow when our first child was 2 years old. We used our 3rd bedroom as a den and that was where we spent 90% of our time. Our living room is more of a 1920s parlor, long and awkward, but it houses a piano, guitars, and all of our books (no room for computer and/or tv). When our daughter was 4, her baby brother was born and they shared a room, a dresser, and a closet until she was 9 and he was 5.

Our house needed a lot of work and we wanted to stay in the house and neighborhood indefinitely, so we renovated last year. We added 250 square feet, new insulation, HVAC, ductwork, roof, etc. We went from 1300 square feet to about 1550 square feet, and now have 2 bathrooms, a small den, and the children each have their own bedroom. It's perfect for us.

I never considered having a guest room. We just have our kids bunk up in one room and give guests our son's bedroom.

If my kids were closer in age or if our children were of the same sex, they might still be sharing a room. If we'd had a half bath, we might not have added on. Showering schedules were never a problem, it was the 1 toilet that caused most of the issues.

A few years ago I met the son of our house's original owner. He was born in our house in 1923 and was one of FIVE kids. He shared a room with four brothers and they never considered the house small.

[lizzzi]

I was one of four children--the only girl--and we never had more than one bathroom. It was never a problem. People were mindful of others and just didn't camp out in there.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

We have a two-year-old and a three-year-old, both boys, and we live in an 1100 square foot townhouse, two bedrooms, 1.5 baths. (I work from home two days a week, but I just sit in the living room with a lap desk.)

It's fine. We're maybe a little cramped, but that's because we have too much stuff and we moved here from a larger place (provided by husband's employer). We rent right now, and would like to buy in a year or two, at which point I think we would look for a third bedroom, a full second bath, and a little more living space.

Sharing a bath with the kids is no problem at all. We just keep their toys in a bin we got at the dollar store. The Brady Bunch had six kids sharing one bathroom, and it didn't even have a toilet. (This is true! Look it up!)

Guests:  We recently had a family of three as guests (my husband was actually out of town). Both our kids slept on the floor in our room--Big Brother on an air mattress, Little Brother on his own twin-mattress-on-the-floor, dragged in from his room. Guests slept in Big Brother's double bed, with their baby in our old Pack n Play. Maybe we didn't sleep awesomely, but it was fine.

Re: room sharing--my sister's opposite-sex children shared a bedroom from when the girl was about 7 or 8 and the boy was 3 or 4 until the girl started middle school. Slept on bunk beds. Guess what? They were not scarred by the experience.

What i'm trying to say is, even if you do decide that you love having a baby and want to have another, you are YEARS away from needing more space. You have plenty of room to raise at least one child, so why not see how you like this one and go from there? If you did have another "oops" while you were still deciding (cough, cough, that may or may not be how we got Little Brother, who is all of 16 months younger than Big Brother), you will have plenty of time to look for a larger house IF you feel that you need to.

And congrats on the new baby, by the way! If you wanna talk about cloth diapers, you know where to find us :-).

[penguin456]

If the childs room is big enough you could put a double or queen sized bed in there instead of a twin. Then when guests come they get the bed and the kids sleep on your floor  or in the living room. Kids are fine in a sleeping bag on the floor. There are also bunk beds with a twin over a full size if you have 2 kids and have the room. In some the full size is a futon to give more floor space during the day.

How much would the value of your house go up if you finished the basement?  Could it be an income apartment?  I would consider doing that and having a kitchenette and bath down there. Then the basement could serve as office/guest quarters. It would be nice to have it separated if you have 2 kids and have an inhome nanny upstairs. Plus i have to think a nasty basement is dragging your home value down a bit.

[C. K.]

I'm a fan of that.  It only takes closet space during the day.

Sweet! Even better than the daybed/trundle idea. Are those inflatable mattresses? They are great for infrequent guests. In times past, for some of my older guests, I just give them the bed and I get the inflatable.

[KMMK]

I grew up in a family of 5 kids and we had a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, except we also had a basement that was usable for sleeping. We survived just fine. It would have been hard without the half bath but I don't remember trouble sharing the full bath.

[teen persuasion]

We've got five kids, two girls and three boys and we get along fine with 1.5 baths.  When the kids were young we bathed them together, and the oldest three shared a bedroom prior to a remodel adding upstairs bedrooms for them (girl, boy, girl).  We also kept the babies in our bedroom with us until they were toddlers, since it was easier for breastfeeding and changing.

Which rooms are designated "bedroom" has changed over the years in our old and quirky house.  Every once in a while the kids will decide to swap rooms, and leaving for college means your room is up for grabs if someone is enterprising enough to do all the moving of personal stuff.  The youngest two boys are still technically sharing a room with bunkbeds, but the teen has unofficially annexed his older brother's abandoned room for hanging out.  The master bedroom has swapped with the living room, and I have plans to move it to the current dining room eventually.  Try looking at things differently, without labels that limit you.

[SDREMNGR]

I think it's irrelevant what other people grew up with, other than just to see what the range is.  What matters is what you think.  It sort of seems that you are looking for support in your wish for a bigger house.  The social norms in a white western house is not the norm everywhere.

I grew up with my sister and my grandma in the big room of a 2/1 apartment until I was in 6th grade and she was in 8th.  We had 3 beds side by side with my grandma in middle.  Obviously not the pimpest bachelor pad arrangement but I didn't mind too much.  When we moved to a 4 bedroom house, I had my own room and I liked it.  But what you think is a necessity is just that, your opinion.  People have more people have less.  What ever you want to do will work fine for you.

[homehandymum]

If you want/need more room, then budget for that and make the move.  But only make the move once you know you'll need to.  Don't just do it because you think you might maybe feel a bit cramped.

We have a three bedroom, 1 bath, 1 living room house.  The three kids share a large bedroom (bunk bed and single bed), 2 girls, 1 boy (the youngest).  The spare room is the crafts/junk/filing cabinet/sofa-bed for guests room.

The house is cosy.  Especially since we are homeschooling, I'm a quilter, and we're trying to make the small space perform so many tasks.  But we figured that though it wasn't ideal, it could work okay for the meantime, and an extra bedroom wasn't worth taking out another mortgage (our current mortgage is nearly paid off)

We, however, have recently discovered we are expecting child number 4.  All hell broke loose, and we're now in negotiations for a comparatively humongous house, with 2 living areas, 5 giant bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms. 

Save your money in the meantime, pay down your mortgage as much as you can, and you'll have plenty of options if and when your current house no longer works for you.  You might find it works far longer than you think, especially if you get creative with furniture options.

[former player]

Have a look at the decluttering threads there are around here.  You have plenty of space for a family of three or four, as long as you don't have too many things taking up space which could be better used by people.

If you have more than two kids, or kids of a different sex (they need separate rooms from age 10 at the latest, and preferably 8), your best option is to remodel the awkward basement rather than moving- remodelling is still less than 25% the cost.

Cheapest option for more space, if your garden/yard is big enough and local planning/zoning allow, you could put an insulated shed/garden office in the garden.  If it is a moveable structure, planning/zoning laws may not apply.  Google "garden office" or "garden studio" for ideas.

[Doubleh]

Totally agree with all the responses saying that you can manage with what you have, if you want to make it work. I live with my wife and one year old in a boat of approx 600 square feet - and this is fully double the size of our previous home.

Guest rooms are probably the number one reason of people having more house than they need, and often go unused for 360 days a year. How often do you have guests, and for how long at a time? We use an air bed we got from Costco for about £50 which we put on the living room floor. Air beds now are much more robust and comfortable these days than they used to be, and nearly all of our guests have been happy with this set up. We are up front with them that this is what is on offer, and if they need more comfort we will understand and recommend a good local guest house. So far pretty much everyone is more than happy with the air bed.

Don't assume you need over fancy provision for guests, they will be there to see you, or more likely now your little one, not for four star accommodation. If we told the grandparents that they could see our kid but had to crawl over burning broken glass to get there I don't thing they would pause to think, so an air bed isn't going to stop them visiting!

[agent_clone]

The house I grew up in had 4 members with 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, separate toilet, plus a 1 bedroom flat with ensuite.  Except for guests, only the flats bathrooms toilet was ever used.

Guest wise how frequently do you actually have guests?  If frequently when you get to that point it may be worth while, but in my parents case except when I was younger, the flat bedroom was only rarely and really not worth it to dedicate a whole room to that purpose (The house with a flat was purchased to provide my grandmother with space when she came to visit for months at a time).

For guests assuming they are fairly infrequent I would suggest a sofabed or inflatable/rollout mattresses.  A previous housemate has an inflatible queensize mattress that essentially gets to the height of a normal bed.  However it may not be suitable for heftier people.  If you want to accomodate your guests in a room, kick the kids out of their rooms.  I have a memory of once being kicked out of my room so that my cousins could sleep in there.

For that matter a friend I had in Primary School (Elementary) for at least a year lived in a 2 bedroom apartment and shared a room with her two sisters.

[soccerluvof4]

If you looooooooove your home you have plenty of space! Sofa bed in office for guests, put office in basement and only finish a small part of it. with 1400 squ feet and a house you should easily be able to have a family of 4 and make room for guests occasionally.

[golden1]

We have a family of 4 and basically we all use one bathroom.  We have another 3/4 bath in the basement but it is rarely used. 

We don't have many guests so this is not a big issue, but when we do, we have an air mattress and plenty of space in a finished basement.  We used to have a guest room but it got used so rarely that it was a waste of space and we converted it to a more functional room.

[cakie]

Expectations have definitely changed in terms of bedrooms and bathrooms in the last 20 years, thanks to all the new huge houses being built with 4 bedrooms, ensuites and multiple living rooms!

I am young, but i grew up in a house that began as 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, but over the years grew to end up as five bedroom, 1 1/2 bathrooms, to accommodate 4-6 people. When it was 2 bedrooms, we had 4 in the master bedroom (parents + two young children) and 2 tweens in the 2nd bedroom together (both girls). That 2nd room wasn't very big. I realise that many parents would prefer their kids in a separate room, but this was easy at least for night breastfeeding etc. I changed rooms a lot. Actually, we sometimes had 7 people now i think about it. I shared a bedroom with my brother until i was 7 or 8. And i went back there whenever we had guests. We also had folding trundle beds for us 2 littlies when there were lots of guests. It certainly wasn't an issue. But then my family was always close, i used to sleep with my parents / older sisters all the time.

In terms of bathrooms, once you have more than 3 people, its good to have a 2nd toilet. Our bathroom was for showers, baths and laundry, while the 2nd toilet we used the sink for teeth brushing, etc. Even with 7, I don't recall any issues. At the time it seemed like a luxury, but by today's standards people assume it's not enough!

Definitely do not get a bigger place if your main driver is the possibility of having a bigger family. My parents only renovated after the family grew to 5. Babies just don't need space, so you have plenty of time to work it out once they are already here!  You may find it is easier than you expect, and then you haven't wasted money on space you don't need.

[SnackDog]

Two of us manage in a place with 4.5 baths at the moment (including only one which has a hot shower in service at the moment), but I second the idea that for $175,000 you could put guests up at the Ritz Carlton for years.  I frequently see friends buying larger homes and cars than they need, just in case someone visits.  Screw the visitors!

[frugalnacho]

I grew up in an 800 sq ft house with 3 beds and 1 bath (one of those bedrooms was a converted attic) for 5 people.  It was brutal, especially with my digestive issues.  I vowed never to live anywhere with less than 2 toilets again.

I am having the same issue with my wife now.  We have 3/2.  One is a spare, and one is an office/music room (computer, guitars, amps).  She wants to have a baby and convert the bedroom to a nursery and put the queen size bed into my music room! A queen size bed to block my guitars in 360 days a year just so we have a queen size bed available to her cousin a few nights of the year!

[BPA]

I live in a house not much bigger with two adults and two teenagers.  We have 1.5 baths.

I suggest you read the main blog to get the general idea of how mustachianism works if you think your situation can't be done.  Please note the more recent entries about MMM downsizing. 

End of facepunch.

[partgypsy]

We have a very similar situation, a 1400-1500 sq house with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. 1 bathroom is large, the other is small. Even though the small bathroom has a tub/shower combo, pretty much we all use the big bathroom for baths and showers, because it is nicer (has a pedestal tub with rainshower shower head). The kids pretty much only use the other bathroom for "overflow" situations (brushing teeth and if the other bathroom is occupied).

As far as bedrooms, we have had both kids share a room and we had a sleeper sofa in the living room, and a sleeper sofa in the "tv room (full/queen futon couch) so we had no problem with multiple guests.
However, we got rid of the sleeper sofa in the living room for a regular sofa. And this summer decided to finally change the tv room into a bedroom for our oldest. So, we are losing our dedicated guest room space. Most likely if we have guests, we would let them sleep on the oldest's new room (we are keeping the bunkbed set up in what will be the youngest room) or chip in for hotel room costs.
I guess the hardest thing psychologically, I always liked the feeling that if the need arose, I could take in one of my family members indefinitely. With what we are doing, while we can still have guests in the short term, any kind of indefinite staying over is not really tenable.
 

[partgypsy]

I'm curious, if you weren't planning to have any kids at all, why suddenly the assumption that you'll need room for 2?

I am not assuming I will need room for 2. We would not consider moving unless we actually were in the position of expecting a 2nd child. It's just something that's on my mind because our first child was unexpected despite precautions. Though we never wanted kids we are now excited about being parents. Who knows, maybe we will enjoy it and want another, or get hit with another surprise. I guess I just want to be financially prepared for that possibility, if it were to require a new house.

I guess I'm saying, even if you do even up having 2 kids, you don't NEED to move out of a 3 bedroom 1400 house because of that. Many others have done it. But if you know yourself that you would be unhappy in that situation, then start planning/saving for it. If you don't end up doing it or needing it, no harm done. 

[Ynari]

My family of 6 lived in a ~1600 sq ft 1.5 bathroom house once...  I don't remember how many bedrooms there were, but whether it was 3 or 4, it was PLENTY.

We thought showers would be a hassle.  Not really - half of us were morning showerers and the other half were evening so it balanced out alright.  Since then, I've lived in apartments that had 4 people per ONE bathroom.  That gets a little hectic when someone wants to take a shower and someone else has to pee.  But 1.5 solves that problem.  I think 1.5 is ideal for a household more than 3 people.

[Self-employed-swami]

I've lived in apartments that had 4 people per ONE bathroom.  That gets a little hectic when someone wants to take a shower and someone else has to pee.  But 1.5 solves that problem.  I think 1.5 is ideal for a household more than 3 people.

I agree, more than 2 people means you really ought to have an extra toilet.  My sister in law, her husband, and their 4 kids (2 are teenagers now) have 1 full bath, and an extra toilet, plumbed into the corner of their laundry room.

[lisahi]

I grew up in an 1800 sq ft. house in a family of 5. We did get our own bedrooms, although they were small, but there was no office and no guest room. My parents' solution was the couch bed in our family room. Later on, they bought a nice Queen-size Aerobed (they make them pretty nice, with pillow-tops now). Aerobeds aren't cheap (they're cheaper at Costco), but they're a lot cheaper than a guest room, and they fold away into a closet when you're not using them.

I am in a position now where I do have a guest room and an office. It's almost wasted space. I wish I didn't have to heat or cool those rooms 90% of the time, but I can't (central air). The guest room gets used about 4 times a year. The office barely gets used--mostly for storage and another guest room if my sister's whole family comes to stay.

So, in all, I'm not a huge fan of "just in case" rooms. If you find yourself in a permanent position that requires another room, that's the time when you think about upgrading the home. Otherwise, you're spending a lot of money on something that may never become a reality.

[purplepants]

I would definitely not upgrade to a larger house to accomodate guests, especially not to the tune of $175k!

One principle I've picked up from mustachianism is that if something isn't going to get used that often, you can just try to borrow one. If you can't borrow, renting one often makes sense. 

$175k will pay for 875 nights in a pretty nice ($200/night) hotel room.   If you need to put someone up other than on the floor, you could offer to pay for a hotel room for them.  No sense paying interest on a mortgage for a room you're only going to use a few times a year.  Just rent a spare room when you need one.

[freeazabird]

If you looooooooove your home you have plenty of space! Sofa bed in office for guests, put office in basement and only finish a small part of it. with 1400 squ feet and a house you should easily be able to have a family of 4 and make room for guests occasionally.

Thanks so much. This is wonderful advice, I wouldn't have thought of this on my own. I think we may actually end up doing this! There is a stripped down bedroom in the basement we could just finish. This would cut renovation costs dramatically, which we were concerned about because we likely would not see anywhere near a full return if in the future we sold.

For some who have been a bit critical on this thread to clarify I did not come looking for justification for a larger home. I wanted feedback on how others were using their spaces and any suggestions for how I could solve potential space problems. This has been helpful to me as I've gotten many constructive suggestions, that I may not have thought of myself.

Due to the nature of our home business a dedicated office space is a must. I do not need a dedicated guest room, I agree they are a waste of space.  I wanted to hear ideas on how you house guests, so I could start thinking outside of the box. Both our families live out of state so we have regular visitors. These are not issues I had to tackle in the past because I grew in a large home near family, with parents who worked outside of the home. Thanks again to everyone who gave constructive feedback, I appreciate it!

[Gin1984]

Do you have a basement in which to make up a simple double bed situation? Also, consider giving up your room to guests when they come.

You are right to frame the additional bedroom as costing you $175,000. For that you can put guests up in a hotel room.

Our basement is in really bad shape.....very low ceilings, poor air quality, completely uneven floors, flooding, inadequate electric, and no plumbing, Plus it inconveniently can only be accessed from the outside of our home. For now we only use it for storage. We've had a few estimates for remodeling and every contractor says we have a complicated situation and estimates  average 40k for remodeling, so we've decided to just leave the basement as is. It currently is not in a condition where using it as a guest room would work.

Two of us live in a 2 bedroom 1 bath 900sqft row house but I don't think we'd have any problem with it for a kid and maybe not for two.  Space is more flexible than you think if you choose to make it so.  It's also important what outdoor space you have.  If you can let your kids go to the local park or your yard is big enough then you really don't have much of a problem.

I will never plan an extra room for guests.  If guests need a place to stay we will just double up or give up our room.  It makes no sense to me to spend tends of thousands extra to have an extra room for guests.

If we moved it would not only be for a guest room. If we have a 2nd child of a different gender than the first then they would occupy the 3rd bedroom leaving us with no home office. We would also have 4 people using one bath, which is doable but undesirable. Anyone out there doing 4 in one bath? If so, is it a huge problem?

We have three adults with one bath.  Occasionally annoying but deal-able.  We also have a 18 month infant who does not use the toilet but uses the rest.

[galliver]

Growing up, my parents, 2 sisters and I had a 2BR/1.5BA townhouse apt. I complained a bit about not having my own room but in retrospect it was plenty of space for us. Bathroom wasn't a problem; we tended to shower throughout the evening at random times and we got up over the course of about 2 hours, not all at once, so bathroom wasn't too stressed. My dad had a desk in my parents' bedroom that he worked at, my mom's was in the living room. When I got into middle school, I got  my own desk in the living room as well, so I could study while my sisters played. We had guests routinely, and generally my parents gave up their bed to the visitors and set up their own in the living room.

Now they're in a 2BR+den, 1.5 bath, probably around 1300SF. I'm sure it's plenty roomy for just them and my sister, but I've been there over holidays when there's 7 of us (fam+2 boyfriends) sharing the space. Essentially, parents and youngest sister keep their rooms, and den becomes the bedroom for the other 4 of us. We all share the bathroom and it still doesn't require rigid scheduling or anything (granted, it's vacation mode), mostly because we never all wake up at once and all want a shower.

I think you'll be fine :)

[grantmeaname]

This thread is really inspiring - you really can make an awful lot out of a moderate-to-small amount of space.

I share 1300sq ft with three roommates and it feels absolutely enormous. It's well laid out, which certainly helps.

[Thegoblinchief]

Family of 5 in 730 sqft. 2 bed / 1 bath. Actually, we're turning the 2nd bedroom into a board gaming room, because all of us sleep in the one bedroom. Since I've got that locked off, we actually are only using 600 sqft on a regular basis.

Kids are 8, almost 7, and 4. Mixed genders. They sleep "nest style" in one twin bed. When that gets too cramped, we will put it back as a bunk bed, but they honestly sleep better snug like that. Our bed is next to it with an 18" footpath between the beds. One dresser is in the room, the second is in the closet.

People know we have a small house. We're always up for hosting people, but they usually decline even though we have a finished basement that could fit quite a few mattresses or sleeping bags.

Never think you need a ton of space. Think if how wasteful rooms dedicated to sleeping are! Bedrooms should be as small as possible, or designed for multi-use during the day.

[grantmeaname]

Wow, THAT is awesome.

[GuitarStv]

How do they work in our home?  Typically we sleep in the bedrooms and poop in the bathrooms.  This has become a little confused since the birth of our son, but hopefully we'll get back to that norm in a few years.