1 bedroom 1 playroom, or separate bedrooms?

[peanutter]

So, we have a 4 bedroom house. At the moment, one bedroom is DH and mine, one is DS1's, one is DS2's and one is a study/office.

The house isn't particularly big - as in, they are perfectly adequate but not spacious rooms.

Master bedroom is staying as is.

Study is staying as is (it has desk, filing cabinets, exercise bike, cross trainer, etc).

The lounge/dining room doesn't work as a play room.

There is a back room which we kind of use as a play room ... it has bookshelves, a dining table made up as a change table, storage table, hallstand, etc. We also generally have airers out there drying MCNs, and then it has a billion toys and books which magically climb out of their homes and go all over the floor every time you leave the room.

So decisions: DS2 is about to go into a big boy bed, and we're deciding whether to put the boys into a shared room and turn the other into a play room.

One of the bedrooms is considerably (maybe 40-50%) bigger than the other one. At the moment, it has an identical chest of drawers, identical built in robe, comparable bookshelf, but has a cot and a nursing chair as opposed to a single bed. We could easily fit two beds in there, and have a little play room (and later a study nook for the boys when they're at school) or a bunk bed into the small bedroom, and have a reasonable sized play room.

Part of this is because I like the thought of having a dedicated play room, and part is because it really bothers me that the boys' rooms are such different sizes. Now that DS2 isn't feeding, it feels like favouritism (even though I know it's not, and that the boys are *way* to young to notice and be jealous about such a thing).

But then I think that it would be good to have the exercise bike in the back room instead of tucked away somewhere meaning we hardly use it, and I actually would want the boys' computer (when they're big enough to need and have one) in the back room, not tucked away somewhere behind closed doors, and so we want their toys and stuff elsewhere, and not in their rooms for sleeping.

And then I go back to thinking that we're just being really silly, and it's way too early as they as itty bitty boys still, and school is 2-3 years away!

What do others have and do?

What works well about it? What doesn't?

The boys are 20 months apart in age, and the study wouldn't work as a bedroom - it's a similar size to DS1's room, but has no built in robe. A cupboard would fit, but would considerably reduce the usable space, and we'd have a similar issue again.

[Beatrix]

We have 4 kids. All girls.

We only have a 3 bedroom house. So we have a sleep room (set of bunks and a single bed) with two chests of draws and a playroom with toys, dollhouse two draws and BIR.

Bubs is in with is and will be for at least another 6-10 months so will reassess layer but what we have ATM works for us.

[HotI]

We have recently moved the kids in to a shared room, and then we have a spare room/playroom. It is just playroom at the moment, but i am looking for a futon or fold out couch that we can use if visitors stay. My thought was it is easier to do it when they are little, and if it doesn't work, i can always change around again.

[Artechim]

As HotI said, it isn't set in stone - give it a shot and if it doesn't work out then you can change around again. I have my girls in a shared room. They are 2 years apart in age. I think they like sharing. At least they have never said otherwise lol. They have the biggest room and it easily fits both beds, drawers and all their toys. There is another bedroom that one of them could have had but it is on the low end of a split level house, smaller and I like having a spare room for occasional guests.

I like them sharing. I always imagined having a sister to share a room with. Now they are stuck with my rose-tinted childhood musings lol

[Arimeh]

I have a 4 bedroom house with 4 kids. I get bored a lot so if I get sick of a combination I move it around. Lately the three older kids were sharing a room (double bed that they all shared), the 2 year old had her own room, and then we had the biggest room as a playroom. I got sick of that because the kids would just go in and absolutely trash the play room several times a day because there were so many toys in it.

I've also had the combinations of the two oldest sharing a room, the two oldest girls sharing a room - so I have moved rooms a bit LOL

After all the toys being trashed and stuff - I culled at least half of their toys, and split the kids up again. Now the two oldest have their own rooms, with their own toys in it.

The two youngest share the biggest room and have their own toys in there.

They also have the responsibility of cleaning their rooms before they go to bed - even the 2 year old. So I have noticed less trashing of rooms since that happened, not sure if its the fact that they have less toys, or that they realise that cleaning up after themselves isn't fun and maybe they just won't make as much mess that they have to clean up.

I think my point is - try it and if it doesn't work for you, there is always another possibility.

[LimeSlice]

The girls are in one room, and the third bedroom is the toy room. Works well, they like being in together and I really can't stand having toys all over our lounge room.
DD2 still needs to be sat with when she falls asleep, and DD1 likes it when I stay with her, so makes my life much easier so they can now go to bed at the same time. Also only need to heat one room in winter. Lovely.

Go for it, if you don't like it, change it back!

[peanutter]

This is true about changing it if we don't like it ...

Though we obviously don't want to buy a bunk and then find in six months time that's not working out.

That being said, I'd hardly be putting a 3yo in one! That's a few years away, I guess.

[Mumma T]

You could always but bunk beds that separate into 2 single beds.

We are planning on our next one sharing with DS as we only have a 3 bedroom house and use the 3Rd as a study currently. I shared with my sister for 16 years and loved it as a kid. Only at about 13 or 14 did I start to want my own room

[Amity]

My only comment? It's easier to separate when they are older if they are together when young.

They also are used to sharing rooms, so holidays etc aren't an issue.

I'd have them sharing a sleeping room (the smaller one in your house) and have the bigger bedroom for clothes and toys.

That way the sleeping room is for sleeping only.

[~Hestia~]

I love the idea of sharing rooms and did try to get our boys to share earlier this year. We had a dedicated playroom/toy room and when Buster was ready to move out of our room I wanted to keep it that way! Unfortunately our 3 year old did not cope well with sharing his room and the whole thing became more trouble than it was worth, so we put them into their own rooms and split the toys up. It's not ideal but we gave it a go, all you can do it try

[Doing my best]

My 2 (5yr old girl and 3yr old boy) have shared since DS was 1.. And hope to keep it that way till DS starts school.

their room is quite small, so we do have bunks, and they much prefer to share than be on their own at moment. I would love a designated toy room, but that isn't happening since my Dad moved in with us.

[jellybean88]

How did you go with boy girl sharing a room? Ds is 18months but prob be 2 when dd moves in with him and dd 6months

[willow5]

I had a bedroom and a toy room for DS1&2 when they were younger and it was great! If you didn't get toys tidied before bed it was no problem either, the bedroom was always tidy and ready for sleep. You can just shut the door to the toy room so you don't have to see the chaos when there's no time to clean it. I had friends who's kids liked to trash the beds every time they came over and the toy room kept the beds clean and intact too

[LimeSlice]

I had a bedroom and a toy room for DS1&2 when they were younger and it was great! If you didn't get toys tidied before bed it was no problem either, the bedroom was always tidy and ready for sleep. You can just shut the door to the toy room so you don't have to see the chaos when there's no time to clean it. I had friends who's kids liked to trash the beds every time they came over and the toy room kept the beds clean and intact too

This is undoubtedly the biggest advantage of the dedicated toy room - closing the door when you can't be arsed!!

[HotI]

How did you go with boy girl sharing a room? Ds is 18months but prob be 2 when dd moves in with him and dd 6months

i have a 21 month gap, girl/boy pair. at this age, there is no issue with gender differences. i see in the future, them wanting/needing separate rooms but for now it works fine.

[Doing my best]

There is 21 months between my 2 (girl eldest), and so far there hasn't been any dramas.. I know, prob in the next few years, I am going to have to separate them, but at this age, i think it is fine.. The do most things together, are really good friends most of the time, so sleeping in the same room seemed the natural thing to do.

[MantaRay]

My boys are 19 months apart - and are now both at school. When we moved into a house with more bedrooms we offered them the choice - share a room still and have a separate playroom or separate bedrooms. They looked at us horrified - please don't make us sleep in different rooms they said. So shared room it was And they still wouldn't be apart!!

[fionas]

I have 4 bedrooms plus a study. The girls currently share a room, we have a dedicated play room and a guest room. Prior to that they had separate bedrooms and XDP had his own bedroom.

Getting the toys out of the living room into the playroom has been great. I've also put a sofa bed in there so that they can have sleepovers in there when they're older and/or I can have people over for dinner and the kids can watch a movie in the playroom so that the adults can actually have a conversation

It's also much easier getting them to sleep in the same room rather than in separate rooms. Obviously, we have nights where it all goes to pot but generally, they're pretty good.