Kid bedrooms...size?

If you think of the bedrooms as just a place to sleep and store clothing, then it will be fine. Don't clutter their rooms with too much stuff. They can play and keep toys in other areas of the house.

I know I'm chiming in late, but just wanted to say that my little brother was the 3rd kid, in the 9x9 room. When my older brother left for college my little brother moved into his room. He used that bigger room all through high school :)

At least the younger child gets his own bedroom. We've had our kids in together for years because base housing doesn't allow for kids to have their own space until 10 and if the kids are the same sex, well all the more reason to give you a three bedroom instead of a 4.
Don't even worry about it.

There was a time, not too long ago, when a 10x10 room housed 3 kids...
The youngest always gets the smallest room... it's the way it has always been. If it's tiny, it's tiny. So be it.
I'm sure there's a play room somewhere in your house...
Homework should be done at the kitchen table - so you don't need to fit a desk in there...
Computers and televisions need to be in the family room, not in bedrooms - therefore, a desk, again, is not necessary.
Bedrooms are for sleeping...
If they grow up in tiny rooms, they don't know any different.
It is what it is.
LBC

A 9'x9' bedroom is plenty big enough! Don't fret. If I made it work, so can you. See, I have a "smaller" bedroom too. One of those rooms that's great for a nursery or office but not so much for a bedroom - at least not at first glance. It's an 8'x10' and 2 walls are of little use to us on account of 2 closets (1 large & 1 small) on the same wall which is ajacent to another wall where a huge window resides. You're probably thinking it already sounds cramped but it works fine.

I've managed to fit a full-size bed and TWO dressers (a single AND a DOUBLE-WIDE)! Truth be told, I also have a crib in there but that's b/c I take care of a little one. Ideally, this room would be bigger but it definitely works despite its small size. Because of the way the room is situated and my loss of wall space, I can't put a nightstand beside the bed, but at least they have their own room.

FYI: This room was used primarirly by an adult. If and when I convert the space for a child, I bet it'll seem even larger....twin bed, nightstand, ONE dresser, bookcase...I'm looking forward to that.

Good luck...Mar

We built our house thinking the 10x10 room was big enough for our baby. And it iwll be until he is older. Right now he is only 3, so it really is fine...but our kids are huge! I mean VERY tall!! So a twin bed won't last him for ever and the other two have double beds. So I dont want him to feel like he is getting the short end of the stick. The other two rooms are really big for kids rooms, but I'd like his room to be big too. We decided we would just build a new house in 5 years or so and get the SPACE we want over some of the other things, and work those in later. But we'll see. I think that room is FINE for a baby or toddler, even up until middle school age. I grew up as the 2nd oldest of 5 in a military family and so often had to share small rooms with my 2 sisters - and I survived it :o).

I think it's fine. Another option is to have the younger two share once they are a little older and use the smallest room as a play room. that way no toys are taking up space in the sleeping rooms.

My house is kind of the same way. Do you have a huge 2 story entry? That;s the problem with my house-it takes up all the upstairs space. I have done california closets in the kid's rooms so as not to take up a tone of space with furniture so its not that bad.

About having a third...I was like you and not really wanting a 3rd. I am almost 44 now and so wish I would have had one soon after my second. I am too old now and that window is shut forever. Will go down as one of my biggest regrets.

I agree with Ladybug. If you have a play area somewhere in the house, the bedroom is only for sleeping/ getting dressed. No computers, tvs, toys....no problem. My husband was the youngest of 10 and shared his room (when he was little with 4 sisters). My BIL & SIL have 7 kids and in their first house they had 4 girls shared a room and the 3 little ones shared a room. It's not a big deal if you have homework done at the kitchen table and have the basement finished with part of it designated for the kids.

We have a similar issue, but we only have 3 bedrooms. One of the kid's bedrooms is decent sized, the other could only fit one kid. If I were you, I would put the baby in the nursery until they got bigger. when they did get bigger, you could either have bunks in a bedroom or who knows, maybe you will finish the basement or some other option will appear. I too, have been obsessing on this. If we have a third, our infant will be sleeping with us (not my preferred option) until sleeping through the night and then move in with my 5 yr old. Good luck!

As long as a bed and dresser and your kids clothes fit in the room it works as a bedroom. They are not going to care that they are sleeping in a smaller room. It just means that they wont be able to have all their toys and play in their room all day. If you are happy keeping play areas elsewhere in your house (like the soon to be finished basement) then there is no problem with smaller bedrooms. You may have to be more organized about making sure clothes that are out grown are removed from drawers and closet to make room for new ones and try and minimize the clutter so they dont feel that they are buried in their small room. So I think you could make it work either way and not really let this be a factor for or against having a 3rd child.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said other people raise more kids in smaller spaces. Even when I was a teenager, my parents moved into a really small house in England (bedrooms there are very small..and no closets!). They have different priorities in Europe and Americans can be really, really spoiled! I also had a tiny bedroom in NY and CO (we moved around a lot in the military). I have gone back to our former houses and thought - wow - I don't remember them being that small! To kids, everything is big...our perspectives change as we get older. Also, you don't want to raise spoiled, ungrateful children. The more emphasis we put on material possessions, the more kids have messed up priorities. When I got older and we moved to NC (I was in college), I had a bigger room than I had ever had before (to me now that was a fairly normal sized room. I remember the first night, laying in bed and staring at the ceiling, I cried because I felt like the room was more than I could have asked for or deserved. I thought about the children in foreign countries that weren't as privileged and almost felt guilty for having so much excess...and sad that I couldn't share it with others (true story!). Now that I have my own family, my master bedroom is huge, and I try to give my kids everything they could ever need, and mostly ever want....but I would still like to instill in them the empathetic nature to live vicariously through other people's lives and be grateful for what they have.

My kids (3 and 1) share a room that is about 10x10 (toddler bed, small recliner, crib and night stand in there). They sleep in there and we sometimes read in there and that is it. They will continue to share until we add on or move. Once the little one is out of a crib (or when my daughter is too big for her toddler bed which will probably come first) - I'm looking into either bunk beds or a daybed with a trundle. I'd like a third baby too, but looks like (planning wise) we'd be expanding our house or moving around that time so I don't really worry about what will happen then. If we do add on, we'll be adding 2 bedrooms so the baby will go in the smallest room and my two older ones will have their own rooms. If we move, we'll buy a 4 bedroom (or larger!). I'd like my kids to have their own rooms - especially once they get older (8+).

I am currently housing 6 bodies in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with just a living room and kitchen. The dining 'area' is part of the kitchen. My girls share a room, not the biggest, but not too bad. I've learned shelves on the wall with the cute baskets work great as homes for everything. I get like the garage shelves, that way they are sturdy and big enough to make them useful. I also got the garment racks for their stuff that hangs up, because I can fit more hanging clothes on there, and 'hide' stuff in their closet, which is tiny. They have a shoe cubby in the hallway. They have bunk beds, and, bookshelves for their toys, puzzles, books. With the shelves, bunk beds, and book shelves, along with the garment rack and storage closet, they have A LOT of open space so they are not cramped. I got the bunk bed with the bottom that makes an 'L' so that they can have a little desk area under the bed also. They seem to be happy. The teenager has the 'little' room. Got him a bed that has the dresser built on the bottom, also got him shelves and the garment rack. His closet is used to house our 'seasonal' items for the house since we have NO storage in our house. One wall in his room homes 'big' toys for the little kids, and a bookshelf. Again, he seems happy and has plenty of floor space in a tiny room. (Shelves are GREAT!) His room is only a 10x10. Our room homes our king size bed, 2 big dressers, the toddler's dresser, and a filing cabinet. We are lucky to have a walk in closet for us! The living room homes a couch, recliner, rocking chair, entertainment center, and baby bed. It works. Again, he's happy also. The kitchen also homes two portable cabinets stacked on each other for our crafts and photos and such. I have plenty of kitchen cabinets for my kitchen items. Some days I feel like I'm ready to crawl out of my skin when things are not cleaned up, but, that just makes me clean better. :) you just have to be creative, but, you can make it work should you choose to have another baby. We do plan on building so they can each their own room, hopefully we'll start this year. But, this house has definitely taught me that they don't need the 'big' bedrooms I once thought they needed.

paint the rooms cool colors, be very organized and things will work for two kids or three or more. I don't think room size should be a factor for having more kids or not. When we had our third, the girls had to begin sharing a room. bunk beds, creative storage and fun colors made the room a cute bedroom. large or small room shouldn't matter, it is the love that is in there that makes it a bedroom, just like a house isn't a home until it is filled with love.

We've got five kids in a 3 bedroom house- one is a small bed room about the same as your small room, and we have 2 kids in that one! We will be doing bunk beds in that room when the baby is old enough(right now it's a crib and a twin bed in there) in the other room(fortunately this one is bigger!) we've got the other three with a bunk bed- the kind with the twin on top and the double on bottom (where the two younger boys sleep)
It's cozy and I would like a bigger house- but it works for now! We also have a play room for all of their toys(a converted garage) - so they don't play in their rooms very often.
My sister in law has 3 kids and they all have their own room, but they always end up sleeping in just one room!
~C.

I think our house looks a lot like yours. A huge master bedroom and 3 tiny bedrooms (from 9x9 to 10x10).
Our 2 children (3 years and 18 months) share a bedroom. They each have a twin bed, a night stand, a small Ikea Billy shelf for their clothes and a shared closet for hanging jackets, beddings, diapers... Then, we use the 2 other bedrooms as office (work at home). We child-proofed a part of the basement (it has wide windows and gets lots of light) and it's basically their playroom with all the toys. the bedroom is only for sleeping, so, as long as the beds fit, it's big enough.

My boys rooms are 12x10 each and are plenty of room for them, they are 4 and 1. You could always do bunk beds and place them on one wall that way they dont take up much room. I dont think room size should be the deciding factor on another child or not.

It's the amount of love, not the amount of space!! If you want the child, you'll make it work, no matter what!! One of our bedrooms is very small as well, and when our daughter got older, we bought a loft for her. We put her dresser and desk under there, freeing up floor space for friends to visit or whatever, and it worked marvelously. Bunk beds, trundle beds, whatever.... all wonderful things!! If you have the space to make a separate play area and keep unnecessary junk out of the bedroom, it will work just fine!! Hope we'll hear about #3 sometime in the future!!

my kids bedroom is about 10 by 8, both my kids share it, all their toys are in it and all their clothes - it is cramped, but for one kid it would be like paradise.

it does not bother them at all - they are 8 and 2, they have never said "I want a bigger room", and my kids don't spend a lot of time in their room anyway

I built a loft bed - which you could do, or buy one, they really maximise the space and you can put a desk underneath, or whatever you like

Unless you don't mind the littlest one in the small room for a while, is it not an option to have the two youngest share a bedroom?