Which bedrooms to use for what?

[Anonymous]

So I just bought a new house, and unexpectedly ended up with 4 bedrooms when we really only need 3. (nice problem to have, right?) But I'm having trouble figuring out which bedrooms to use for what purpose. There are two bedrooms (and a full bath) on the main level and two bedrooms (and a full bath) on the upper level. We will use the bedrooms as a Master bedroom, my daughter's room, a guest room and a study.

I'm a single mom and I have a 2.5 year old. She's young, so I think it might be good for our bedrooms to be on the same floor. Both first-floor bedrooms are nice, and they're reasonably sized, with hardwood floors and nice windows, but they have TINY closets. And the bathroom next to those bedrooms is really poorly laid-out and tiny, and it's the bathroom that would be used by all visitors to the house. The second floor has the master bedroom, which is a pretty good size, has 3 windows and a nice closet. The second bedroom upstairs has a HUGE closet, but it's a very boring room. it's shaped like a shoebox, long and narrow, with only one window. It's pretty blah. The bathroom upstairs is nicer than the downstairs bath.

If the second bedroom upstairs were better, I'd give it to my daughter and then the upstairs bath could be the family bath and the downstairs bath could serve the guest room and study and other rooms. But that second bedroom is just not very nice, and the two downstairs bedrooms are both really nice.

If my daughter were older, I'd give her one of the nice downstairs bedrooms, guests would be in the other downstairs bedroom, I'd take the upper MBR, use the second upper bedroom as a study and keep that huge closet for myself as my satellite closet.

First-world problem, right? Anyway, what would you do?

[Anonymous]

You and your daughter move upstairs, where you can be near each other and have a bathroom that isn't always on display to guests. Take a paintbrush to her walls, get a cool rug and pretty curtains and the shoebox will look great. And if/when she's old enough to complain, then she's also old enough to help you box up her stuff to move downstairs. AND to keep her downstairs bathroom neat for visitors.

[Anonymous]

Put her in there for now, and in 5-10 years when she starts taking more bathroom time, switch her room and the study.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter is 2.5. She won't realize she's in a shoebox room. Take the upstairs rooms. When she's older if you want to change things around it will be easy to do.

Well placed lighting, a bright rug/bedding...all sorts of ways to fix up her bla shoebox room. But really....she's young. She won't care.

[Anonymous]

I completely agree with the PPs. At this age, you daughter won't care about the shoebox, and it may even be helpful for sleeping if there aren't too many windows. (That could turn out to be an advantage.) Good lighting will go a long, long way to improving that room in the short-term. And if you use light colored, light reflecting paint (e.g., eggshell, not flat) it will help with both the light issues and the inevitable toddler mess.

And if you have the money, you could always add another window or two in a few years. Probably increase the re-sale value of the home too.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter won't care it's a shoebox. She'll care about being close to Mommy and when you get her up at 1am or decides she wants to stall endlessly before bedtime, you'll care about not having to climb up/down stairs.

[Anonymous]

There is no need for a 2 yo to have a "nice" bedroom. She won't know the difference. At all. I wouldn't even give her the bigger bedroom when she is older. I'd especially want my teenager's bedroom near mine at night and not on another floor so that I could closely monitor internet/phone usage.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! I'm moving her to a full-sized bed, which makes the room even more crowded, but i'll probably do what everyone is suggested. I was leaning that way anyway.

[Anonymous]

Why move her to a full sized bed? There is no real NEED for a child to have bigger than a twin bed. but A twin bed will work for her all the way to college. It what she will have in her college dorm room anyway.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have a potentially great set-up OP. The bedrooms upstairs can be used for your daughter and you and downstairs you can have a main floor playroom and a guest room/office. Congratulations!