How do you organize a small house with a large family? How do you arrange a 3 bedroom home to accommodate several children? Let me share my tips and tricks for making it work!
When my husband’s promotion moved us last year, I can give credit to no one but God for finding us this amazing home to live in. We had 3 weeks to move to a town with little to no rental market, I was 8 months pregnant with our 9th child, and we were heading full force into the holiday season. I was certain we wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but as I searched the internet for a rental that would meet our needs, this home appeared, and I knew it was where we were supposed to be.
For starters, a photo from the rental website showed one of the bedrooms sporting 2 sets of bunk beds (um…no one but a large family would do that!), and the bar in the kitchen had 7 barstools around it (aren’t those things mostly for looks – not for 7 barstools?!), and the email address of the landlady was clearly one belonging to a Christian sister. I held my breath, and emailed her, praying that our search would not be a long one – I was weary, with child, and waiting was not something I wanted to do much more of. She quickly emailed back, and the next thing we knew, we were in possession of the keys to a house we now call home. It was all God, and I am so grateful!
Small house, no storage
That said, there have been some trials when it comes to living here – namely the fact that we live in an area where the water table is high, so there are no basements in which to store things, and the home only has 3 bedrooms to house the 10 of us. However, in nearly every house we’ve lived in we have typically only used 3 of the bedrooms because our children prefer to be together, and actually spend very little time IN their bedrooms (except for my oldest daughter who uses her bedroom as a place to work on her art.)
A reader asked me to share how we manage this many people in a 3 bedroom home, so I thought I’d share a few of the ways we have managed over the years. I’d also love to have any of you share your tips as well in the comments section!
Small house, large family
Tip #1 – Divide up your bedrooms wisely. Give the largest bedroom to the gender (or group) with the most people in it. Our master bedroom is surprisingly NOT the largest bedroom in the house. There is one bedroom that is much larger than the others, and that bedroom belongs to our boys, who dominate the gender of this household (as seen in this post on what it is like to raise a bunch of little boys).
We are also very careful to put the babies and toddlers in the room that makes the most sense – in our case, the quietest room. Our 1 year old recently moved out of our room and into the girls’ room because the girls are much quieter than my boys. This has been the case with nearly every baby for the past several years – boy or girl.
Tip #2 – Use non-traditional beds. Large families are notorious for finding creative solutions to beds. Yes, most of us own at least one set of bunk beds (as evidenced above), but we also manage to find other kinds of “beds” to make use of. Here are a few of the beds we have used or have seen used from folding frames to cots to playpens to rock ‘n plays.
It takes a little creativity, but with the help of non-traditional beds, you can create much-needed space in small bedrooms that would otherwise be too crowded. If you’d like to see more bedroom configuration options, you can read my post on Large Family Bedrooms.
Tips #3 – Use non-traditional bedrooms. Our current home has a parlor at the front of the house that has french doors, allowing it to be closed off if need be. Right now, it has our sofa sleeper for guests (which we recently put new decking on to make it good as new), and a few other peices of furniture. Our oldest son is considering making it his bedroom once he starts college. His closest-in-age brother just turned 10, so the age gap can sometimes present some issues with bedtimes and such. (You can read more about this in my post on raising a wide age range of children.) There isn’t a closet in that room, so he would continue to keep his clothes in the closet in the other bedroom.
Speaking of closets…sometimes closets are a good option for creating an extra bedroom. We had a great walk-in closet in one of the houses we lived in, complete with an air vent and a little cubby area that perfectly fit a playpen. It was a great option for us at the time. I’ve even seen entire closets transformed into “bedrooms” for more than one child. So, if you can spare the space, this might be a good idea for you.
Other ideas for alternative bedrooms would be alcoves, under stairwells, and by partitioning off rooms. Just be certain wherever you add a “bedroom” has plenty of ventilation and an easy way out for the child.
Tip #4 – Create “retreats.”. When a lot of people share a house, they each tend to find their own little space to relax. For me, it is a chair in my bedroom. For my oldest son, it is a workbench in the garage. For my middle daughter, it’s snuggled up in a blanket on the living room couch. And for my 10 year old, it’s wherever he can plug in his radio and listen to his beloved audio dramas.
While most people will find their own space in a small house, you might need to help some of your children find theirs. Consider what they like to do to relax and then help them set up a retreat to relax in. And it doesn’t have to be an actual space. My oldest daughter likes to draw and write to relax. She has a plastic tub to keep her notebooks and sketching things in, so she can be mobile and go wherever there’s a couch or bed or bit of carpet.
Tip #5 – Get creative with clothing storage. In a small house, closets aren’t usually very big, and finding large family friendly dressers can be difficult (if you have the space, try to find long dressers with lots of drawers like the ones shown below. We love ours!)
You might need to come up with other solutions like this hanging organizer we use for baby’s clothes in our closet:
or this 4 drawer plastic “dresser” we have housed in our laundry room for the 7 year old and 5 year old:
The top drawer is my 7 year old’s shirts. The next drawer is the 5 year old’s shirts. The 3rd drawer holds their jeans, and the bottom drawer hold their pajamas. The basket on top holds socks and underthings. (The other basket is full of what we call “junk towels” – which are the not-so-pretty towels we use to mop up spills, dry off dogs, stack snow boots and handle any other jobs I don’t really want my nice towels used for.)
At other times, we have stored clothing in rollered tubs under beds (that didn’t work so well for us) and baskets on shelves. We also lived in one house where the closet in the girls’ room was totally unusable due to a big pipe in the center of it, so we used a metal hanging rack.
Tip #6 – Use your storage wisely. Some older small homes actually have some nice built-in storage. Ours has a wonderful built-in bookcase and great closets in the hallway. However, with no basement or usable attic, we’ve had to convert our garage into our main storage. No, it isn’t ideal, but using a lot of plastic tubs, we’ve made it work.
Consider the spaces near the ceiling, under things, and behind things when trying to find storage solutions, and always look for furniture that can serve double duty in creating not only flat surfaces, but also places to keep things tucked away inside.
Tip #7 – Assess as you go {and grow}. Many years ago, someone chided me for constantly changing things in our home, but in order to keep up with the needs of our family, I have to be willing to change. I have to keep tabs on what is and is not working as our children get older and we add more children to the family. We aren’t static and unchanging, so why should our methods and plans remain unchanged? Just because we live in a small house doesn’t mean there is only one way to do things. Sometimes I have to really think outside the box to see the other ways, but it is worth it in the end to allow myself to change.
So, now it’s your turn! How do you manage a lot of people in a small home? What have you learned from the experience? What are you thinking about doing differently?
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Bonnie shaw says
We are having a hard time managing all the STUFF that the 7 of us own!
Amy says
I’m in the midst of decluttering…again. 😉
Cameron Heim says
I’m a single parent to 8 children living in a 2 bedroom townhouse, which is approximately 1,100 square feet. Me and my 3 sons share one of the rooms, while my 4 daughters share the other. Each bedroom has 2 bunk beds that each have 6 drawers that can be a dresser for one person, and 2 additional dressers for the other people’s clothing storage. The boy’s room has 2 closets, giving each person half a closet, while the girls room only has one, giving each of them a quarter. The girls also have a wardrobe in my basement/garage for additional clothing storage. My dining room has a round 8 person table that just barely fits in my dining space, along with a china hutch, ceiling height panty cabinet, and an additional storage cabinet for cooking supplies, and arts and crafts. My living room has a 7 personal sectional and my recliner, which store many of our games (board and movie) as well as video games and DVD’s. I also have a desk in the living room that anyone can use, there is a desktop computer on it but if you move the boyboard there is plenty of space for anything we need. My basement had plastic tubs for all of our stuff, including things like seasonal decorations, kids old crafts, bikes and outdoor toys, my laundry machines, and my minivan still fits in the garage stop (barely). We have tiny things throught our little house that just barely make it work for us, and its far less expensive than a 4+ bedroom house!
Shannon Guerra says
I love this. We’re living in a 3 bedroom house (nine of us, plus three cats) and finally looking for a four bedroom home. We’ve done many of the things you describe here and are about to move our six-month old to our (warm and ventilated) walk-in closet. 🙂 Thanks so much for your encouragement!
Samantha says
We are also living in a small house of less than 900 sq ft. Things are in flux for us right now, while we redo our basement. Some kids have their clothes in totes while others share dressers. It is hard but we make it work. Recently I read Marie Kondo’s book and we have cleaned out 7 bags of clothes from myself and 4 of the kids. We are still working on it, and hope to make even more progress. My next project will be to tackle the homeschool books. We are hoping to move out of this house no later than next summer, and it will make things easier to have less to move and what me move, only be things we love.
Amy says
How many square feet is your house? We live in a three bedroom trailer and the amount of bedrooms isn’t really a problem it’s the fact that we only have 1010 square feet for the 6 soon to be 7 of us. There are only 3 closets in the whole house, no basement, no attic, no garage, we do have a small shed. But we have no den, or porch, or parlor or any room like that. We let the girls (all our children are girls right now) have the master bedroom for awhile but that meant they played and slept in the same room which made nap times a mess. So we took back the master and put all their bed in one room and the other bedroom it’s now a playroom. It works but barely, we’ll be moving soon though because we are renters and in our area there is a law that if you rent you can only have two people for every bedroom in the house.
Amy says
We have run into that rental law as well, but if you rent from an individual, they have the right to make a different rule and not have to go by HUD rules. I actually don’t know the square footage of the home. The previous owners redid the house to open it up more, so it flows nicely with the living room, kitchen and dining all being part of one big room. The toys rotate into the house in tubs kept in a corner in the parlor.
Anne says
A few babies ago I started using those storage cubbies with the cloth cube “drawers” as dressers. Nicely sized for little people clothes and helps keep the amount of clothes down for older kids. Also easily repurposed.
Momma13 says
This is the 1st large family blog I am following. We have 13 kids age 14 to 3 months. 9 girls 4 boys. And we have a 5 bedroom house but have all the girls in the master bedroom. We are in the second largest room. Then the boys in a room. Our roommates in another and their daughter stays in our daughters room also. Then we use to have a play room but since my mom had a stroke she is now staying with us also. This is a great article.
Amy says
Welcome!!!
Dawn says
Very timely subject for me. We have two going to a local college now and I’m rethinking again. They need space to study and their bedroom just has room for their beds and a dresser. I’m thinking of those rolling TV tray style desks. I am hoping to fine some with a shelf below the Desktop.
It encouraged me this morning to hear from another 3 bedroom larger family 🙂
Di says
Did you see that kind of desk at ikea? They used to have one that was awesome but you can only get it on eBay or second hand now – hope you get sorted out !
Toni says
You can get a fold up desk from Ikea. I am thinking of getting a couple for our home. X
teri says
Somebody please tell me what to do when you have lots of kids that just need to be separated because they are on everyone’s last nerve, but you don’t have enough separate places to put them!!! Or in the middle of the night when the non-sleepers wake up all the kids in the same room. HELP!
TaBitha says
I don’t know about the middle of the night issue, but we use quiet time to help with the folks getting on nerves. Those retreat spaces Amy mentions are where we head to while the toddler naps for at least 1 hour. My son can build things and listen to an audiobook in peace. My 5YO, the one that bugs the most siblings, can read, draw or nap. The other things that have helped are to feed everyone a meal or snack and shut off all media. Once everyone has food, some peace and quiet, and no media things become peaceful again at our house.
Laura says
We gave THAT child a space during the day by removing the closet doors and putting a desk in the closet.
Lindsey Jane says
“Go outside!” Is common around here. Or putting them in their beds for quite time on days or at times when going outside is not an option. Though I can usually find enough little places to put folks. (You sit in the hall with this book. You sit on the couch with this book. You go to your room. You go to your room. You sit at the dining room table…)
Caroline @ The Modest Mom says
I loved reading this! We have 8 of us in a very small 3 bedroom house, so this was encouraging to read. Where do you keep all the toys at? I noticed the bedrooms looked very uncluttered and free of toys. 🙂
Amy says
Yes, there aren’t any toys in the bedrooms besides stuffed animals. The toys used to be in tubs in the dining room, but I got tired of picking them up in order to actually eat in there, so the only toys in there is a basket for baby. There is a tub of Legos and a tub of cars and knights and such tucked away in a corner in the parlor. I do have a couple of other tubs (train tracks and such) in the garage that are allowed to come in from time to time. I didn’t even think about mentioning all of that in the post!
Caroline @ The Modest Mom says
Thanks! That is helpful. So you only allow a small amount of toys in the house at one time?
Melissa says
We are not a large family, but I love your blog! These tips can be helpful even to us. As children grow you constantly have to change to fit new needs. Thanks for reminding me of that.
Laura says
We have 19 people living in a 3bed deluxe single wide 1968 trailer. By deluxe I mean in the days before double sided they had sort of an extra space attached to the middle instead of a whole side. Ours gives about 8′ X 10′ and the 3rd bedroom. The 3rd bedroom is the size of a twin bed. Closet and dresser with an aisle between. We’ve only been this way for a year. We already were a large family living in a small space, 7 children, grandmother, and parents, but a family of 9 needed a place to stay. There are 9 girls in one room. Hubby built queen bunks. He installed rope lights on the middle and bottom levels. Littles really don’t mind 3 or even more in a large bed. We removed the closet doors added cutains and a desk and peg board for a great work area. The boys room got a queen loft and a folding bed under with rope lights. To do this we just flipped the direction the door opened. The garage is one hugh closet. One wall is lined with a laundry basket system to hold jeans, sweaters, blankets, and such. Our bedroom was an enclosed side porch. Lots of windows but a little cool. So we use an Electric mattress pad. The room is long so it doubles as the computer den.
teri says
Okay…I now will stop complaining. I hope you are blessed with quiet children. I have 10 with sensory processing issues and the house that I thought was huge when I had 6 babies has become unbearable with 10 of all ages. But, thank you for reminding me to find contentment in what I have.
a mom of 5 says
Thank you for sharing! This article was helpful to me!
Jenni says
Okay, I will not complain anymore about having 6 people in a 3 bedroom home, and one with an ample basement to boot! 🙂 I have seen many of the things you suggested working for us, but I think it’s also important to consider what the particular needs of different family members are. For example, we used to have our boys in the largest room (there are 3 of them) and that worked, but then I realized that I needed a space to homeschool where I could keep the baby and the mischievous 4 year-old with me while I worked with another child, so I changed that room to the “school-room/baby’s room.” It does feel though like we are often playing musical chairs in terms of how we use our spaces.
As for creating, I sew and right now I need our room as well to be a sewing studio. I don’t think I could just tote that stuff around anywhere due to curious children. At some point, our finished basement room (which is not being used much right now due to some concerns with the ceiling coating), could be used for both a sewing studio and multi-purpose area for the kids to play.
I do agree that our kids rarely spend time in their rooms, but one of the biggest challenges for me is when I need the kids to have some “quiet time/downtime” and they only have their bedroom to go to. They end up goofing off (being boys) and annoying each other than sitting quietly. I wish sometimes that they had separate bedrooms to go to where they could do quiet time more efficiently.
Becky says
Hey Amy! I especially appreciated Tip #7 …. around here I feel like we are in a state of continual reevaluation and change. As our children are getting older, their personal needs and storage needs change. It’s become a bit of a joke for my husband to leave in the morning and come home to something being moved or changed!
I think this is part of a woman wisely managing her household 🙂
Amber Pennington says
Thank you Amy for your blog. I wait for each of your posts as they always seem to minister to me, This one was so useful too! Thank you for the inspiration. I have been trying to go through things and declutter and this has motivated me to keep it up. I love the bedroom ideas as well. Blessings to you and your family.
Lindsey Jane says
We just added handmade triple bunk beds to our boys’ room. Two sets of triple bunks have the same footprint as two twin sized beds.
We keep only stuffed animals in the bedrooms. All other toys either go in the little kid (a corner of the living room) or big kid (a room in our basement) play areas. We also keep their toys minimal. The Little kids have wooden blocks, dolls, and Schleich animals. The big kids have legos, hot wheels, magnatiles, and some board games and video games. We intentionally keep our toys simple.
We keep boy socks in a bucket in their room. Half the time I don’t match them, just toss them in.
We have a lot of wall shelves for things like DVDs and books. Our dining room has wall shelves from Ikea that hold homeschool books, cookbooks, paper, crayons, pencils, etc. It makes more of the dining room usable to have shelves above places where we sit. I also have decorative hooks everywhere with all manner of things hanging from them. With toddlers, I can’t keep much on the ground level. Everything has to be up and away from small hands. Unless I want to spend my days tackling toddler mess after toddler mess.
Beth says
We were able to get rid of a china cabinet in the dining room by putting a long shelf all around the top of out dining room about a foot from the ceiling. I can display all my things but they’re up out of the way and that’s one less piece of furniture that was really pretty useless!
Rebecca says
We aren’t a large family either (our house is small but I’m not going to complain and I usually don’t complain because I have read your blog for years and know how you and others make a small space work for them so I know I’m blessed to have what I’ve got). I just want to thank you for your gracious attitude and that you sought to give God praise in the circumstances you were in instead of grousing and grumbling. I know you couldn’t have physically felt that great that far along and having to deal with everything but you chose praise. That is SO encouraging to me!
Jennifer Capes says
So many great tips! Here are a few things we’re doing: Boys’ room, 4 boys, 1 bunk bed & 1 twin that 3 & 5 year old share. I have I small dresser for the big boys & under bed storage for the littles. My oldest also has a large desk for his legos. They have a large room, but smallest closet so I recently bought an extension rack that hangs allowing the little boys to accesses their hanging clothes.
Girls’ room, 3 girls, 1 double bed & one make-shift toddler bed. The baby (18 mos) was in a pack n’ play but she was getting out of it. I turned 3 plastic tubs upside down & put our crib mattress on top. She is in the corner so she can’t roll off & is the exact height of her sisiters’ bed! They have an Ikea Trofast system that combines baby clothes storage & toys. They keep their (my old one) barbie house on top. They have a dresser & the largest closet. We use shoe pouches to try & keep shoes organized & off the floor. I said “try.” My kids are terribly hard on dressers & I really hate any horizontal surface as is seems to attract clutter. Ultimately, I think we need to reduce, reduce, reduce! I love living in a small house because I think it’s faster to clean, but a homeschool room would be wonderful!
Amy says
I had a homeschool room once upon a time. It rarely got used! We’ve gotten so used to doing school all over the house, it was hard to contain us to a set room!
Jennifer Capes says
LOL! That is exactly what we do. Maybe I should rethink the homeschool room. I would like a single place to keep all school/ craft things together so the kids could leave out books & craft. Right now we have to clean off the table for meals & no one likes to do school in a syrup spot. 😉 We do have a sunroom that works for this purpose when the weather is warmer & when it’s really nice you cannot keep us inside! Glad to know we aren’t the only ones schooling all over the house!
CabotMama says
I really enjoyed this post! We are a family of six – we call ourselves “mid-sized” – and are blessed with a three bedroom home we designed and built ourselves. Our three girls (8, 6, &4) have the largest room in the house: long and narrow to allow for three twin beds. Our son (10) has his own room, but it is small: two twin beds would NOT fit on the floor unless squished together & no walking space, so he has a bunk bed for the occasional guest. All four children share a bath. While building, we were asked by many people why we had all the girls share a room and why we didn’t give our son his own bath. Our answer: my husband and I both grew up in larger families (eight kids; six kids) and neither of us had our own bed – much less bedroom – until we moved out. We grew up sharing beds, drawers, rooms, and one bath for the whole house. And we feel it significantly contributed to our character. Although we had the opportunity to create individual rooms while building, we wanted our kids to learn to share. I created storage closets and carved out storage nooks rather than bedrooms. And our kids love it!
Prior to building, we were in a smaller three bedroom home with almost no storage (think coat closets in the bedrooms). The baby slept in a pack and play in our bathroom until she was two years old. We had to suck in our tummies and shimmy to the sink, but the arrangement allowed the baby to nap while others played on the other side of the house. 🙂
I have often found it ironic that people with large homes usually have only two kids and people with lots of children have small homes. The large homes may look “decorator perfect” but the small homes look like people “live” there – I’d choose a well-organized and lived-in home over a decorated mansion any day!
Amy says
I love your attitude and your reasoning behind keeping your home smaller! Thank you for sharing!
Bridget says
Wow! You are definitely making the most of the space. We currently have three boys in one of our bedrooms and I thought that was stretching it! We put dressers or a couple of chest of drawers inside their closet to maximize room space since our bedrooms are so small. We have definitely used the trundle bed idea before! Now if only I could find a way to make them be quiet at bedtime.
Amy says
Let me know when you figure that one out! 😉
Amanda says
We have 11 in our two bedroom . There is a loft, so we technically have three. The 2 boys are in the loft with a huge bookshelf and curtain for their wall and door. They have a twin bunk bed. The 7 girls are in the master room with a crib, a twin bunk bed, and a bunk bed with two full size mattresses. We do have a basement which has the laundry room, schoolroom, and indoor playground. My husband and oldest son attached all kinds of climbing equipment to the beams on the ceiling. Our living-room is very small. We only have a couch that seats four, more if they squish, and a rocking chair. Eating is more tricky. We have an L shapesd bench around two sides of the table, four chairs around the other two sides, and a highchair on the corner. It seens too small at times, but I love our home.
Kimberly D says
Great ideas! We are going on 9 in our 3 bedroom house. We love having this size of house, but I need to learn how to make it more efficient for all of us.
I have some questions- Where do you keep your cloth diapers? Where do you put all your school items (not just books but art supplies, etc.)? Where do you keep games and puzzles? Is there a bathroom connected to the Master bedroom? My husband and I have talked about making ours into the boys’ room (6 boys, going on 7), but he is concerned about the toddlers having free reign to a bathroom in their room.
Amy says
The bathroom in the master is one reason we have not given it to any of the children, but our current master is smallish any way and wouldn’t hold any real advantage. Cloth diapers are in a stacker (see this post: https://raisingarrows.net/2012/11/making-a-special-place-for-baby-without-a-nursery/ ) Most of our school supplies are under the built-in bookshelves and in the hall closet. We also have a small 3 drawer chest that holds crayons, paper, and pencils. Another stacker like the cloth diaper one holds school books for the younger 4. Games and puzzles are stored HIGH up in the hall closet. 😉
heather says
we have ten people in a three bedroom house too. 1200 sqaure feet. we have been here for 14 years. we rent. it has been a God send. it’s a love hate relationship. most days I love it, but others I just wish there was more space. I am SO thankful our kids have had to grow up this way in close quarters. Pretty much no one has there own space. Both kids bedrooms don’t have doors and others doors didn’t lock for a while, like our bedroom or bathroom doors. Now that our oldest is almost 20 and child number two is just about 18, I wish I had the room for their friends to gather. I think that is my biggest struggle. I wish our place was the one everyone would come to to hang out and watch movies late with their friends and not care about how much noise they are making. I love to have people over but have felt so stiffled because of sapce. Even having a prayer group or bible study, I would LOVE to just have a home to gather people, lots of people! Thanks for sharing.
Amy says
We lived in a really small house several years back and we home churched during that time. We couldn’t host very often because the house was so small. It made me sad, but we would often have one family over and let the kids run around out back. The house we live in now, while small, has an open concept so it allows us to have more people over without it feeling too cramped.
Bonnie says
Love these ideas! We are a family of 6 living in a 2 bedroom home, we just moved in a couple months ago but are still figuring out ways to fit what we need here with us. One thing that I just did the other day was make the closet in my room the “school closet.” We obviously don’t have a homeschool room here but we have a homeschool closet!…if I had a blog, I would write a post about it. 😉 It’s not even a very big closet but it is working nicely and it actually looks pretty too! We have a shelf and a desk with drawers that hold our supplies, books, etc. and we do school at our kitchen table. I actually just hung our whiteboard at our kitchen table too. It comes down easily so I can put it away when we don’t want it there. So, that is what we are doing to fit our school in our tiny home with us. We also have 2 sets of bunk beds in one room. (good storage underneath of those!) Sharing dressers is another way we save space as well.
Taryn says
We are also a family of ten squished into a 3 bedroom older house. We have 7 boys and a baby girl. Baby is with us for now. The oldest two (16,almost 14) in one tiny bedroom and a triple bunk and a double bunk in the other room. My biggest challenge is closer/dressers … Storing the coo he’s they wear now. The closet in the bedrooms are odd… Skinny but deep… And dressers are hand me downs that are working just ok.
We do have a decent attic so that helps for storage.
The big boys tend read a book in their room orto listen to music or watch a movie on a portable DVD player we have when they need some space. Not ideal but it works for now.
The middle of the night waking everyone up is a challenge for us right now as well. Right now my husband will take the screamer downstairs until the child calms down.
teri says
We have a couple of 6 year olds and a 3 year old in one room that wake up at 3:30 am to PARTY. And I mean laugh and scream. Nothing I can do or say changes it. And my almost 2 year old boy wakes up the 10 year old he shares with every night. Fortunately we taught him to grab his pillow and blanket and go sleep on the couch!
Amanda Y says
I just want to thank you for ALL of your posts-every single one of them!! They are so relevant and helpful! You have greatly ministered to me in so many ways and I pray that God would bless you and your sweet family in every way possible! Thanky you for this WONDERFUL ministry!!!
Amy says
You are most welcome, Amanda!
Alexandra says
Love this! We currently have 6 people in a three bedroom house; four kids ages 3months- 5.5. My husband and I plan to make it work no matter how many kids the Lord gives us. We don’t have a basement, but do have a finished garage which is a huge bonus. It is encouraging to see other families that make normal size homes work for large families.
Christina says
Amy, these are such wonderful tips! Thank you for addressing the practicalities of a larger family with specifics. We have “just” four children, in a three bedroom house. I suggested to my husband once that when the baby–the only boy–gets big enough to need to be seperate from his sisters that the three girls could have the master bedroom and we move into one of the smaller rooms. He was like, “can we do that?”
Amy says
Isn’t it funny how we have the “norms” that we think have to be or else, when really, we are in control and can make out of the norm decisions when need be!
Coby says
Okay, this was really helpful, as we just found out we are expecting our fourth child and feel like we are bursting at the seams in our current house. Time to think outside of the box and get creative with storage and furniture arrangements! Also, purging our STUFF will help!
Amy says
Decluttering is an on-going process here!
Darcy says
Thank you for sharing! I love seeing how other families make it work.
At one point, we had 11 of us in a 3 bedroom (1057 sqft) home. We added on to the house and still have three bedrooms, but one of those is a 24×12 and one of the old bedrooms became a closet for the girls. With the addition of our youngest (we now are a family of 13), things are starting to get tight, but I know we just need to make changes and adjustments.
We are looking at a home with land that would put us back into 1100 sqft and 3 bedrooms. I would make it work because of the land with it, but I also know that we could add on to the house or just build something new in a year or two when it is paid for if we still need it.
Amy says
Yes, sometimes we make concessions because of the benefits that will come from those concessions. There were so many pluses with this house, the minuses were worth it.
Rebecca says
Reading this post made me wonder if the Lord prompted you to write this just for me! What great timing, we are currently selling our home and looking for our next one, and I was feeling a little upset that we missed out on a large 5 bedroom place, but it is great to see how many people make smaller houses work with bigger families! The Lord has given us 3 so far, who are 5, 2.5 and 2 months, but we physically couldn’t fit another bed in our last 3 bedroom place when the smallest room housed my husband’s LEGO collection and my oldest is too young for bunks.
Amy says
Well, I’m glad you found your way here. God is faithful and gives us exactly what we need whether we know it or not. 🙂
ELENA MARSHALL says
Oh my gosh, I feel like I just read my own story! Have you been spying on me?? ;o) We did the exact same thing! Now, with 3 in college and 5 still at home full time, (and in a house that has 6 bedrooms) the house feels ’empty’ at times. lol….. I sure do miss those times. My husband and I are currently preparing to put our home on the market and downsize and there are many people around us who just cannot understand. In fact, they’ve asked on multiple occasions if we were getting a BIGGER house. yikes no! *thank you for taking me down memory lane…… you made my day!
Yvonne says
We have a three bedroom apt, that the one room is biggest enough for our three girls to share the room. We have two bunkbeds in there. Our only boy has his own room. Which his is also smaller. My youngest daughter’s cloths hang in his closet. Still working on orangize stuff. And we maybe moving again in a few months due to my husband getting a new job. If so it will be our second time in a year. Hoping we can find a place that the girls can still fit in one room
Nola says
These are great ideas and its encouraging to hear how you do this. I hear from a lot of people “why did you buy only a 3 bedroom home when you have 3 kids?” (I don’t tell them we hopefully will have more than 3). 4 bedrooms might be nice, but whether you are renting or buying, it costs more to have more bedrooms.
We have very small bedrooms and a fairly small house (its 950 square feet but it does have a basement). Most of the room in the house is in the main living area, So its a challenge mostly in the bedrooms. We have a bunk in one room (double on bottom, single on top, with drawers under neath). We could fit 3 kids in there. In that room, we took the doors off the closet to fit another dresser in the closet (we might put a sheet over it like a “curtain”). In my room, there isn’t much space either and so my husband actually keeps his clothes and dresser in the basement (yes, we are blessed to have a basement) on a metal closet rack he mounted onto the studs. Its also ideal since he gets up so early and this way he doesn’t disturb anyone upstairs. The other bedroom currently only has one child but we will have to be creative if there are more children to fit in.
My husband likes looking at RVs for inspiration for how to live in small spaces.
Friends of ours are making a loft bed for their child’s room.
Julie Ann Filter says
We are in an interesting season of transition for our household, which has landed our family of 8 in a 240 sq ft travel trailer (30 ft long). I would love to say that it is heavenly, but it really can be downright troublesome at times =0) Mostly because our oldest is 10 and I’m now 9 months pregnant with our 7th blessing. The little emotions tend to get out of hand sometimes in such a small space. BUT, the biggest things that we have learned and continue to learn on an ongoing basis is to keep downsizing and getting rid of things over and over again in order to keep clutter from piling up and extra items from taking up our non-existent space. When we sold our home, we got rid of LOADS of things, and now I cannot even think of simply filling spaces with a bunch of stuff again. When we get back into a typical home again, I am sure that the simple lifestyle will remain a deep part of who we are, since it simplifies things exponentially. =0) Thanks for sharing!
Mary says
There are 14 of us in a 5 bedrrom house. We only use 4 of the bedrooms (5th one for grandparents visits and quiet time for any of the kids). My husband turned an alcove into a bedroom for one of our older daughters by putting up drywall and a door. He and our son’s just built two triple bunkbeds, one for our little/middle girls room and one for the boys. (9 girls and 3 boys still at home…1 boy is all grown up). The triple bunks free up a lot of room. Our biggest issue is clothes, haven’t worked out the best way to keep them or store then yet.
Andi says
We have a family the same size as yours and we just bought a TWO bedroom condo!! It works perfectly for us and we have 8 kids sharing a bedroom!! I’ll have to post some of their bedroom pictures for you to see 🙂
Andi says
I don’t know how to get a photo in the comments… Oh well…
Amy says
I don’t think you can put photos in the comments, but if you have a way to post them online, you can post a link here. 🙂
Miranda says
We are a family of 7 living in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, no basement home. I find that integrateing the baby into the childrens rooms a little hard, but overall it works great! The children love being together and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Probably the hardest is the decluttering that needs to take place. We have way too much stuff, and even though we downsized and decluttered a lot when we moved 2 yrs ago, we still have too much! The toys and clothes seem to be a never endng problem – I have yet to find a solution that is satisfying. A home I visit sometimes has 3 floors and while there I hardly see the children! Really makes me appreciate our small home where we are together.
Josi says
I wonder how many others, besides me, have a coffee table that can also store games, photo albums, etc.? Forget having one that’s got the open space on the bottom, because that’s wasted space! Ha! We are not a large family but we do have room/closet sharing in an old 3 bedroom rambler. We have also done the turn-the-closet-into-a-toddler bed gig, which is now back to a closet. We have one very small bathroom and one time a lady at church sounded like she was giving her sincerest condolences about a death when she found out we were living with only one bathroom! The one small bathroom has provided many opportunities to die to self and work the fruit of patience in us. The Lord has always been faithful to provide clever ways to organize the ever-changing ways of life as our children grow.
Anna says
What a great post! We are a family of 5 plus pets in a 2 bedroom condo. Sometimes it feels too crowded but after taking the dog on a walk or taking the kids to the playground it feels like a peaceful retreat and I count my blessings that we have everything we need and more! I have stacking plastic bins for the clothing for the little ones. We store the stroller in the back of the minivan so it doesn’t take up space in the living room. I use plastic storage totes for clothing that will be passed down and they are on the top shelves out of the way. We have a stacking washer and dryer, I store my toilet paper and cleaning supplies on top of the dryer. We bought a bed with storage drawers underneath it where I store cloth diapers and extra blankets , I change diapers on our bed and have everything at arms reach.
Genna says
We don’t live in a small house. It’s actually very large with two master closets. We decided we didn’t need two closets, so we turned the smaller closet into a nursery (it has a vent). We took down the shelving except on one wall where we store the baby’s clothes. The closet is just big enough for a baby bed, rocker, and small accent table. This room would be considered an extremely small bedroom, but seriously, how much room does a baby need? I love it!
Mai says
I love this! & thoroughly agree with the ever changing. I’ve had to ditch some furniture pieces I admire for practability. And as you have said using pieces that are flat and also store items. This year I’ve just stated saying , ” if we can’t use it for storage and sitting, I don’t want it” So basically anything that’s on the middle of the floor are plush sturdy toy boxes that double as couches and coffee tables.
I have 7 children and the youngest are both 2 years old. So I’m finally able to organize the toys again. Cars, legos, balls, etc. Before (for about 8 months) my house has been a wreck of piles of toys lol.
We love in a 3 bedroom also. And I just haven’t felt like I can get a grip on the bedrooms yet. So I will definitely be using your bed ideas and am currently looking for those large dressers. Recently I bought sky high shelves for my two older girls and two older boys (age 7-13) this way they can keep their favorite items up higher , out of reach from younger children, the bottom shelves are community property. And we’ve put shelving across their big walls in their bedrooms, up high, for the same type items.
I’m also going to use those laundry room ideas. My laundry area is in need!! Lol
Thank you
Hannah says
Hello! We have four girls 6 and under. We also libe in a yurt. A yurt is,a round house (tent like…a glorified tent really). We have normal appliances and such but no closets. We built two walls in it to create our girls room and our bathroom. We sleep out in the space that is our kitchen, dining room and living room. We have been here a year. We plan to do more and add. It has been challenging to figure out how to store things and create room. I can figure out how to move things around and think I have it then it blows up again (like now). It is a 30 foot (in diameter) wilhich equals about 720 square feet. It is a work in progress 😉
Hannah says
I should add that a year ago we lived in a HUGE house and I really couldn’t stand trying to keep up with it. I am blessed to have a small home now. I am looking forward to a little more space though 😉
Amy says
How cool! I’ve seen yurts on TV and always wondered the practicalities of living in one. May I ask what you use for bedding and where you store it during waking hours?
Hannah says
We have a normal queen bed without a frame in the room with the couch and dining room and kitchen. Not ideal. I wanted to have something like a Murphy bed but for now that is impossible. The girls have homemade bunk beds attached to the added wall (first two girls) third girl is in a crib in their room and the baby girl is in a pack n play beside our bed.
We plan to build a,real wall structure yurt and build the walls taller so we can have a loft and we want another yurt for the girls bedroom. That would make a huge difference. We plan to have more children so we for sure need another yurt. 🙂
Nita Spearman says
Since most closets have wasted space in the sides we use the tall plastic storage units – one on each side per child – you could stack them so that the older (taller) kids have the upper units. This way we didn’t need dressers taking up space in a bedroom for 4 kids. We also use double rods with younger kids clothes on lower rods and older kids on upper rod. We had good luck with underbed storage of off season clothes (under our bed) and toys/stuffed animals under kid’s beds. We found underbed bins that were long and opened from both ends – two fit under a twin bed.
Stephanie says
For fifteen years my husband and I lived in a two story 1,200 sq ft four bedroom house with only one closet and we had five children that time. We were blessed because we had a 2,000 sq ft pole barn to store totes of off season clothes in. In the house I had to be extremely creative with storage of toys, clothes, and other items. I kept toys in rotation and only allowed a few types out for a few months at a time. Then it would be time to rotate again. The kids could only keep the clothes which fit in their drawers. I am a minimalist when it comes to most things and only keep the bare essentials, so that helped a lot. I was constantly purging and donating, too. We had at that time two girls in bunk beds in one room. Another two set of girls in separate beds in another room. And my son had a loft for himself being the only boy.
Then when I was pregnant with number 7 (we lost my son who was child number 6) we moved into a foreclosed home with 8 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, and it is nearly 7.000 sq ft. Now space is no longer an issue in any sense of the word.
Jaclyn says
I am soooo thankful I found your blog! We have 7 kids crammed into a 3 bedroom. We can’t find any 4 bedrooms at the moment. Our children are 10 years and younger. We love our place we are in but are feeling crammed. I am sooo happy I found this blog post. Makes us not feel so alone with bigger families and smaller homes. 🙂
Erin-Lynne says
Just read your blog! Love it! And kudos to you for finding great ways to accommodate your family! Blessings!
Rachel says
Loved this article! As the oldest of 5 in a 2 bedroom house, I can completely relate. I’ve been ask countless times how can you stand to share space like that? How do you ever have any privacy? We were lucky that we live on a farm, we all had our favorite “hiding” places. A tree, a certain rock in the creek, a fort we built, special swings we would hang. It’s all we have ever known and I believe it is part of why we have grown up to be as close as we are. I often tell people when your a big family in a small house you have no option but to get along. Storage was always the hard part. We shared closets and dressers, and each had plastic bins under our beds. Clothes were rotated by season and at the same time we sorted what didn’t fit anyone out to donate. The off season things were stored in the attic in trunks.
Theresa ann drake says
Thank you, this was very helpful.
Tj says
I have 12 children in a bungalow with an addition and basement. Its not great layout but it has enough bedrooms. One thing I am finding now that I am no longer saving for the next child is that getting rid of tons of stuff really helps with keeping tidy. If it’s something someone loves and uses often fine. But a lot of stuff accumulates. People give us things. We but things. We have birthdays and Christmas. We have handmedowns. We just have too much stuff! The older girls automatically give their clothes to the youngest even if she can’t wear them for years to come or she doesn’t like the style or it will be impossible for her to wear due to disability. This creates clutter and chaos. I spend a lot of time clearing out and dropping things at thrift store. We no longer need snowpants of every size. Out they go. Old out of style too small jackets out they go. Its really helping to get rid of instead of find a place for. This way there is plenty of space for the things we DO love and use!
Miranda says
I realize this is an old post, but thank you! I just had my jerk of a neighbor tell me that it was illegal for my large family (6 kids going on 7) to live in the 2 converted in to 3 bedroom house we are renting to own. I called the zoning bored, and they said that it certainly is not illegal. But I was upset and felt bad and its nice to see that we’re not the only ones doing this!
Aimee says
This post is still resonating… and we moms are still out there scratching our heads, re-organizing, re-evaluating, and re-prioritizing! We are 9 in a 3 bedroom. We use two of the bedrooms as such- six of the kids share the “master” bedroom, closet and bathroom: one triple bunk bed built by my husband, one regular bunk bed, and one crib (soon to be toddler bed). Toys live in this same room, which is an issue at times (often times). Dressers for the boys and girls are in the master bed/bath closet, and in a dresser in my husband’s and my room (yes- we found some of those lovely, long dressers on Craigslist at different times- God’s provision at the right time!). Baby’s been in our room in a co-sleeper, which is a lovely space-saver. He’s starting to pull up on the sides though, as he is crawling, and I just spend a while this evening re-arranging our room a bit to accomodate a pack-n-play. It’s a bad arrangement, so tomorrow, instead of doing our full load of school, we’ll do a partial load and a “let’s help Mommy be sane” day (i.e. more arranging, puzzling, cleaning). By the way, bedroom number three is an office/sewing/crafting/workout/laundry drying area. We have a laundry closet (literally)- not a separate room. No basement, and the garage is storage with two overhead racks (worth it), and tubs/freezers/toolboxes/shelves along the perifery. This allows us to still park one vehicle in the garage. It’s a 1500 sq ft house w/ an open floor plan, which does make a big difference. It’s the sleeping/clothes storage/toys situation that puzzles me on a semi-regular basis!
Glen says
Hi. Thanks for posting the article some of it is helpful. We LOVE our big family. We also live in a 3 bedroom house that we bought that has 2 living rooms one of which we converted to a very large bedroom. The wife and I are 39 years old with 20 kids ages 21 to 3 months old and two on the way. In our area a bigger house is out of the question right now as we have a very good house note and inflation is extreme in our area with 4 bedroom house notes averaging 4 times what we are paying now. All we need is a place to sleep and main priorities consist of private and college educations as well as all their health needs and healthy foods.We are very blessed as all the children have proper beds as well as an acre of land to enjoy when outside. One of our children just finished college and 5 more are currently licensed drivers which is a tremendous help. We are planning on remodeling the garage as another big bedroom with a bathroom before the twins are born. We will definitely be using a few of the tips you shared and we thank you again for sharing. And before anyone gets the wrong idea, we are not on any assistance nor are we wealthy. Just average middle class people being smart with our money and raising an awesome family.
Tammy Hurd says
We are a family of 8 with a 20 yr old who has the “inlaw set up upstairs” and pays rent …..then 3 bedrooms downstairs for the other 5 kids and us. Our only daughter has a bedroom and 2 of the boys share then the toddler and baby are with us…. We would love to get our bedroom back but having 4 boys in 1 room isn’t all that possible…..it’s small and ages range from 1 yr to 9! Any ideas are appreciated
Amy says
We have 4 boys in 2 bunks in a tiny bedroom. They are 6, 9, 10, & 13. They have all shared a room for years and it has often been small, but I figure they are mostly just sleeping in there. One thing I would consider is putting the toddler and/or baby in your daughter’s room. We did this and it worked quite well. The girls also ended up with a great relationship with their younger brother because of this. She wouldn’t have to give up “her space” because little ones don’t have an opinion on their room. 😉
Teresa says
Interesting, but it still seems like I am hitting awall. I actually have 4 bedrooms, and what I keep running into is clutter. Even when I organize, stuff just seems to be everywhere in 1 to 2 days. I am a bit overwhelmed, and I work full time so it isn’t easy to keep up with these kids, or myself for that matter. My kids are 13, 11, 9, 7, 4 and 1.
I really feel like I need more storage space and a bigger kitchen. Maybe I am just not seeing what I should. I really need help.
Amy says
Hi Teresa! Small children are messy by nature, so I’d advise a couple of things. 1 – it if truly is clutter, get tough and throw stuff out. Choose the child who is best at letting things go to help you, and take a Saturday to burn through the worst room. The next Saturday is the next worst room, etc. And then 2 – Get a cleaning routine in place. Every morning before breakfast, the boys are expected to clean their room and tidy their bathroom. And yes, I have to keep on them (some day it will be second nature). Every day before 4pm (tv time here), the house has to be tidied up. Every Friday, we do a whole house clean. I have to stay consistent, but it has helped tremendously! Come up with a simple schedule that works for you and your work schedule. Facetime them while they clean. Try one or two things before adding more. Slow and steady wins the race!
Susan says
I know this is older post but I have to tell you about one of my child’s bed. It’s a tiny spare room that the owners prior had built from hallway. Yep very tiny narrow room without any closet. Slide into wall pocket door! No way to fit bed and dresser together weird space. We found long 12 drawer dresser that fit in it. My daughter climbed up and joked she could sleep on it since she is string bean size to finally get her own room. I was like Done! I took rail off thrift shop twin bed to drill on the dresser on base after painting it, found futon base that I could cut and sew myself to fit it on as mattress, bolted dresser into wall, put 2 stairs on side to climb up easier. Viola. Polish it off with pretty runner rug, small crystal chandelier that fit, mirror, wall posters and her choice of paint it was complete. Itty adorable room for my moody but now happy teen after sharing her whole life.
Amy says
Ha! That’s awesome!
Cameron Heim says
I’m a single parent to 7 children living in a 2 bedroom townhouse, which is approximately 1,100 square feet. Me and my 3 sons share one of the rooms, while my 4 daughters share the other. Each bedroom has 2 bunk beds that each have 6 drawers that can be a dresser for one person, and 2 additional dressers for the other people’s clothing storage. The boy’s room has 2 closets, giving each person half a closet, while the girls room only has one, giving each of them a quarter. The girls also have a wardrobe in my basement/garage for additional clothing storage. My dining room has a round 8 person table that just barely fits in my dining space, along with a china hutch, ceiling height panty cabinet, and an additional storage cabinet for cooking supplies, and arts and crafts. My living room has a 7 personal sectional and my recliner, which store many of our games (board and movie) as well as video games and DVD’s. I also have a desk in the living room that anyone can use, there is a desktop computer on it but if you move the boyboard there is plenty of space for anything we need. My basement had plastic tubs for all of our stuff, including things like seasonal decorations, kids old crafts, bikes and outdoor toys, my laundry machines, and my minivan still fits in the garage stop (barely). We have tiny things throught our little house that just barely make it work for us, and its far less expensive than a 4+ bedroom house!
Haley says
I’m just so tired of trying to make everything fit.
What I wouldn’t give for a basement multipurpose area.
The thing I’m most embarrassed about is that whenever my parents or in-laws visit (both of which require a days’ worth of traveling), I don’t even have a bed/space to offer them.
While I know this is where we have to be right now, I can’t help but wish we could move.