Kids room arrangements * Updated w Pics

I would personally downsize everything out of the room with the pullout couch and replace it with a real bed on a compact bed frame. I would relocate all of the rooms other functions - if it couldn't be stored under the bed, I would relocate it. That would be my guest room - it will fit a bed and night stand just fine. Then I would give the boy his own room in the other bedroom upstairs.

Look how pretty your daughter's room is - I wouldn't change a thing.

IMO, I would use the 10x10 room as a guest room and the third bedroom as the baby's room.

If you got rid of either the armoire or the chest of drawers, you would have enough space to walk on one side of the bed. A week long guest doesn't need a closet or a chest of drawers. Sure, it's nice. But so is a hotel... Keep your DD's twin bed for now. If you have a burning desire to buy a piece of furniture, buy a new sofa bed that is more comfortable. Or find a double bed for that room from Craigslist. If you had a double bed in there, you could store items under the bed. I have a plastic wrapping paper storage tote that I keep under our master bed.

If you find that the guest sleeping arrangement doesn't work, you can modify that later. We're military and have lived in 14 houses since we have been married. We change the guest arrangements almost every time we move. Some were better than others, but as a temporary guest, that's how it goes. We did get both kids double beds at one point, and did use them for guests. But in that house, there was no option for a guest other than the living room and we didn't have a sleeper sofa.

As for the chair, is there room for one in the third bedroom? Both my kids have chairs in their rooms and will squeeze them in, even if the room is small (they have lived in about 8 of those 14 houses.) They are teens now and still use the chairs, even if it's to distinguish between clean and dirty clothes. (Clean on the chair, dirty on the floor!). And you will quickly get use to a boy in the house. And you will wonder how you ever did without him!

My smallest bedroom is 10 x 10, it does have a closet. I think that would be plenty big enough for a guest room.


I never understood why anyone would double up the kids or make them take a small room when there is a big room empty except for guests. Unless you have quests all the time.

My reasoning for using the 10x10 room for the baby at first is because it would cause the least amount of disrupt and expense to your household RIGHT NOW. He will only need a crib, dresser/changing table, rocker in the beginning and will really only be spending time in this room while he's sleeping. He will still have his own room! This buys you some time until he's bigger and really needs more space, at which time you can move him into the guest room, decorate it to HIS liking with his input, and convert the 10x10 room into a guest space with a Murphy bed or something similar to maximize the square footage.

I would leave your daughter's room exactly as it is, it's lovely!

I want to add that there are times in life when it is very beneficial to have an extra guest bedroom even for your own family! There have been times when DH or I was sick, and one of us (usually me!) would relocate to the guest room so the one who's NOT sick won't get sick, or if DH is making too much noise snoring. We never had a guest room in our old house, but it was very high on our list of must haves when we were house hunting. Now that we have one, I would be very hesitant to give it up.

Your DD's room is lovely. I wouldn't change it all. A twin bed will be perfect for her for several more years. When she's old enough to need a bigger bed she'll be old enough to want to have some input on what the new bed style looks like. If you really want to use the chair for the new baby maybe a lovely new dollhouse or some other toy would "soften" taking the chair out of the room.

Even with your additional info, I would still switch the guest room to the smaller room if it was me. However, I do think crazy4scraps idea for using the 10x10 first for the baby would work too. (That would be my second choice.) It could be a very cute little space for 2 or 3 years until the baby is ready for a regular bed. You could switch the baby & guest room at that time. I guess it just depends on how much you like moving furniture.

After seeing the pictures. I love your daughter's room. I would leave it as it is. I would put the queen bed in the 10X10 room and the baby in the bigger room. Have a garage sale and sell the unneeded furniture. This way you don't change your daughters world and you create a nice new world for your baby. If your guest love you they won't care where they sleep. We live in a 3 bedroom house. we have the master bedroom daughter got her pick of the other 2 rooms which she took the one at the other end of the house. which is the bigger of the two. The third is our craft room. Husband wanted to put a bed in there for guests and I told him no way. the guests can either sleep in daughters room or in the living room.

doesn't sound like ideal for you but I personally would probably move DD to the smaller room, keeping her twin bed for now. Find some other way to make this move exciting for her.

Use the larger room for a crib and the queen bed for the first couple years. Yes it might be a little tight but the bed could be moved tighter to the wall when no guests are expected. You'd only want to make sure you had small side tables that would work. Baby could sleep with you if you have guests or in sisters room/bed when a bit older.

Then you could transition everyone to full beds maybe when the time comes??

Your children should have their own rooms if available, especially if you have company so little throughout the year.

I believe that the visiting family can adjust for their visits.

Oh hell no on getting rid Of daughter's bed and giving her a guest bed.

My parents did that to me. My room was for guests and I had to sleep where they set up a spot.

Set up an office in the smaller room and turn the office into den. I would store mattress and frame until it is need then set it up in den.

You said it yourself...nothing has to be done immediately.

If baby is going to sleep in your room for a bit (which I think is a great idea) then you'll have a while to see how his sleep patterns are and if your daughters change at all when her brother arrives.

Then when it's time for him to move out, give one room a try and see how it goes. I know it's fun to decorate and such, but he won't know the difference. Try a room and see how it goes. You can always rearrange things later. Nothing has to be permanent.

Our house is three bedrooms - one on the first floor and two on the third floor. We're currently using the first floor bedroom as our homeschool room and the kids are sharing the other bedroom on the third floor. Our DD is 6 and our DS is 3. They have bunkbeds, which they absolutely love! The bunkbeds we bought will separate into twin beds when the time comes. When the kids get older, we're planning to move most of the homeschool stuff up to the third floor bedroom to share with one of the kids and the other kid will move down to the first floor bedroom. The homeschool stuff is a couple of tables, a couple of chairs and an IKEA five by five wall unit and that bedroom is bigger than the first floor one. Anyway, they'll be sharing until our DD is 12 or so. It's always been that way, so they don't know any different.