Why we gave our kids the master bedroom

master bedroom

It is tradition that when you become adults and move into your own house you upgrade yourself to the master bedroom. It usually is the biggest room with a bigger closet and attached bathroom and while it is just you and your partner it is an absolute luxury to have the space all to yourself. 

Fast forward a few years and a couple of kids. If your home is anything like ours it has been overtaken by everything children. Toys, craft, sports bags, and clothes are strewn around the place and your once “big” house has now been seemingly shrunk to fit your growing family. 

Now while I would not change anything about my family, I would love a larger house! Our current place is 3 bedrooms with just 1 living space. As my husband is now working from home this loungeroom accommodates the sofa, TV, computer desk and half of the kid’s toys (the other half in their rooms). One word for the place – crowded. 

So, while enjoying our Saturday night glass of red the other night my husband and I had a chat about how we could better use the space in our home. 

Our idea – Give the master bedroom to our kids. 

Now this may seem ludicrous to some of you but let me explain why for us giving the master bedroom to our kids solved so many of our problems. 

You see we have 2 kids and ourselves in a 3-bedroom house. If we changed things up and put both our kids who are close in age and get along quite well in the 1 master bedroom and then we are in the other bedroom we have 1 whole room spare. The initial idea was to use the 3rd room as an office but after a couple of months doing this, we decided to make it a playroom and put all the kids toys in there. Now our loungeroom just has the sofa, TV and computer desk and is so much more inviting and cleaner!

Giving up the master bedroom to our kids has de-cluttered our house immensely and I have felt myself enjoying the common areas of our house a lot more. Sitting in the lounge room I do not look over at the corner and think of better ways to store things or how I can make it look nicer. Instead, I look around my loungeroom and feel like a sophisticated adult without the clutter of children items staring me in the face. 

As the kids get older their playroom will double as a study space which is one way, we will be able to support their education

How we are going in our smaller room 

I thought I would somewhat struggle after giving the master bedroom to our kids and being in the smaller room and while I do not completely love it, I do not completely hate it either. When we were in the master bedroom, we had our bed and a chest of draws in there so not a lot of furniture. Luckily, we could still fit the chest of drawers in the smaller bedroom and while it is a little snug it still works. 

Closet space was a bit of a concern for me, but we have made it work. All my clothes are in our bedroom while my husbands hanging items and all our formal wear and large coats are in the playroom. We have all our most used items in the room with us so we find we can manage with this arrangement. 

When you think about how much time you spend in the bedroom it is not as much as the kitchen or loungeroom (if you don’t count the hours you are sleeping). So, by giving the master bedroom to our kids I have been able to gain back the space of my loungeroom which makes me much happier in the space then what I was before. 

It has also helped the difficulties we were having with getting the kids to clean their rooms because they had their stuff scattered all over the house. Now because things are in one of two rooms it is much easier for them to know where things belong and to tidy up when they are asked. 

Pros and cons of giving the master bedroom to our kids 

Pros 

  • ‘Gained’ a bedroom which we could use for other purposes.
  • More space in the loungeroom.
  • Our master bedroom is further away from our loungeroom so we can be a little louder at night while watching TV. 
  • Toys and mess are out of the way in their playroom.
  • House is generally cleaner (and when guests come over, I do not spend hours tidying up the loungeroom). 
  • Our kids have loved sharing a room and are playing together a lot better.
  • We get the bigger bathroom now (our ensuite is smaller than our main bathroom). 

Cons

  • Smaller closet so our clothes are spread out over 2 rooms.
  • The first week or so was challenging at bedtime as they were closer to a lot of their toys and would get up and play.
  • Kids still use our bathroom as ensuite has no bath.

So, while giving the master bedroom to your kids is not going to suit everyone it has been one of the best things we have done. In doing so we have created a better harmony within our house and the dynamics work so much better. And while I do not see the majority of parents giving up the master bedroom to their kids It seems as though it is becoming more common especially in housing estates where size is quite limited. 

 

In saying all this though once we move into our next family home which will be a bit bigger than the one, we are in now I will say I look forward to having the master bedroom an adult only zone once again. 

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