FI and I are going to officially live together! Now how to organize the house?

luckya23 · November 2014

I bought my 3 bedroom house before FI and I met, and since the beginning I have had a tenant/roommate who has the "master bedroom." (Only bigger by maybe 15 square feet... And at the front of the house.) My room is across the hall from his, with my office/guest room next to it, at the back of the house because I liked the southern exposure and didn't want to share a wall with him at all.

FI has had his own apartment, and the lease ends in December. Since we got engaged rather quickly, I didn't want to toss roomie out, so I told him he could stay until we got married in June.

Well roomie just decided to move down south next month, so FI can move in "properly"!! I'M SO EXCITED (though the money would have been nice!)!!!!!!

So now the question is how to reorganize the bedrooms. We just redid the basement so FI can have his man cave and we have a workout space, since we were planning on roomie staying. Roomie offered to leave his bed and desk, but I'm not so sure we need a queen size guest room... I have a twin guest bed with a trundle in my office, and we really don't have company much, nor do I want it. I guess it might be nice if his parents could stay here.

What I'm kind of thinking is to have a "sleeping only" room in the master, and move just the king bed in there, that way I can get to my dressers and closet while FI sleeps during the day. FI wants to "share" an office, but since I work at home I think it would be distracting, and don't want to leave the smallest bedroom (which is also the warmest in the winter).

How many rooms do you all have and what are their "purposes"? Should I take the queen mattress just in case? (There's no frame and I've never had one and have zero bedding for it, though he may leave some.)

southernbelle0915 · November 2014

Hm, I'd probably move the bedroom into the master, you keep your office and use he spare room for a multipurpose, guest/dressing/etc room. If his parents do stay with you, you don't want then sleeping in your office if you work from home..

We have 4 bedrooms and a library that could be a bedroom. Right now its set up as master, guest, guest, office and library. The guest rooms only get used a few times a year, but we have a queen in each. Plus the sectional in the library that turns into a queen. We have a lot of parties where people should not drive home, so we try to make it as easy and comfortable as possible for them to stay and drive when its safe.

lurkergirl · November 2014

How exciting! Congratulations!

We have 3 bedrooms. Our master is on one end, with the other two on the other end (ranch style house). For the other 2, one is a guest room, and one is an office. The guest room has a queen bed with matching nightstands and a dresser. We don't have tons of guests, but the ones we do have seem to like it. We ditched cable, but we leave a TV and DVD player in there, with a huge DVD collection in the office.

Our basement is finished and has furniture, but we never use it for anything but storage. There is an unfinished area that's stubbed for a bathroom, so when kids come along, we may convert part of it to an in-law suite/studio apartment type thing and the other part to an office.

buttercup1958 · November 2014

We live in a 2 bedroom apartment. When we get a house I would love to have a room be an office, one as a library, one room for V's guitars, and some for our room and maybe a guest room. We hardly ever get guests now so I don't know if we would even need a guest room change. I realize that is a lot of rooms so most likely combine the office and library together. Plus I don't know if we will ever have kids so theres that. But that's a dream situation.

But right now we have one bedroom as our bedroom and the other bedroom is a guest/ guitar/ storage room ha. We have a combination of an office/living room right now too.

theartistformerlyknownas · November 2014

Our house is pretty much a mirror image of yours. None of the rooms are huge, and the closets are tiny. So we sleep in the (front corner) master bedroom and H keeps his clothes in the closet/dresser in there. I have a dresser in there, but I keep most of my clothes in the guest bedroom closet (back corner). The center bedroom is set up as an office (plus H's suits in the closet), but H doesn't actually use the desk in there. The dogs sleep in there right now, but since it's also the warmest room in our house that will become the nursery if we have a baby before we move. I don't know where we'll put the dogs then. :-/ (H is allergic to his own dog, and used to get sinus infections about once a month from being perma-stuffy having the dogs sleep in our room. He hasn't had a single one since we moved them. They sort of stink, so I don't love the idea of having them in the room with my clothes but I'll live.)

H has a man cave and I have a craft room in the basement.

If I were you, I'd do your office + your clothes in one room and guest room dedicated to guests. It's been pretty annoying having my sister stay here temporarily and feeling like I'm intruding every time I need to grab something to wear. Set him up a desk in the basement - maybe a built-in with some doors so he can hide things away when he's not using it.

WinstonsGirl · November 2014

We have 3 bedrooms and an unfinished basement. I miss my man cave from my old house, but... Anyway, the masters is ours, we have 1 guest room with a queen and the other room was Winston's room, but now it just has a hide a bed couch in it and the laundry drying rack. Our house is too big for just the two of us, but I wouldn't change it.

MIL stayed with us for about 3 months when she moved out here, and FIL has spent 1-2 nights. Other that that, we never use the guest room.

AddieCake · November 2014

We have 4 bedrooms. One is ours, one is an office, one is a guest room and the last is storage for now and will become a second guest room as soon as we get our new bedroom set for the master bedroom. We hope that one day it will be a nursery or child's room.

LadyMillil · November 2014

We are in a one bedroom now. When we had a two bedroom we used one bedroom for sleeping and DH kept his clothes in there. The second bedroom was my office and "dressing room" which worked out well for us. We almost never had overnight guests but had a futon in the tiny den. Does your FI need a room for an at home office? DH sets up his laptop on the dining room table because we don't have a lot of space and he doesn't need to do work from home very often. It took a little getting used to, but this set up is functional for us.

penguin44 · November 2014

I would keep the queen for guests. It comes in handy when you have more than one guest.

We are renovating our upstairs currently, so we only have one bedroom. When we have the other two available, I'm planning on having a master bedroom, dressing room/office, and guest room.

ashsmash07 · November 2014

Congrats! We live in a 3 bedroom, the layout looks pretty much the same as yours. We sleep in the master, the second room is the guest room/computer room with a queen size bed, and the smallest sorta turned into the cat room. We're a couple states away from our families so we definitely needed a guest bed larger than a twin for when they come visit. If you can get away with the smaller guest bed I would stick with that.

luckya23 · November 2014

Darn, I just realized the major caveat to my plan of sleeping in the front room - I let my dogs out front too and one is a major barker! It's hard enough to keep them quiet in the house when FI sleeps! Letting them out the back isn't an option either because of the slope.

@southernbelle0915 - I don't anticipate his parents would stay very long, they only live 3 hrs away. I work on my laptop from the couch probably 25% of the time anyway, so giving up the office wouldn't be a big deal. I'm sure it would be awkward to ask them to sleep on the twin trundle though. The only person who has ever stayed over was my BFF, who also has family in town. (ETA: His parents have only come to our town twice in the 2 years he has lived here, and have never stayed over)

HOWEVER, the twin staying in my office feels like a non-negotiable for me, because I adore the mattress, and honestly I sleep there probably 50% of the nights FI works during the winter. For this reason, I can't fit any dressers or anything else in my office.

@lurkergirl, Thanks! I don't really intend to use our basement much either, but FI doesn't seem to mind the cold down there!

@buttercup1958 - Good point about a "library." I have a ton of books that I am currently trying to get back from my ex, but I also feel like maybe I'm past the point of having to have them out. In an old apartment, I had a library/dining room (never once sat at that table!), but thinking back to that makes me remember how cluttered I feel with bookshelves around! It would almost make sense to have the shelves in the sleeping room, but I don't really want to look at them!

@lolo883, OMG the dogs take up so much space!! They are each 50 lbs, and have giant beds both in our bedroom and my office. They are EACH at least 2.5 ft by 3 ft.! They used to have a third set in the living room until one chewed them up and I said fine then lay on the floor. Like I said above, I don't want to get rid of the twin (it's also a day bed so it can function as a sofa), so I unfortunately can't fit anything else in my current office.

As it is now, I have to "pack a bag" with my day time clothes before FI goes to bed, so I don't think I would mind packing up some stuff to have a guest.

FI's "desk" in the basement is actually a painting table for his miniatures/games. I think he wants a second one upstairs to pay bills from his laptop, but that seems like a huge waste of space to me since we have my desk (I also only have a laptop), his painting table, a kitchen table, and a dining table! And he uses his computer at most once a week!

@WinstonsGirl - Your hedgie had his own room! How adorable! I think my house would be too big for a normal "family of two" but I have zero problem filling it up... which is why I need roomie to leave to have space for FI!

@AddieCake - Do you guys share your office? I know you must work from home a bunch too?

@LadyMillil - My opinion is definitely that he does not need an "office" beyond his basement painting station (which until we finished the basement a couple weeks ago, he painted at the dining room table and kept his supplies in the office closet). He is a field service engineer, so all of his job is working on the machines; nothing to bring home, except for filling out his timesheet once a week. I've never known him to be a person to be internetting for hours like me either!

It sounds in general like having an adult size bed would be a decent addition to the house. How many dressers / closets do you all have? I have oh gosh a full closet in my bedroom, one in the hallway, and some clothes in my office closet (but that's mostly empty). I have one tall dresser and one long dresser of which I have managed to clear 4 drawers for FI. I have tons of storage in the attic though so I don't need everything out.

And yet I never have anything to wear!

theartistformerlyknownas · November 2014

I have a 4 drawer dresser in the master bedroom, a teeny closet and another 4-drawer dresser in the guest bedroom. (but 2 of the drawers have the sheets for that bed in it). There's also a full size bed and a chest full of my old stuffed animals in the guest room. H has the full master closet plus a 5-drawer dresser in our room, and the tiny closet in the dog room for his suits. The dog room has the big dog's bed, the small dog's crate (he cannot be trusted), H's desk, a random arm chair, and the ironing board. I also have a covered wardrobe rack thing in the basement, inside which I've hung one of those hanging 6-shelf closet organizers. Seasonal and dressy clothes go in there.

buttercup1958 · November 2014

Yeah I see what you mean about being closed in. I actually would love that affect! I would feel more cozy to me. But if you don't have a lot of windos I can see how that can be a problem.

WinstonsGirl · November 2014

luckya23 said:

@WinstonsGirl - Your hedgie had his own room! How adorable! I think my house would be too big for a normal "family of two" but I have zero problem filling it up... which is why I need roomie to leave to have space for FI!

It made life easier to be able to shit his door and keep his room warm enough for him. Plus he could run all night and poop all night without us hearing or smelling it.

ETA - MIL keeps saying it could be a perfect baby room. Nope nope nope

AddieCake · November 2014

We do share the office, but it's really more mine. Since my husband works on the road, when he comes home, he doesn't really have any work to do. Plus, he has his laptop that he uses instead of the PC if he wants to be on the computer.

larrygaga · November 2014

I suggest this to everyone. Don't share closets if you can. That has to be the only thing FI and I fight about. We split up closets and are a-okay.

charlieyankee03 · November 2014

We have a 3 br/2ba, 1640 square foot apartment. Our master is on one side of the hallway and the other two rooms are in the front, similar to yours. In the master is our queen bed, two nightstands, a long dresser, and the dog's bed. FI and I split the master closet, but I also have clothes in the guest room closet. We have a queen size bed and a nightstand in there. We used to have a dresser as well but we didn't use it. The dog has a bed in there and sleeps there during the day when we're home because he likes the quiet. We're the only ones in our families in Atlanta so we've had several guests come and say they really enjoyed the accomodations. The office has my three ginormous bookshelves plus a double-sided desk that we share. When I have to get up before FI, I usually just use the guest bathroom to get ready so the hair dryer doesn't wake him and I use the flashlight on my phone to go into the closet for clothes.

Sugargirl1019 · November 2014

WinstonsGirl said:

luckya23 said:

@WinstonsGirl - Your hedgie had his own room! How adorable! I think my house would be too big for a normal "family of two" but I have zero problem filling it up... which is why I need roomie to leave to have space for FI!

It made life easier to be able to shit his door and keep his room warm enough for him. Plus he could run all night and poop all night without us hearing or smelling it.

ETA - MIL keeps saying it could be a perfect baby room. Nope nope nope

----------------------SiTB-----------------------------------------

Is it weird that I want to see a picture of his room?

We *will* have a 1921 sq ft 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house. The master has two closets so we will have our own space in there, plus a large triple dresser that we share - 4 drawers each. One bedroom is the guest room with a queen size bed, and the other is an office and will eventually be a baby room. The desk can be moved out onto the landing later.

WinstonsGirl · November 2014

Sugargirl1019 said:
----------------------SiTB----------------------------------------- Is it weird that I want to see a picture of his room? We *will* have a 1921 sq ft 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house. The master has two closets so we will have our own space in there, plus a large triple dresser that we share - 4 drawers each. One bedroom is the guest room with a queen size bed, and the other is an office and will eventually be a baby room. The desk can be moved out onto the landing later.

There actually nothing to see, especially now. His cage just sat on the floor beside the couch. But it's in the closet now cos I need to figure out what to do with it. The local rescue didn't need donations of supplies, so I'll probably garage sale it or something.

luckya23 · November 2014

I guess I was thinking of it more as having two guest rooms or two offices was silly for my situation, but if I stop counting my office as a guest room, it makes perfect sense! haha

I sleep in that twin waaaay more than anyone else ever has!

Whether or not we will put the king in the "master" I guess is still up for debate.

emmaaa · November 2014

Fi and I currently rent a 2 BR/1 BA. The bed and both of our dressers along with my closet are in the master. The second room is the office/guest room. We live within 5 miles of our parents so we don't worry about guests other than friends after too much drinking. The desk and computer, laundry basket, futon, and Fi's closet are in the the second room.

I would compromise between the two of you on what goes where. since this is "your" house right now, you want him to be able to feel like it is both of y'alls home once he officially moves in.

FI and I are going to officially live together! Now how to organize the house?

Re: FI and I are going to officially live together! Now how to organize the house?

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