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Our spare room!

(36 Posts)
kittylester Tue 08-Dec-15 07:08:57

The bed in our spare room is currently covered in Christmas presents awaiting wrapping which must be done by this weekend as DD3 and her partner are coming to stay. Last weekend DD2 slept in there and, a couple of weeks before that, DH's brother stayed in there. In between times, either DH or I will probably have transferred to that room if we are having trouble sleeping.

Our spare room has quite an exciting life! grin

annodomini Thu 10-Dec-15 22:03:20

My spare room is where I put everything I'm not using or wearing at the moment. And of course I can never find anything. It would be easier if I wasn't storing several boxes of 'stuff' for my oldest GD 'until she gets her own place' and she doesn't seem in a hurry to move out of her dad and stepmum's house! Oh there is a bed there somewhere under the growing pile of 'things'.

Bellanonna Thu 10-Dec-15 22:02:36

Are you sure you haven't just been looking round MY house Algeswife ? That's exactly what my spare room is used for with frantic rush to clear when a GC comes to stay.

AlgeswifeVal Thu 10-Dec-15 21:55:31

My spare room or 3rd bedroom is my dump it or chuck it room. Mainly full of books and toot. When one of my 4 grandchildrent wants to stay over its a nightmare finding somewhere to put the stuff. I also keep big black bin liners in it so I can fill them with charity shop stuff.

Marmight Wed 09-Dec-15 18:29:25

I have 4 spare rooms tchblush.
One is designated GC's room, 2 beds + put-u-up and full of toys... 2nd (DD1 old room) big double bed and I do the ironing there so I can gaze out over the sea; 3rd (DD2 old room) is just a spare bedroom with another big double bed; 4th is a general dumping ground for anything and everything, notably a desk, printer, filing cabinet, boxes of heaven knows what, a piano, a couple of chairs and hundreds of books... All the bedrooms have wardrobes full of my clothes, which I may or may not fit into again. DD3's old room is downstairs and is now a dining room, which may as well be a spare as I rarely use it. Not sure I could ever manage to downsize tchhmm

Judthepud2 Wed 09-Dec-15 17:51:13

Spare room 1 double bed, single bed, cot, fold up bed, toy storage box, books.
Spare room 2 used for DGSs staying frequently, 2 single beds, children's books, toys.
Spare room 3 laundry drying and ironing, guest beds covered in laundry, desk covered in paperwork to be sorted....sometime, with HUGE unnecessary swivel chair, 2 printers, printer paper, detritus from my desk cleared out when I retired 9 years ago, books.
Spare room 4.....husband's mess work room, books. Don't even go there!!
Dining room full of detritus from DD3 move which may or may not be thrown out, detritus from our kitchen replacement which may or may not be thrown out, toys which may or may not be thrown out, 2 tables, piano, hostess trolley (yes really), drink, large heavy dresser containing God knows what but I do know that the ashes of 2 cats are there awaiting burial.

See a pattern? tchblush

harrigran Wed 09-Dec-15 12:19:12

I like to think I have two spare rooms but GC would disagree, they are their bedrooms. Eldest has room with big bookcase and boxes of Lego, youngest has room with bed that has cot sides fitted and doll's cot and pram parked there. I have GC's gifts ready for wrapping in one room and they will be hastily transferred to study, with lock, if they come to visit.

mintsmum Wed 09-Dec-15 11:54:54

A few years ago I contacted YMCA supported lodgings and they sent me a succession of young people ( between 16 and 23) to stay in my spare room. Some sad stories of course but no bad experiences for me. A great way to stay in touch with a younger age group while waiting for my first grandchildren to arrive and also to make a little money.

Greyduster Tue 08-Dec-15 21:12:49

When we moved to this house, i had big plans for the spare room; it would be a craft room, a place to paint, to make rugs, house my fly-tying station; there would be nice music! No tele! A bottle of wine and one glass! A pipe dream of course. It is now full of laundry baskets, filing cabinets, boxes of old photos, pictures we can't find wall space for, books no-one will ever read again, the ironing board, fishing equpment...... Oh, and a bed! sad

rubysong Tue 08-Dec-15 19:55:27

DH and I are currently sleeping in the spare room as a builder is knocking seven bells out of our shower room and refitting it, so he's coming and going through our room. We find the bed is quite comfortable and we get a view of the garden without leaving the bed so we can watch for early morning herons attacking our fish. We do have to be up and about a bit earlier than usual so that we have finished in the bathroom (also involved on the refit) before he arrives to start each morning.

Marelli Tue 08-Dec-15 19:42:15

number - that's how we first met, isn't it - it was my old username for a different forum! A lot of water (not gin!) has run under the bridge since then! And yes, it was all the fault of Mother's Ruin!! tchgrin

numberplease Tue 08-Dec-15 17:00:53

Our spare room is no longer spare. It used to be where the grandchildren slept when they stayed over, but they can`t do that now, because hubby moved in there over 2 years ago, after his first operation, and never moved out! It was also used as the repsitory for Christmas presents, before and after wrapping, but they`re now on my bedroom floor, being carefully avoided by me.
Marelli, 2 words, Mother`s Ruin??

fredabee Tue 08-Dec-15 16:37:23

Oh dear Dolphin, I am now in the position you were in - very near to moving (downsizing is the term I think). I can hardly contemplate what it will be like. My spare rooms were so useful and it was full house when the family were here - happy days!

dolphin Tue 08-Dec-15 13:05:57

Oh, how I envy you all your spare rooms! Two years after my husband died I sold our 4 bed house and moved to a 3 room flat. I thought I had got rid of everything surplus to requirements, but how wrong I was. I'm still trying to get rid of 'stuff' but am running out of likely articles to be disposed of (not that there aren't lots of things that I have yet to use again, but...) ~So when DD, SiL and 2 children came for a week in the summer I had prepared by buying blow up beds - one large double and 2 single. Although it was quite an outlay, it worked wonderfully, the beds are very comfortable and inflated and deflated very quickly. The famly pulled together and as soon as they got up in the morning, the beds were deflated and put on my bed and hey-presto, a dining room and a sitting room re-instated! But recently I acquired a rescue cat who has taken up living in the sitting room so when I friend came to stay, she had to sleep on the blow up bed in the dining room and we had to eat a-la-lap in the sitting room, but it worked. But I do miss all those (spare) rooms which were all in use despite being on my own in the house!!

OlderNoWiser Tue 08-Dec-15 13:04:50

Our spare room is my office - smallest room in the house, but for the last 20+ years it has paid for the whole house and everything in it, so it is also the most productive room in the house.

ninathenana Tue 08-Dec-15 12:42:57

Our spare room is multi functioned. Yes it has a single bed but also a desk with DH's half finished large dolls house on top and a plastic three draw unit with the equipment to finish the job. A large metal filing cabinet (with a pile of filing on top) all the decs brought down from the loft waiting to be used and a chest of drawers for the clothes over flow from our bedroom. This is a small box room !
DH takes himself of there some nights as he's often a poor sleeper.

grannyactivist Tue 08-Dec-15 12:32:43

Hmmm.....spare room.
I have a lodger in one room, I'm in another and the Wonderful Man is in a third. My son and his wife will be sleeping over on Saturday in a fourth room - that leaves a twin bedded room for my lodger's sisters or my grandchildren to stay in, a single bedroom for emergencies and a room with a double futon for emergencies involving more than one person. I also have the luxury of a storage room. The latter is a tip and really needs me to make some time to properly sort it out. During the summer we housed fourteen visitors (though I did have to share a room with the WM for a period).
Our current lodger is a delight and very much part of the family. We're finding out a lot about Malaysia from her - and more about dentistry than I want to know!! smile

NanaandGrampy Tue 08-Dec-15 12:31:02

There's nothing spare in our house ( except maybe DH LOL).
4 Bedrooms.... all used. Mine . DH's. We have our own rooms after a lifetime of working different shifts we like our space, but there's an open invitation to visit...to each other of course not the milkman or anything !!

Then the big kids room with bunk beds, toys,crafty stuff, tricycle, car, easel and books. Then there's the little kids room with cot bed and all Nana's crafting stuff which has to be carefully locked away when little ones come in case we wake up one morning to find the baby has superglued himself to the window sill !!

The rest of the house is similarly kid friendly, with lego in the lounge , kiddy plates, cutlery , sweetie jars and snack boxes in the kitchen and the highchair, booster seats and baby wipes in the dining room ! Even the garden has kiddie chairs and picnic bench, sand pit and paddling pool !!

We seem to be back where we started 35 years ago LOL

SueDoku Tue 08-Dec-15 12:09:30

I had my spare room decorated during the summer - after years as a dumping ground I actually got round to chucking out several items of furniture that I'd kept 'just in case' hmm and buying a nice new storage unit, so that the room looked lovely...
Now - it's a tip grin with wrapped and unwrapped Christmas presents covering the bed (and part of the floor)... I console myself with the thought that it will be restored to order in a few weeks. smile

Indinana Tue 08-Dec-15 11:31:56

That is a really good use of a spare room leesnan. I can well believe you would be a bit worried at first, but I am pleased for you that it has worked out so well - especially as he helps out with mowing the lawn and putting the bins out. I imagine you feel a bit safer too, knowing there is someone else in the house when things go bump in the night wink

leesnan Tue 08-Dec-15 11:15:13

At 80 and with 2 dogs and 2 cats pennies were getting tight. Problem solved when I took in a lodger. Now Xmas and b/days are a doddle and the rest covers emergencis ie machines breaking down. In the summer he mows the lawn and Sundays he puts the rubish out for me. It was with frightening when I started but a neighbour helped me with the inerview. So now my spare room is working for me.

Elegran Tue 08-Dec-15 11:13:35

My spare room has a wardrobe full of craft materials, more boxes of the same piled on top up to the ceiling, a double bed with plastic crates underneath filled with more plus other stuff, a smaller wardrobe only half filled (so far), a large bookcase, and two chests full of stuff. Oh, and a door into the attic which is stuffed full . . .

I am not even going to mention the things I moved in there onto the bed when I was digging out the folding camp beds to lend to DD. They are only temporary.

rosequartz Tue 08-Dec-15 10:42:54

DGD1 slept in our spare room last Saturday; I was hoping that she didn't go poking around in the wardrobe! It has all sorts of interesting things stored in there too, unused this and that, spare this, spare that.

Well, it is a spare room!

soontobe Tue 08-Dec-15 10:37:52

No room at the inn now the family is enlarging. Someone is having to sleep elsewhere over christmas. Not too far away though.

tanith Tue 08-Dec-15 10:35:16

We have a lovely trundle bed in the spare room , my PC is in there plus wardrobe and shelf unit, oh and the airing cupboard . The problem is my grown up daughter 'came home' 2yrs ago and is still there with a roomful of her belongings. So no more sleep overs for youngest granddaughter and no room for visitors, I live in hope she will find somewhere affordable in the near future so I can have my spare room back as a functioning part of the house. tchgrin

Indinana Tue 08-Dec-15 10:16:58

Our spare room is the largest bedroom - we don't use it ourselves because, being on a main road, it can be too noisy, especially in the summer when we want to leave the windows open and throughout the year at weekends and high days/holidays.
It has two single beds and a cot, so when DD stays, she has a bed, her dog has the other bed grin and DGD has the cot. It also houses spare wardrobes and chests of drawers, a couple of ottomans (or should that be ottomen? grin), all of which are heavily used to store all sorts of things like craft materials, bags of knitting yarn, rolls of wrapping paper and gift bags, and power tools.
The ironing board and iron live in this room, as do our suitcases and a filing cabinet. Good thing it's a very big room!