Guest Room, or Bedroom?

Ok, I’m torn. Here’s the issue: we live in a 4 bedroom house. That’s a nice big house, right? One bedroom is mine and my husband’s (that would be non-negotiable). Our two sons sleep in one, our two daughters in the other, and the third (much the smallest, but with a bathroom) is a guest room.

There have been complaints. My daughters are very different people, and they would much prefer not to share a room. So one concocted a plan. They would give their room (the largest) to their brothers, and then decide between them who got their brother’s room (shared bathroom) and who got the guest room (own bathroom). And then, without blows, they decided–leaving me with a choice. We could do this pretty easily. We have all the furniture we’d need, one way or another. We’re talking maybe some paint here, and a weekend’s work. But should we really give up the guest room?

Part of me says we should use the whole house for the 358 days a year when we don’t have guests. That makes sense, right? It’s crazy to have this room gathering dust–and in a little over a year, my oldest son will be going to college, which would leave his younger brother with his own room (which he doesn’t even want) while the girls continued to share.

But then part of me says, really, these girls who have everything else they could possibly want can’t share a room so that we can welcome guests, their grandparents in particular, with a space of their own? Kids today are spoiled! And lack respect for their elders! And what kind of a daughter am I if I expect my parents to sleep in a cleaned-up kid’s room? (Complicating factor–it won’t be the former guest room, because that room is pretty small, and we’ll probably use a small bed or loft bed in it if it’s a full time bedroom. So it will be one of the shared bathroom rooms.

What would you do? (The conversation is on Facebook.)


One Response to “Guest Room, or Bedroom?”

  1. Kate says:

    I’d let the girls have separate rooms with the proviso that one of their rooms becomes a guest room when needed and they double up when guests visit. Agree in advance which girl’s room becomes the guest room and the decor has to reflect that.