Does the concept of "bedroom" really vary much between Europe and the United States? In my view, a bedroom is a separate room within a house or apartment with four walls and a door that contains at least one bed. Seems relatively simple to me.
I am finding, however, that I need to read swap listings very carefully to avoid creative definitions of the concept of "bedroom".
Part of the problem may stem from the fact that we are very clear in our listing headline and first paragraph about our needs.
For our three-generation family of five to be comfortable in an exchange home we need:
at least three bedrooms and
at least two bathrooms.
This seems straight-forward to me, but there seems to be a language or culture barrier between me and exchangers from Southern Europe. French and Italian swappers keep offering me "two bedroom" apartments in which one of the "bedrooms" is a living room with a sofabed or a sleeping platform above the main living space with no walls or door which is accessed via a ladder. Americans call this a "loft bed" and it is definitely not considered a bedroom, nor is it appropriate for my toddlers, my elderly father or my big middle-aged rear end.
If a swap partner's listing requests a particular number of bedrooms, it is best not to pretend that your studio apartment is a sprawling mansion. It is a much better sign for an exchanger to honestly appraise her quarters and ask if they may be suitable than to seem deceptive in the home's description.
In our case, our children are very small and we are relatively flexible about where they sleep. For instance, we used one apartment with a large walk-in closet off the master bedroom and we had no problem with setting up a pallet for our baby on that room's lushly carpeted floor. It was not officially a bedroom because it had no window but it had a fan for ventilation and the darkness only helped our daughter sleep better.
Contrast this with the discomfort one feels upon discovering that the "bedroom" described is just a fancy bunkbed in the living room. I would much rather be clear with possible swappers that our home may not meet their needs than have them discover this when inside our home feeling angry and ripped off.
When you call an area of your home a "bedroom", make sure it is an actual room. If you describe another room as a sauna, was it built to that purpose, or are you just too cheap to shell out for an air conditioner and it gets really hot? Used car dealers may describe that broken-down lemon of a car as a cream puff, but they won't give you the keys to it and walk away unless you pay them first.
Be clear and truthful with your swap partners from the first contact. The home you save may be your own.
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