The good, bad and ugly on 2 story houses

[ski_mom]

We are hoping to move (have our house on the market) and one of the houses we've looked at and loved is a 2 story house. It is beautiful, but I've never lived in a 2 story house, so not sure if I'm thinking practically about it.

On the main level is a family room, more formal living room, kitchen/dining room and half bath. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms, full bath and utility room. Basement has another family room, full bathroom and a sort of playroom finished.

Like I said, I love the house, but am not sure about all the bedrooms (especially the master) being upstairs. What do you do with all that room after the kids move out?

 

[Kae]

we live in a house with all the bedrooms upstairs & the rest of the living space on the main level. the only thing I would change is maybe then laundryroom up with the bedrooms. 2 stories are normally cheaper because it is cheaper to build up then then out.

Kae

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have a story and a half and I love it. I have had 2, 2-stories and one ranch before.
Master is on the main floor. Frankly we consider that a 'must have' now that we are headed to our 50's and we have 1 kid in college and a 7th grader.

We are considering downsizing to a ranch once the kids are gone.

If we could have got a great ranch house we would have preferred that. But for now the story and a half works great.

I guess the biggest downside are the bills. Much cheaper for this house than a 2-story.

 

[SandrA9810]

Moving the furniture...

I was bitter about living in a second floor apt, it's not too bad now... but ohhh i hated hauling things upstairs. The living room stuff and dining room were fairly easy, it was all the dressers and washer/dryer that gave us the hardest time. The worst part is, I know we're probably not going to stay past the lease and we're gonna have to haul everything back down again.

 

[Nancy]

I love having all the bedrooms upstairs. I would feel weird sleeping downstairs while my kids were upstairs, especially when they were babies...much easier to walk across a hallway for those middle of the night wake ups than having to go up stairs.

Plus, it kind of weirds me out that with a downstairs bedroom the windows would be easy to have access to from the outside and could be peeped into. In the summer windows and drapes are open, I don't know if I would be comfortable sleeping like that.

I would LOVE a second floor laundry room, I hate hauling the clothes up 2 flights of stairs since my washer/dryer is in the basement. And once kids move out? You an have sewing/craft room in you're into that, maybe an exercise room, a den...so many possibilities.

 

[clh2]

I love having a 2-story house!

The reason why is - if you have company - there is clearly a "company" part of the house, and the upstairs is more the "family-only" part of the house.

Now...DH is now 50, and I am getting there...so in reality, once we move from this house, we will probably get a ranch, or a house with the master on the 1st floor. Not getting any younger...

 

[megthewonderful]

My house is very similar to what you described. We have 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths on the second floor, but our laundry is in our kitchen. Sounds crazy, but it is well hidden behind some doors and it has turned out to be quite wonderful. I have three shelves above the washer and dryer to store all of my cleaning supplies, away from the kids, and I love it. I thought I originally wanted to relocate it to the basement or perhaps take away from our walk-in closet upstairs, but I am going to leave it right where it is.

We have three kids (ages 6, 4, and 2) and we love having all of the space. Each of the kids loves having their own room plus a playroom, As for what we are going to do with the space when the kids move out, the answer is simple. Sell the house and move to Florida so we can be closer to Disney and the warmth!

 

[Ephany]

We've owned a two-story for the last few years and now that we're renting a ranch (won't be in school here long enough to make buying worthwhile) I very much miss my two floors. All of our bedrooms were upstairs and everything else was on the first floor. I really liked this when my DD was little, she was just across the hall not a floor or two away. The only thing I might change is having a laundry on the floor with the bedrooms, but other than that I have no complaints. For us, it just feels more secure.

We're definitely going to try and stay with a two-story for the foreseeable future although we eventually may do the ranch style after DD has moved out and we're not as agile as we are now.

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

The lamest is when you're leaving in the morning, and you suddenly remember that you'd forgot something upstairs. So you run back up, and back down. Then you remember something else, repeat. It's worst if you make it all the way into the car and suddenly remember something.

On the definite good side, you have a bit of extra exercise built into the home

 

[JR6ooo4]

if you have loud gatherings, sometimes the person(s) in the bedroom above the noisy room can be annoyed.

Mikeeee

 

[SereneOne]

We have a two-story house, four bedroom with two and a half baths. The bedrooms upstairs and the formal and informal living spaces downstairs.

We love it! Like someone previously said, you have social space downstairs and the private space upstairs. It seems safer to me to have the bedrooms upstairs. We started out with five children in the house and we are down to two. The nineteen year old is half out the door and when he is gone that will be the guest room. The other spare room is now a computer room/library/office/hobby room. lol (Four bedrooms, one is the master, one is the 19yo and one is the 5yo and the forth one is the multi-use room, to clarify).

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Our house is layed out very similar to how you described. I love it now, because I love the space. Not ALWAYS a fan of the stairs, but..it's give n take

When the kiddos move out... make Disney themed rooms
lol

 

[BelleWDW]

I have a 2 story-but the Master is downstairs-which we love-kids are far away from us.


My sis hated her house with all the bedrooms upstairs and just moved into a one story house.

 

[Colleen27]

We have a similar layout with all the bedrooms upstairs, and I love it. As others have said, it is wonderfult to have "public" and "private" levels! All the kids mess is in their upstairs bedroom and upstairs playroom, while the main floor stays blessedly Lego- and Barbie-free.

The one and only thing I would change about my house is the laundry; it is in the basement, and when the kids start moving out (we've got 10 years betwen oldest & youngest, so we'll be here a while after the first one goes) we're probably going to convert the smallest bedroom to a laundry room and expansion of the upstairs bath.

When all the kids are grown & gone, we'll sell the house in favor of a smaller, snowbird friendly condo.

 

[KristaTX]

We live in a single-storey house that we built 2 years ago. Last year something happened that caused me to realize that I'd never buy or build a house without at least a guest room on the first floor.

Almost exactly one year ago, I injured my knee and had to have knee surgery followed by being on crutches for several weeks. This really helped me to see firsthand what decreased mobility is like for people. If all our bedrooms had been on an upper floor, I would have been sleeping on the couch for probably 3 months.

For most people, situations of impaired mobility probably will happen after middle-age. But I was only 37. It's been a year, but I still struggle with stairs. I can go up them at work, church, etc., but I have to use my arm strength with the rails to help pull me up because my knee still doesn't work quite right. I'm likely to need further surgery. It was a complete pain being on crutches in a single-storey house.

 

[VickiVM]

We have a 2 story, 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. The master is downstairs, kids (3) each have their own bedroom upstairs, plus the 5th bedroom which is my husband's office and where the computer is. We also have a large 'bonus' room which is where the kids computer is and where they have sleepovers.

I LOVE having the master downstairs...don't hear the kids (they are pre-teen and teenagers). But the one thing I hate is that the laundry room is situated directly across from our bedroom and I can't stand to hear the washer or dryer running when I'm trying to sleep and with 5 in the house, we always have laundry going in various stages.

Another plus is that there is nothing but attic space above our master so there isn't a child sleeping above us (wink, wink)....I'm just saying...

Beware, since the kids inhabit the top floor, I rarely deal with their mess...out of sight, out of mind. So I wince when one of their friends spends the night because I have no clue if their bathroom is presentable. Have to work on that habit with the children.

 

[IDoDis]

THE GOOD:
We were able to get a bigger back yard when we picked out our lot to build on because the 2 story takes up less lot space.

You only have to keep the bottom floor clean if someone comes over.

The carpeting upstairs only needs to be cleaned once a year whereas downstairs needs it every 6 months, so that saves $$

The upstairs is cozy & warm in the winter


THE BAD:
The upstairs gets too warm in the summer and the downstairs gets too cold in the winter (heat rises and we have high ceilings downstairs). When I set the thermostat to a comfortable temp downstairs, the upstairs gets way too hot.

Like another pp mentioned, you go up & down the stairs A LOT. I've never counted, but on a day when I'm home all day, I'd bet it's at least 50 times and probably even more. And yes, it's the pits when you forget something and have to run upstairs to get it, can't find it so you go back downstairs, still can't find it, then run back upstairs to look again.

My laundry room is on the bottom floor so doing laundry is a pain. That won't be an issue for you.

 

[mjkacmom]

To be honest, I don't think I've ever been in a 1 story home! There aren't many around this area, and I wouldn't like having bedrooms on the first floor - you go up to bed! The first floor is the public area, the second floor is private.

 

[golfgal]

I grew up in a 3 story Victorian and as a kid, stairs were fun. Our first house after we got married was a single story with a partially finished basement. It was a small house and it was ok for DH and I. We moved when DS17 was a year old. We moved into a 1920's Craftsman with a main floor bedroom that we used as a tv room and 3 bedrooms upstairs. I LOVED this house. Our next house was a rambler with 3 bedrooms on the main and one in the finished basement. This was ok but the bedrooms were not far enough away from the living room and noise traveled. Our next house was a story and a 1/2 with a main floor bedroom that was a guest room/computer room, two VERY large bedrooms upstairs and one in the basement. Again, I loved this house for the flexibility. When we moved again we wanted a rambler with one or 2 bedrooms on the main and 3 in the basement thinking this would be our last move and down the road would not want to be doing stairs-and having space for the kids now and later when they were married and brought their families over. We couldn't find one like that and DH was adamant that he did not want to build. We have a 2 story with 3 bedrooms and a large sitting room upstairs, no bedrooms on the main, one in the finished basement. It works well for now but eventually we will either move to a one level or add on a bedroom on the main level.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

I love when the weather is cool and I can sleep with the windows open a little bit. When we had a one-story ranch I never slept with the windows open because I felt like somone could easily get in. Now with our 2-story I feel more secure sleeping with the windows open.

Like other posters have said you do go up and down and up and down the stairs alot. We have a rule in our house - you never go up or down the stairs without checking to see if there is something that needs to go up or down first. Never waste a trip!