Two-story Family Room

[IceQueen777]

Do you have a two-story family room, and do you like it? We will be building a new house (hopefully starting in February or March), and our plans have a two-story family room. I don't know anyone who has one, as they aren't very common around here. In fact, two-story houses aren't very common around here. Most new houses are Acadian or French style and are one-story with high celings (12 feet), but the family room in our plans will have a ceiling height of about 19 feet, with the second-floor balcony looking over the room.

I am thinking of changing the plans to just having a nice celing height (about 12 or 14 feet), so that the second floor would be more closed off. I am concerned about noise from the family room drifting upstairs to the second floor bedrooms. I also wonder if the two-story celing height will make the room feel like a warehouse.

So those of you who have a two-story family room, do you like it? Would you do it again if you were building a new house? Pros, cons?

 

[kasar]

Our family room is 2 stories and while I love the big windows and all the bright light it does have some drawbacks. We used to have our TV in there but the sound/accoustics weren't very good. It was hard to hear even with the surround system that we have. Also, our staircase opens to the family room (which is now more like a formal living room since we no longer have the TV in there) so the kids are constantly throwing their stuff over the edge (like socks and sweatshirts) to each other. Drives me nuts.

Sometimes it doesn't stay as warm as we'd like in there since all the heat rises.

But, nothing too bad. It's very impressive to look at and I think you'll like the airy, light feeling.

 

[KimR]

We used to have a 2-story family room and I loved the open and airy feeling. The only con I can see would be cleaning the windows on the second floor. In our current house we have a 2-story foyer that opens to the entire 2nd floor and we have to hire someone to come in and clean the windows as well as clean and change the lightbulbs in the chandelier. Also, I suspect our heating/air conditioner bill is higher but I have no basis for comparison, so I'm just guessing on that.

 

[RNMOM]

I am a lover of ranch style houses so I would not like it but when I see homes with open loft areas that the space could be put to better use. The enclose second floor could be an office, storage, reading room, hobby room or a big huge "parents only" spa bathroom. Ohhh, I like that idea.

 

[jel0511]

We have a two story family room, and it's ALWAYS FREEZING!! Remember heat rises and depending on where your heating control is, yours probably will too. My thermostat for the downstairs in located in my dining room, the family room is on the opposite side of the house. I keep the thermostat on 74 and it's usually at least 5 degrees colder in the family room. We did have ceiling fans installed to try to push the warmer air down, but it doesn't work because they are hanging down so the air there is slightly warmer, doesn't help much.

our current house we have a 2-story foyer that opens to the entire 2nd floor and we have to hire someone to come in and clean the windows as well as clean and change the lightbulbs in the chandelier. Also, I suspect our heating/air conditioner bill is higher but I have no basis for comparison, so I'm just guessing on that.

I made DH buy a 14 ft ladder just for this reason! He can now get up and clean the window and that ledge (why do they put those there, just so they can collect dust I think!) and also change lightbulbs. We have an 18 light chandelier, and with one constantly goint out, I'd go broke have someone come in and change them all the time!!!

 

[IceQueen777]

I am a lover of ranch style houses so I would not like it but when I see homes with open loft areas that the space could be put to better use. The enclose second floor could be an office, storage, reading room, hobby room or a big huge "parents only" spa bathroom. Ohhh, I like that idea.

I thought about that, but we really don't need any extra rooms. We already have 4 bedrooms, a play/game room, an office, and a library in addition to the other basic rooms (family room, kitchen, mudroom, laundry, etc). So I would probably just use the extra space as storage if I decide not to go with the two-story family room. So I guess for me the deciding factor will be strictly aesthetics.

Right now the idea of having the two-story room sounds nice...I am having visions of having a gigantic Christmas tree, decorating the balcony, etc. Of course I still have to decide if it is worth having to heat and cool that massive space!

 

[janette]

Ours is 2 stories, I really like the open feeling. I've also been able to do some unique things with the walls since I have so much space. One has a collage of Disney lithographs - there are 45 right now but I need to add another row.

I don't know that it makes that much difference in the heat / air as most of the rooms are open so the air moves around pretty well.

In TX we have more trouble keeping cool than warm.

 

[720L]

We're building in the spring also! One of my "must haves" was a 2 story family room. I love them. But we decided against it because our house isn't that big and we would lose all that space. So above the family room is an office and we made my laundry room bigger. (laundry room is on 2nd floor-love that!) I do have a 2 story foyer though so hopefully that will give me the look that I want. I would keep it if I were you! But you mentioned making the ceilings 12 or 14 high--that is pretty high so that would look very nice also. I never thought about the noise from the family room going upstairs--I bet it would though. We are starting to pick out our kitchen and bathrooms now and I am so excited!! Have fun building--

 

[Mimi Q]

We have a two story family room and I HATE it. Never again if I build another house. There are cobwebs that I cannot clean. In the winter if the family room is warm, the bedrooms are like a sauna.

 

[IceQueen777]

Janette, I am in south Louisiana so it is the same way here. I'm not too worried about heating the space, but cooling it (and it is HOT here most of the year...we had a high of 78 today!) That is true that the air should be able to move pretty freely from room to room, though.

How cool, 720L! I think you will get the look that you want with the two-story foyer. Our plan also has a two-story foyer, so if I decide to nix the one in the family room, I think that we would still have a nice open feel to the house. I think 12 or 14 foot celings would still give that open airy feeling, but would solve the noise issue. I don't know...it is hard to decide. My DH wants the two-story family room, but he is letting me decide. Good luck with picking out your kitchen and bathroom stuff...that is going to be the hardest thing for me! I think I will need help from a designer because I can't visualize anything and I am not very creative.

 

[Beauty]

We have a 2 story family room and an upstairs room that looks over it. J.C. does throw things down a lot but I really like it. I love the windows and the high ceilings. We always go to bed around the same time so don't know about the noise factor. Our firplace is huge and goes the entire length of the middle of the room. I think its gorgeous, especially right now with the 10ft. Christmas tree.

 

[luv2nascar]

we have a 2 story family room and love it
we do have a gas fireplace to warm it and a ceiling fan to circulate the heat back down
we have the balcony overlooking it. we have a 1 1/2 yr old and the noise and light due carry over to the upstairs that is a draw back for us
I hear it will be quite expensive to paint also?? we would have no way to paint it ourselves so oh well


I would do it again it would be nice if the balcony didn't directly lead to my children's bedrooms but.
we have a vaulted ceiling in our masterbedroom that I love also. I've seen family rooms with partial vaulted ceiling also

 

[capthooksmom]

Janette, I am in south Louisiana so it is the same way here. I'm not too worried about heating the space, but cooling it (and it is HOT here most of the year...we had a high of 78 today!) That is true that the air should be able to move pretty freely from room to room, though.

How cool, 720L! I think you will get the look that you want with the two-story foyer. Our plan also has a two-story foyer, so if I decide to nix the one in the family room, I think that we would still have a nice open feel to the house. I think 12 or 14 foot celings would still give that open airy feeling, but would solve the noise issue. I don't know...it is hard to decide. My DH wants the two-story family room, but he is letting me decide. Good luck with picking out your kitchen and bathroom stuff...that is going to be the hardest thing for me! I think I will need help from a designer because I can't visualize anything and I am not very creative.

When you said french and acadian style houses I knew you must be from
La.
Our last house had high ceilings and we couldn't keep the house cool enough.

 

[mickman1962]

Love ours was the best thing we ever did

 

[MScott1851]

Our family room is two stories tall. I like the way it looks, the entry way is very dramatic and I love the fact that we have balconies overlooking it. The downside is that we do lose a lot of heat to the upstairs, and it will cost us a fortune if we ever want to have it painted.

 

[cajunmommy]

IceQueen -
Don't know what part of SOLA you're from. I'm guessing BR with the Acadian / French architecture references.

You need to ride around & view the open houses in the new subdivisions going up in South Baton Rouge / Ascension Parish to get some ideas.

We did the Parade of Homes this past spring & noticed several two-story living areas. They're not as uncommon as you think. With developers using narrower lots, most houses in the new subdivisions are going to 2 stories to get the minimum square footage.

Wouldn't want one myself for the same reasons listed above - maintenance, general cleaning, $$$ AC bills. I do, however, love the 10-12ft ceilings we have throughout the house now. No way I'd go back to 8ft!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[IceQueen777]

Hi cajunmommy! You are right...I am near Baton Rouge (well, about 35 minutes outside the city in a small town). A few months ago I did go to Pelican Point and looked through their model homes. All of the ones that I saw had a bonus room over the garage, but other than that were normal French style one-story homes. I looked in Prairieville as well. I guess I am not looking in the right places!

Since we are doing a two-story, we are going with 9 foot ceilings on the first floor and 9 ft on the second, but I definitely want higher ceilings in the family room. Just have to decide if I want 12ft or the whole two-story height!

 

[Christine]

There was just an article about this in our "Home" section of the newspaper a few weeks ago. Around here, 2-story family rooms were all the rage about 10 years ago. They are beautiful. Well, apparently, a good number of people who bought them ended up hating them and are having them renovated. They are putting in rooms to take the place of the empty space. The biggest complaints were noise, heating, inability to clean/paint/decorate upper area, and so on. So now people are filling them in.

 

[danacara]

We have one, we painted all the way up, added crown molding and a huge flower arrangement over the mantle that looks spectacular with the height. With the right windows, two-story family rooms can be the centerpieces of homes. They're also really nice around this time of year (15 foot christmas tree!!!)

D

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am concerned about noise from the family room drifting upstairs to the second floor bedrooms. I also wonder if the two-story celing height will make the room feel like a warehouse.

So those of you who have a two-story family room, do you like it? Would you do it again if you were building a new house? Pros, cons?

OMG!!! Yes the noise travels. We have an open floor plan (which we like) HOWEVER the loft (what it is called here, very common now) points to the downstairs kitchen.

The house with a loft that isn't a problem is where the stairs divides it. So I guess what I am saying is make sure that the open part of the loft is not pointed toward the family room or kitchen so the noise travels.