1st floor master?

AMarie101

Hi, I am new to this board. dd is 14 m and we are in the process of building a new home. Planning to ttc and will have lo around time home is done next fall. The home we designed has our master on the main floor, which we thought was a great idea for when we got older. The more I think about it, the more nervous I am about being that far from the kids. I will have a smaller guest room and bath upstairs I can stay in for a yr or two if I want. Should I redo the entire thing to move my master...if I do I will give up the nice master I have planned now (not as much room upstairs)? The other option to keep us all downstairs is is put dd in office on main floor and baby on my room for a year...that seems like a waste of floor 2. Does anyone have a first floor master and how is it?

=Lee=B

Video monitor.  You will get way more value out of a first floor master once the kids are out of the infant-toddler stage then you will by moving he master upstairs for comfort while they are young.  The kids have no idea of the difference of mom and dad being next door versus downstairs.  All They know is that someone comes when needed...use a monitor and respond as needed...you'll be annoyed with the flight of stairs in the early days but i' sure you will be glad for that distance later on!!!

mb314

Our master is in a finished attic upstairs and the rest of the bedrooms are downstairs. I think of our bedroom as a retreat away from the chaos of the rest of the house, and I love it.  We have just an audio monitor, and it works just fine - if DS needs us in the middle of the night, we hear it.

  The one thing I worry about is when DS is older, and in a toddler bed, it would make me nervous for him to come upstairs on his own if he needs us in the middle of the night.  I may install a baby gate on his room to keep him contained if it is an issue (he can call to us via the monitor).  But I think that's only going to be an issue for about 6 months to a year - soon enough he'll be able to negotiate the stairs on his own. 

dunlapbriggs

We have a ff master and my DS is upstairs. He is still in his crib but we have a safety gate up anyway just in case. As far as being away from him - we use an audio monitor now and have a video one for when we put him in a toddler bed. I wouldn't worry (or give up your master retreat!) - you'd be surprised how fast you can run up a flight or two of stairs if you need to!

HarleyKins

I've sold a few properties like this (I'm a real estate broker). Parents/Buyers have had concerns but the few that have purchased this type of property have said they'd never have done it differently. They like that the kids (one family has 4) all upstairs with their own bathroom, play room (they double up the kids to make this happen).

One couple was concerned at first because they had an 18mo old but after buying, they are happy with their decision.

All have added gates at the top of the stairs for obvious reasons.

For another couple who were having a baby, the front den was a make shift nursery for a few months until LO moved upstairs and was sleeping through the night.