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brideonjuly8
member
Tell me why you love/hate your master upstairs.
brideonjuly8
member
Looking at houses, I really don't want the master bedroom upstairs. Sure, it'd be great while my baby(s) are young, but once they're really independent I would love to have seperate spaces (up/down). But there are a few floor plans I like and would be a good price range for us that have the master up.
So, tell me why you love it or hate it. Please. TIA!
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Re: Tell me why you love/hate your master upstairs.
Hmm, in this house I love having a master upstairs vs. a master downstairs in our last house - mostly because it sets my private area apart from the living areas. When people come over, its way easier to not have to worry about people in my bid-ness (or accidentaly going into my room and seeing a pile of clothes or whatnot) since I know all my stuff is upstairs and a healthy distance away.
Keep in mind though, I work from home, so I use my downstairs area as an office as well. It helps me let go of a working mindset when its time to relax.
We currently have a one-story house with a master that is quite separate from the living areas. We are looking for a house, and I'm specifically looking for one with a master upstairs and 2 other bedrooms upstairs. Like MrsRosie, I am a light sleeper, and I generally go to bed before DH. He likes to watch tv or play a video game, which can be loud, so it is nice that I can go back in our master and get away from the noise. I hope to have same experience in any house we end up buying, and if it is two stories, I want the master upstairs.
Pretty much all of this. Plus, I know it's for a short time, but I had a hard enough time dragging my butt across the hall to feed V when she was a newborn. I can't imagine having to walk up and down stairs to do so.
We definitely prefer the master downstairs. We ended up with a one-story but both times we were house shopping, we wouldn't consider master-up. Here are a few factors for us:
Like pp's have said, when kids are teenagers, they have friends over, they make noise, and doors don't keep it out. (Trust me- even having DSS on the other side of the house when he has friends stay the night is impossible to keep the noise level down). Plus if I want to take a nap or have a headache or whatever, I wouldn't want to have to ask him to be quiet all the time so I could have my peace. I definitely believe in division of space with teenagers.
Stairs suck when you're sick. I've had a few foot surgeries, DH is having major back problems, and whatever else comes, it's nice to not have to hassle with stairs when you aren't feeling well.
One of DH's concerns was that he wants to feel like a physical barrier if anyone comes into our house. He wants to be closer to the doors than any child.
And on that note- kids sneaking out? Much harder when you're downstairs and they're up.
Speaking from personal experience, the distance from the master from the front door is a much more important factor. Or any available windows....
I would avoid a 2 story house altogether. Hearing what some people pay for a/c in the summer makes me cherish our one-story house. The kid's bedrooms are in the front of the house and we can't hear them at all from our bedroom in the back. Even when DS has a sleepover
I have to use a monitor with Layna still because I can't hear her otherwise.
We have 4 bed / 2 bath, 1700 sq ft in a one story house. Its perfect. Lots of space, no stairs, kids have their own rooms and we still have a guest room. And our master bedroom is completely separate from the rest of the bedrooms.
This is the first two story house I've ever had and I don't have little ones, so take my opinion for what it's worth. I love my upstairs master.
I like that the public and the private areas are cleanly divided. If we have a party and a guest goes for the bathroom, I don't have to worry about them accidentally opening up our messy bedroom (which happened all the time in our old one-story house).
My husband is also a late night gamer, so he can stay downstairs and play and I can go to bed. I've yet to be woken up by the sounds of the tv or his swearing at the game. For that matter, my parents have a two story house that's kind of reversed. The living area and master is on the second floor (street level entry) and all the bedrooms and game room are below that. I HATE sleeping there because I can hear everyone walking upstairs. I'm just imagining that if you have a downstairs master, with a kids' room over it, you might have that problem too.
We did consider how we'd use the layout if we start a family. From my completely naive perspective, I'd rather not walk up and down stairs several times a night, so I think I'd like being close by when they're young. As for privacy when they're older... eh. The house I lived in as a teen wasn't very big, so I guess I'm just used to having none. Shutting doors works fine for me.
Also, our utility is upstairs which is great. I don't have to cart things all over the house. We've had guests a few times and it's so nice to just pull the sheets off the beds and carry them down the hall as opposed to up or down the stairs.
Some houses in our 'hood have two units but not all of them. Is it a requirement for houses over a certain sq footage? Or just an option?
I grew up in a two story house in Michigan. Even with the mild summers it would still get so freakin hot upstairs. Heat rises, I think you can only do so much to cool an upstairs.
when we were shopping for our current home 6 years ago, i'd only consider masters up. i wouldn't even look at the house if the master was down. i knew we'd be having kids in this house and wanted all the rooms on the same floor. ditto pp's about the ease of walking to their rooms in the middle of the night if need be. plus if god forbid there was ever a fire at night the kids would be closer to grab. i know that's unlikely but it's a constant thought of mine!
and ditto the pp's about being a light sleeper and it's nice to have the noise of DH separate since he stays up to all hours of the night. and the privacy thing that someone said. if my master was downstairs i'd have to keep the door closed all the time or learn to be neater because i wouldn't want anyone coming over to see the clothes on the floor and the unmade bed. alhtough maybe that would inspire me to be neater, but that's doubtful.
but, i also knew this wasn't our forever home and we won't have teenagers in this house so our next home i'd consider the master down.
oh and the sneaking out comment. totally moot if you were like my parents with the master up. we had an alarm system and they had a key pad in their room that beeped when you opened any door or window and if it was set it would beep until you keyed in the code. i got really good at sprinting to the key pad when i'd come in late!
I can't sleep well on the first floor of anywhere. I hate it. I don't feel safe and I never have. I always have that horror movie image in my head of lightening flashing and there is a silhouette of a man outside the window. We moved our first honeymoon suite in the middle of the night because I couldn't fall asleep. I hated, hated, hated my first house because I would wake up all the time and stare at the windows.
ETA: agree with above, itzabitch to keep the 2 floors evenly heated or cooled. We have 1 unit. But I don't mind because I can't tolerate the alternative. We also have an alarm system which is on at all times unless we are coming or going from the house. It's on right now. I turned it off for DH to leave for work and turned it right back on. I consider it a safety backup at all times. While I'm sleeping alone all day, keeping kids from going out un-noticed and keeping anyone from coming in when we are all napping etc. When I'm upstairs giving the girls a bath and I hear a noise downstairs, it doesn't make my heart race like it used to.
We live in a one story now, but these are just my thoughts.
For us, it isn't really about having the master on the first floor but we really hope to at least have some kind of guest room on the first floor (if it isn't the master). I know that as my parents get older the idea of going upstairs is less than ideal so I would like for there to be a place that guests who aren't as physically able to sleep if need be - even if it means they're sleeping in the master.
When DD was not STTN, it would have suuuucked to go up/down the stairs all the time but I probably would have just moved into an extra upstairs bedroom when it was at its worst. IMO, the times when you are frequently needed in the middle of the night are minimal (in the grand scheme of things) and I wouldn't want to make a decision on a house that I'm hoping to stay 5+ years in for a period of time that is maybe 1 year.
As for the noise issue - we live in a one story now. Our master bedroom shares a wall with the living room. I'm already "used" to whatever noise that DH makes when he's awake and I'm sleeping. Keeping my bedroom on the same level as the living areas is no different than it is now.
when we were looking we really didn't want a second floor at all. It just made more sense, to us, to have all our useable space together and connected.
There were a few two stories we considered in the process, and all of them had masters downstairs (which was my preference if we had to get a 2 story).
I don't have kids yet - but that phase of them not sleeping through the night is temporary and our current plan would be for LOs to sleep in our room for a while when they're infants. I think the privacy when kids get older, the resell value, and the consideration of older people were the points that made us not consider a master upstairs.
I kept thinking about our aging parents as well... if they needed to stay with us, or even just came to visit - I would want a bedroom and bathroom downstairs that could be accessible to them.
As I said, in then end, we ended up with a one story and I'm glad it worked out that way.
"The House We Built."
A journey of building the dream.
I think it may just be a matter of budget or builter. Ours is a KB home built in 1997, almost 3,000 sq/ft with one freaking unit. Drives me insane and I promise you I will never have another 2 story that doesn't have 2 units. In the winter we have to close all the vents upstairs to keep it warm enough downstairs and right now I have half the vents downtstairs closed so it forces more cool air up. It doesn't help that our thermostat is located about 5 feet from the drafty front door.
We have a 2 story house with all three bedrooms and full bathrooms upstairs. Everything else and a half bath is downstairs. I've told DH I will never have a 2 story house again for all the reasons people hate 2 story houses. I never thought about how lucky I am in that all the bedrooms are on one floor with a baby. I'd have spent a lot of time sleeping on the couch these last months otherwise.
In other words ... no, I would not consider a house with bedrooms on different floors with little kids. I can see the one advantage of when they are older, but that doesnt make up for all the disadvantages.
I will ditto the others about the difference in temperature - it's HUGE from upstairs to downstairs. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a 15-20 degree difference. our TX house was built in '00 and is about 2000 sq ft and only has one unit - but it's also cheaply made, IMHO.
but we received an offer on it this weekend so hopefully it will no longer be ours in 40-something days!
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Yeah, it sucks walking up and down several times a night. DD slept in our room til 4 months because I didn't want to hike up to her nursery all night (which is about as far away as you can get from our downstairs bedroom). I *still* make that trek every night (though usually just once), and it is not fun.
Our Austin house had all bedrooms up, our WI house has the kid bedrooms up and the master on the main. I much prefer our new set up. I like that I can't hear every peep the kids make, and I imagine as the years go on that's going to be a huge benefit (more privacy for us and for them). It's nice that their clothes, toys, etc. stay contained upstairs for the most part. I just prefer a master on the main floor - nice to be able to run into the bathroom and get ready while the kids finish up breakfast, nice that we can watch TV in there at night without disrupting the kids, etc.
ETA: we keep our babies in our room with us until they go to a crib (4-5 months) so I don't mind that the baby room is on another floor. Vivi was still waking a couple times a night when we first moved here and that was a tbit of a pain, but not enough to make me want my bedroom beside hers.
(read it. you know you want to.)
anderson . september 2008
vivian . february 2010
mabel . august 2012
I prefer the master up. I grew up that way and I've always preferred it. My brother's house has the master down, and when I lived there, I always knew I didn't want it like that.
I like the separation of living/sleeping quarters. I can close my bedroom door, so noise isn't a factor. I am also not a fan of the upstairs gameroom. I just don't get it and I don't like it. What do I need 2 family rooms for? Why do I need to get a 2nd tv? Why do I need to get more furniture? If my kids don't like what is on the tv, then they can go do something else or deal with it. I know, I'm mean.
I guess it's the separation thing for me. I don't really have any other reason. It's what I grew up with and what I am comfortable with. (and no I don't fear change
)
and if it DOES have 2 units make sure you actually check that is is for upstairs and downstairs and don't just assume it is. It could be some other weird configuration. Our house has 2 units and this is what we assumed. But nope, one is for the "main" part of the house, including upstairs and the other is for the "mast suite" which is offset from the other part or the downstairs by a little "hallway". It almost looks like a small annex to the house.
When we were looking we did not want a Master up. We LOVE having the master down in our house. Once the kids are older they can pretty much take over the upper floor, loft/playroom and their rooms.
When they were babies the not STTN was not a big deal. We had them in our room in a PnP. I did have to move Abby before she was STTN because she was NOISY, but I just slept in the guestroom next to hers for a few months, no biggie.
Long term, and this probably is out "forever home," I prefer master down.