new house -- need advice on which room for DD

monkey_pants · December 2011

I need some advice as we're moving into our new house on Tuesday and have only lived in (one-floor) apartments for the last 15 years. We're having some trouble deciding which room to put DD in. There is an extra bedroom so we have a bit of flexibility and there are pluses and minuses to both options.

Here's the situation: the family room/tv room is in the basement. The first floor is living room/dining room and kitchen. Then up the stairs (about 8-10 steps, so it's like 2/3 of a flight up) is bedroom A with ensuite bathroom. Up maybe 4 more steps and it's the master bedroom/bath (B). Then up about 13-15 (steeper) steps to the 3rd floor, there are 2 bedrooms (C+D) and a bathroom.

I'm leaning towards having DD in bedroom A. I don't want to have to go up all those steep steps in the middle of the night when DH wakes up. I know she won't be waking up forever, but she does still wake up now, plus I'm sure she'll be up at night when she's sick, etc. I just really like the idea of having her room close to ours. The downsides: bedroom A is above the kitchen. It's close-ish to the front door. We don't entertain a lot, but it's just a little closer to noise and we'd have to walk by her room to get to ours at night. The bathroom in bedroom A doesn't have a tub so we'd have to bathe her in the master bathroom.

The other option is to put her in bedroom D. There's a bathtub in the bathroom on that floor, but it's farther from our room, and it's really far from the family room, where we'll probably spend a fair amount of time. But on the other hand it's definitely going to be more quiet up there.

Ugh...sorry if this is so complicated. Anyone have any thoughts?

vflipo · December 2011

Either one sounds like a reasonable choice. I would probably go with D, since you're right, she won't be waking in the middle of the night forever. Putting her above the kitchen and near the front door probably isn't a huge deal, but it would probably disrupt sleep a little.

Our room is on the 1st floor and DD's is on the 2nd. I'm used to the stairs by now. Plus, our living room is also on the 2nd floor (our house is set up weird) so if I know it's going to be a bad night, I can sleep on the couch and not go up and down the stairs every 2 hours.

meltoine · December 2011

I would put her in A for now, and then in a few years, after potty training (during which you will regress to night wake-ups) and when she's ready for a big girl bed, make a big deal out of "moving" and picking a new comforter for her big girl bed and some fun decorations that she likes for room D.

bucklebunny1 · December 2011

meltoine:
I would put her in A for now, and then in a few years, after potty training (during which you will regress to night wake-ups) and when she's ready for a big girl bed, make a big deal out of "moving" and picking a new comforter for her big girl bed and some fun decorations that she likes for room D.

Agree with this. You can always move her later on.

thehoneybadger · December 2011

D, absolutely.

Wufroggy79 · December 2011

I would pick D...it sounds a little more like a kid bedroom set up than the others.

Blondangel · December 2011

A.

OctGirl80 · December 2011

IMO, it depends. Do you use white noise when she's sleeping? If so, then the noise might not be an issue. Also, how late you entertain could be considered. If it's early on, not a big deal. Also, my LO has slept through some surprising noises. My niece wakes at the drop of a pin. Totally depends on LO.

Like pp said, you can always move her later. If you're more comfortable having her closer to you, try it out. What the worse that happens? You find out it doesn't work and move her to the other room. A few rough nights, but you'll know that it either worked or it didn't.

monkey_pants · December 2011

I was hoping you guys would all pick one or the other but it's split down the middle!! Oct, in answer to your question, DD does sleep with a white noise machine at night (although I usually don't turn it on during naps). She's generally a pretty sounds sleeper as long as we stay out of her room while she's asleep. And we don't entertain very late. But I often don't make dinner for the two of us until DD goes to bed, so I will be using the kitchen after she's asleep.

Another complicating factor is that wherever DD winds up, we'll put the guest room in the other place. I can't decide if it's better to have the guest room in A or D. I wouldn't normally be concerned, but since we're so far from our families now, they're likely to come visit more often and stay longer.

As you can see, I slept on it and I'm still really torn.