Let’s talk about 2-story houses today. A lot of people have them, myself included. And I have mixed feelings about them. Some days I love it, others it annoys the heck out of me.
2 story houses are great because:
- You usually get more space for the money, vs. a sprawling 1 story which would cost much more.
- You get bigger bedrooms and closets.
- You get a bigger backyard.
- Everyone can have their space if necessary.
- You usually have some sort of bonus room, which is well, a bonus.
- They look fancier, or more grand from the outside.
- Kids love sliding down the stairs on mats and blankets.
But,
2 story houses are not so great because:
- You have to walk upstairs daily.
- You tend to get more lazy and put off “going all the way upstairs.”
- You can’t send your small kids to play in their rooms upstairs by themselves.
- It can sound like elephants walking around upstairs sometimes.
- Open floor plan 2 story houses can be noisy.
- If you have a leak upstairs somewhere, it’s inevitably going to cause damage somewhere downstairs too.
- Toys and stuff can just accumulate downstairs in the living areas, when it should be in kids’ rooms. And then of course you have to walk upstairs to take them to their right rooms. :)
I know a lot of 2 story home floor plans have the master bedroom upstairs these days too. To me that just seems like the biggest pain in the rear. And what if you had someone break in your house while you are asleep upstairs? I guess it could be a positive thing since it might take the intruder longer to find you? See I think of weird things.
Wow, do I sound lazy or what?! Please know I am not complaining about our house at all. I love our 2-story house and feel incredibly blessed to live here and have a home! But if we could get the same square footage we have here in a 1 story for the same price, would I move? Maybe so. But I’m not saying I wouldn’t buy another 2 story again either.
So what do you think of 2 story houses? If you have one, does it annoy you at all or do you love it? Do you utilize the upstairs like you would like to? Would you buy another 2-story house again if you had the choice? And if your master bedroom is upstairs, do you mind it?
Fill me in, I have lots of questions! Maybe I am just feeling extremely lazy since I’m about to hit the 3rd trimester and beginning to waddle a little. Good times! :)
xxoo,
Decorchick!
Oh and the Silhouette Cameo special was extended an extra day, so today is the last day to get it at the great price! See this post for more details.
I have the same exact fears/concerns! Also, what happens when we get older and stay in the home, it will be tough to get around! I’m all for ranch style, but I’m not opposed to a 2 story.. Ha.
Interesting article. I live in the Netherlands and I think almost all familyhomes have 2 or more storeys, and probably a lot less land around it. 1 or 2 bathrooms is the standard, and the kids play in the livingroom (no playroom, no craftroom, no guestroom). It is not so common though to have 1 room for the boys and 1 for the girls. If possible, everyone has his/her own room.
It is fun to see in blogland how houses and decorations are different in the US and other countries. Inspirational, and sometime completely impossible to adopt in my house.
I think you forgot one of the biggest cons, lugging the vacuum up and down the stairs!
Our master is upstairs, I like being closer to the kids. Especially if, God forbid, there was a fire. Our next house will be one story for sure! But after the kids are gone.
Totally agree, I love having my master on the same floor as our kids. Vacuuming does stink going up and down the stairs too!
Buy a vacuum for upstairs and one down stairs, we have a bedroom down stairs so as we get older we will move into that bedroom
Central vac saves my life. My kirby now resides in the storage area in the basement.
I keep a vacuum on each level of our house, that helps.
I prefer a ranch style/single story home. I have terrible knee problems (I’m not old, either! Just 29!) and the thought of going up and down just to get everything to it’s place just kills me. But, I love the look of 2 story homes. Like you said, pros and cons to both. Oy vey.
I love living in our two story home. Our first home was a ranch and I grew up in a ranch and always dreamed of living in a two story. This is our third two story home and I won’t be going to a ranch until I’m old and the stairs are too hard for us. We built a two story and most of the plans had the master on the main floor which we did NOT like. When your kids are little and you are on a different floor than them, that bothers me. They have to come downstairs to find you, what if there is a fire? You are on another floor than they are and they might be too little to get out themselves. Also the burglars find you first on the main floor. Just my paranoid thoughts. ;) I prefer all the bedrooms not on the main floor as well so you don’t feel like you have to keep them clean if you have company over. The stairs are what I consider my exercise for the day. ;) Anyways, love my two story home and wouldn’t trade it for a ranch. Great blog topic today. Interested to read what others think!
We have had both. We just moved to a two story (though I think TECHNICALLY they call it a 1 1/2 story because our master is on the main level) and I LOVE it. We have so much more space even though the square footage isn’t much different. The upstairs has the kids’ rooms and a bonus/playroom, but it is open to the main level so they love to play up there and we can be in the living room with no problem. I definitely like having our room on the main level…the kids aren’t getting younger so it is nice to have our own space and it will be even better as they get older :) We had them do extra insulation/sound barrier stuff (no clue what they called it) between the ceiling/floors for the noise and it’s amazing. No herds of elephants upstairs at our house!! :)
We are trying to find the same plan with master on main and kids up. Do you have any links to plans?
Yes!! I searched plans on Monster Home Plans to find basically what we wanted and then had our architect modify it to our specific requests…like this is the one our house is based off of: http://www.monsterhouseplans.com/country-style-house-plans-3072-square-foot-home-2-story-4-bedroom-and-3-bath-3-garage-stalls-by-monster-house-plans-plan10-1194.html. If you go to that site you can search just plans with main floor masters or whatever you want. Its great! hope that helps!!
We just built a two story house and moved in about a month ago. Whew!
I kind of like the two story for us. All the bedrooms are upstairs, with the exception of a guest suite in the basement. (We had the builder modify a giant storage area into a guest suite) I like having a first floor for company without the privacy of bedrooms being compromised. I love having a second floor laundry since all the bedrooms are on the second floor. For now the stairs are keeping me in better shape, and the view from our second floor is lovely. First floor view in the back is lacking, due to a big slope up to a field behind us.
Plus, I can’t imagine how long and skinny our house would be to have all these rooms and all this light.
I have a 2 story with open floor plan and this 9 ft tll art nook above our fireplace. No clue what to put there! Can’t find a mirror or piece of art I like enough. :(
I absolutely love my 2 story, but it is getting bittersweet the older I get going upstairs to get laundry, and then hiking it down 2 flights of stairs to the washer….why can’t a girl just get a maid, LOL !!http://suzyhomefaker.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-storybook-cottage.html
My house is one story & I just love it. It’s a small house, about 1300 sq feet plus a basement garage. But we have quite a bit of land – almost 5 acres – so that part of your post isn’t true for us. Our house came with a 2 & 3/4 acre lot then we bought the one next to us. With both combined it gives us 600 feet of lake front that runs between two coves so we have three sides of water around us. I love it! Living in a small house doesn’t matter at all to me with so much gorgeous space outside.
We’re a family of three with a teen son. We don’t have a bonus room or a family room. Our living room, kitchen area is our family area & it’s the same space we use for company & sleep overs. Our master bedroom is very small, no walk in closets & a 3/4 bath. We have a little mud/laundry room too & a few storage buildings detached from our house in different parts of our property. We bought our house as young 20 something newly-weds, paid off our mortgage by the time I was 32 & plan to live here until we die. :o) Living in a small one story house does mean that we should be able to live here much longer. We won’t have to think about down sizing because we never up sized & our house will be easy to maintain as we age – we’ll only need to really hire help for our land.
I do love old two story houses but I am so happy to live the way we do & be able to live this way through most of our lives hopefully.
I grew up in a ranch. HATED it! I did not like having the bedrooms so close to the living areas. They were less “cozy” and serene and I craved privacy. Of course our home was not that big, but I remember my mother having parties or friends over at night and feeling like the ladies were “right outside my door”!
Lavender Hill is a three story Victorian. When the boys were little we would have dinner parties and even New Year’s Eve parties after they were upstairs in bed and they never even knew it !!!! After my son became disabled we considered moving to a ranch but I just couldn’t do it. First, the size we would want and need had property taxes over 40,000! And second, the thought of living in a ranch was just not for me…. so we put in an elevator instead! Best of both worlds for less than the price of an inground swimming pool or a new kitchen : D
I would love to have a two story house, but our kids are getting older now, so it would be nice to send them upstairs and have some space. Plus having some space between the master and the kids rooms would be ideal as they continue to get older.
Right now, we are busting at the seems in our one story and I dream about having a second story.
Agree that there are advantages and disadvantages. We lived in a two-story center hall farmhouse style home for twenty years before selling and moving to a one story. We had designed the two-story home, so we put the laundry upstairs where all the dirty clothes were, and that was a big help. We had a bedroom downstairs, but not the master bedroom. If we had put the master downstairs, we would still be living there. From a real estate point of view, if you are planning or buying a two-story home, having the master bedroom downstairs is always better for resale value.
I grew up in a ranch-style house in Southern CA. When I was younger, I dreamed of having a two-story house like my best friend. Then, when I grew up and lived in one, I hated it. Everything ended up on the steps for the “next trip up.” Laundry was a pain. I can’t tell you how many times I just THREW it all down the steps. I’ve noticed that newer two-story homes have the laundry upstairs and I think that’s great! But, I’m always wondering, “what if there’s a leak?” Now, my husband and I live in a one story home and I love it. We don’t have children, but even if we did, we have enough space for toys and such. When we buy our next home, our “forever” home, it will be one-story. I’d love to have a basement, as sort of a storage/rec-room/storm shelter, but I do not plan to go up and down stairs on a daily basis when I’m old. :)
I grew up in a two story house. I vowed that when I got older as was able to buy my own home that I would never want to live in a two-story house. Even as a kid I hated always having to go up and down the stairs to get stuff or put stuff away. And vacuuming carpeted stairs was always pain!!
I agree with your list. We have a 2 story with the master upstairs. I have seriously thought the same thing as you about a robbery. Our bedroom is first when you come up the stairs, so my hope is that if someone ever broke in they would take stuff from downstairs and then leave. If they did come upstairs, I would think they would come into our room first. My daughter is only 2, and I like having our room close to her.
The only thing I don’t like about a 2 story house is that nothing ever seems to be on the correct level. I keep a laundry basket on the stair landing for collecting things to take up and down the stairs. It seems funny to say “all the way upstairs,” but 15 stairs 10+ times per day adds up.
I like a two-story with 2 bedrooms on the main level — master & 1 other. Third bedroom & bonus/storage space either upstairs or at walkout basement level. It works when children were small, when someone is sick & needs through-the-night care, & will work when we are old & can’t do stairs. It also allows my mother to visit without worry of stairs.
We have a split entry, so it is two levels, although not a classic two story plan. I think split entries are a whole other story. Ha
You have to lug groceries upstairs to the kitchen, which is a pain.
However it is nice having 3 of our 4 bedrooms on the main upper level with the living areas, kitchen and laundry room. The 4th bedroom is downstairs, which works great since we use it as a study. Also downstairs is a huge family/rec room which is where the kids play and I sew. The only downside of that, is anyone coming to the door sees any mess that may be down there right away.
If we can, I would like to have a regular two story someday, with a bonus room hidden away upstairs for play and sewing, etc. ;-)
I agree, stairs can be annoying to always be going up and down, but they are good exercise.
We live in ranch house which we love for right now. We have the laundry room on the main level and the playroom is downstairs so I stay on the main floor most of the time. However, we do have long term plans to put on a second story since the family is growing and we will need more room down the road. We’d turn out master bedroom into a guest suite and the kids’ room into an office. But for now, it’s just dreaming… :-)
We live in a two story open-floor-plan house with the master on the second level. I like it but don’t love it. Unfortunately I met my hubby just a few months after he finished building the house so I had no say in the design. I can say that I HATE the open floor plan. The noise factor is really annoying. Hubby gets annoyed at me if I’m doing something in the kitchen while he’s trying to watch something on tv in the living room. The kitchen, living room & dining room & loft are all in the same open space. That and it’s incredibly difficult for me to arrange furniture in the living room with NO walls except the two outside walls. If I move again I still love the 2 stories, but don’t like open floor plans at all.
Maybe it’s that I have health issues that makes stairs difficult, maybe I’m just getting lazier, or maybe it’s because I’m getting older but whatever it is, I hate living in a two story house. I began to say it when I started to hate doing laundry….big time. The laundry room is on one floor and my bedroom and main living area is on another. If I ever build a two story house, the laundry room will be next door to my bedroom.
We used to live in a 2-story home, it too much maintenance to care for and too costly, but it was a beautiful house/home. However, we decided to cut down on our budget of our 2-story house by getting into a floor home/house. It was the right decision to do, cuz we’re now mortgage free, no more mortgage payment and our property taxes are a lot cheaper, too. We live in a community ranch style home with big acre yard. Therefore, our retirement looking great & we’re able to help our children goes to college without the big debt. We did right thing by buy an 1-story home then 2-story home.
Congrats, Nicole! Way to live like no one else! :D
After I read your post I had to go to your about me page to see where you were from because I knew, based on your comments, that it wasn’t California. The lots are so small in California that if you have just a one story house then you can barely get two bedrooms in it! We have 4 BR all upstairs in my house and it works great. We all have our spaces and we make do with baby gates when the kids are young – at the top and bottom of the stairs. The only thing I would change is the laundry room – it is upstairs and unfortunately I am never upstairs so the laundry never gets done. Of course, if the laundry room were downstairs with our current layout then the laundry would never get downstairs to get washed! Win some / lose some!!!
I’m with you! We lived in a two story home prior to moving here. When we purchased that home we dreamed of a 2 story. Then the agony of having to go upstairs every time you forgot something, laundry, etc. I do not miss that. I have had knee surgery and getting up those stairs carrying a sleeping toddler was no easy task.
I can tell you the only thing I miss about a two story home is the privacy. All our bedrooms were upstairs and when you had visitors no one had to be walking into or by your rooms. Other than that, I love living on a 1 story home:)
We have lived in pretty much every scenerio…. two story home with a full basement and master on main floor, 3 story townhouse with master on top floor, ranch style with with split bedrooms , and ranch style with bedrooms close together. If I could have the perfect home it would be a ranch style with a partial basement. lol . (Basement because they are nice when you live in an area that can get a lot of tornados.) I love the look a two story can project on the outside, but when we purchased our new home recently, we decided we wanted the upgrades in products and materials more than we wanted square footage. Our home now is a little over 2100 sq ft. Not very small but certainly not huge. I also think that in a lot of two story homes the actual square footage compared to the useable square footage is a lot different. This of course depends on the floor plan. :)
I VASTLY prefer single story houses. Having said that, only 1 of the 3 houses I’ve owned has been a single story. In my current house, all of the family bedrooms are on the first floor and guest rooms and offices are upstairs.
We can go for days without going up there. This does not bode well for my office paperwork!
I have always lived in a one story house until our current house. This house has all of the bedrooms downstairs, but a master addition was built over the garage, so the master bedroom and bathroom are upstairs, as well as an office and craft room. I really don’t like it. I have a two year old and his bedroom is downstairs. It feels so far away! I would actually prefer to have the master bedroom downstairs and all other bedrooms upstairs, if I got to have my pick. But, overall, I think I prefer a one story house. Stairs make me kind of lazy. :)
Interesting, I grew up in a 1960s ranch with full basement. In my adult life, I’ve only lived in one multi-level house (a tri-level) (two if you count the condo a rented for awhile) and quickly returned to ranch / single level living the first chance I got.
Ironically, at least in these parts, you actually get a bigger lot with a ranch, as compared to a two story. Builders around here don’t like to build ranches due to the fact that they can’t cram as many houses into a subdivision when they go with single level houses.
For my price range of homes, I find that bedrooms and closets are about the same size regardless of whether 2 story or not and actually think they are bigger because typically the added bonus room takes of that space.
I’ve lived in my 2 story for 24 years…at the time my youngest just turned 1, so having the master bedroom upstairs was absolutely a “must” for me! I did keep a huge wicker basket downstairs in my living room for toys but used the bonus room (upstairs) for their main “playing” area…of course, when they were small, they wanted to be where mom was, which is why I allowed some toys to be down.
Now my kids are 31 and 25 and living in the same house is nice because looking back at pictures you can see the transformation both inside and out…now that I’m older and living alone in the house, I don’t like going up and down the stairs and see at some point it could be an issue…but I only have to think the reason I chose it in the first place and smile, because it was always about the kids and what was best for them at the time!
They have all different floorplans because, well, there are all different types of people! I actually consider a master down a negative. Who wants their master bedroom sharing a wall with their main living space? Maybe this has something to do with the fact that we entertain a lot, and I like our entertaining areas and our sleeping areas quite separate.
But mostly? I’m just grateful to have this super awesome house.
I found reading everyone’s comments quite interesting. Clearly, there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to style and layout of houses. I grew up in a ranch that was quite small. It had a full basement but my parents didn’t finish that off until I was well into my teens. My grandmother lived with us, making our 3 bedroom home quite cramped for the five of us (my sister and I shared a room), so I have to say I was never a big fan of ranch style homes. Another factor is I love rooflines that have variations to them, which is a lot easier to get with a two story.
My current home is a two story with a bit of a quirky layout. Our upstairs has four bedrooms, 2 baths and a living room/sitting room. Our downstairs has a kitchen/dining area, family room, powder room, laundry room and an office that is half the space of what used to be a garage. The stairs are divided by a landing, so you climb five steps, turn on the small landing in the opposite direction and climb six more. I don’t think this type of staircase is as ‘annoying’ as let’s say, 12-15 steps in a row.
Ranch houses come in all types of layouts as well, and I think a sprawling ranch with bedrooms privately contained, with maybe a few short steps to get there would be ideal.
It’s fun to see how age, family situation and how we grew up influence our design preferences. For me, I think the ideal house would have two stories with the master on the first level tucked away from the main living area.
For safety reasons, I prefer a two story house. In nice weather, I feel comfortable sleeping with my windows open since our bedrooms are on the second floor. But if they were on the first floor, I think I would be too freaked out that someone could easily climb right through an open window. Of course in case of a fire, it’s much easier to get out of a first floor window than a second floor, so I guess they each have their benefits/drawbacks. I worry about this stuff too!
I’ve only ever lived in two story houses, so I’m probably biased, but I like having all living space downstairs and all bedrooms on one level upstairs. We don’t have kids yet, but I think when we do I will like that the master is on the same floor so their rooms are easy to get to and close by. I know a first floor master is very popular in other parts of the country, but I don’t think I would like it at all and they’re not very common around me. Plus, I like that the bedrooms are separate from the living area guests would see and its less of a worry to keep kids rooms (or our bedroom, ahem) neat and mess free when people come over. I do agree though that it would be easier to keep a ranch cleaner because it is sort of a pain to have to go alllll the way upstairs to put things away (things tend to pile up on our stairs waiting to go upstairs), and upstairs just feels so far away sometimes! But I like to think of it as some extra exercise!
My husband and I both grew up in ranch-style houses and always wanted to have stairs, so when we built, we built a cape cod style two-story, on a basement that ended up being a walk-out and that’s where we enter, so we basically have a 3-story. (Um, sorry about the run-on sentence.) I, too, LOVE my house and am just happy to have it, but… If I could go back I would definitely go ranch. My sisters both have ranch-style houses and they are more on top of their kids’ rooms staying clean and they aren’t lugging vaccuums (mine’s a Kirby that weighs a kajillion tons and I don’t have two, though I’ve thought of that!) and laundry and toys, etc. up and down.
Also, our master is on the main floor and the kids are upstairs, but we used to be up with them until they were old enough that we were comfortable being on different floors. Now it’s nice that they have their own space… and I have mine!
Ha! I’m the exact opposite — master bedrooms on the main level give me the jeebies. I don’t think I could live in a house with the bedroom downstairs — all I can ever think about is the easy access for robbers directly into my bedroom, and the whole being away from the kids thing. It would be nice at times, but it would make me nervous being that far away. (Now when we get older, maybe…as long as we had a stellar alarm system. See how MY mind works??) Fun topic!!
I just moved from a 2 story to a ranch last year. Only 2 of my 4 children are left at home and my hubby’s knees were bothering him. We don’t want to ever move again, so we looked hard for a ranch with a 3rd car garage and found one! My two teenagers are in the walkout basement, which made us nervous, so we installed an alarm at every window and door in the whole house, so I can sleep at night. Overall, we love it. We back to open space so our house feels like a two-story if you’re at the basement level, but if you’re coming in the front door, it looks and feels like a 1 story. My two stories were bigger homes and frankly, I don’t miss cleaning that extra space one bit, but it was good to have a big basement for 16 teenagers at a time that would come hang out with my kids.
When we first moved to a 2 story home, I hated it, and had to think twice if I forgot something upstairs. Now, many moons later, we own a 2 story home, and I love it! My master being downstairs took many sleepless nights to get used to, but now that the kids are getting older, and going to bed later, it works! As for robbers, I always to used to think that having a one story home made it even easier for them to get to the kids faster. Also, with the game room being upstairs, their mess seems to stay away from visitor’s eyes. I do know though, that if I was pregnant, I probably would feel like you do.
try living in a 3 story in the inner city ;)
@Renee – I hear you, used to live on a 5th floor walk-up in Boston with no laundry in the building, blech! We currently have a three-level condo, which I don’t mind as far as the layout. But… after slipping on the stairs last week, resulting in a sprained foot, I’m ready for single floor living!
Hey everybody! I know this is a little older post but I found it interesting and had some questions…
I live in Texas and while I’ve always lived in one story homes, friends of mine often had two story houses.
For those of you living in a two floor home, is it very expensive or difficult to keep the upstairs cool in the summer?
Every two story house I went in to, when I was upstairs and it was summer, felt like a sauna, especially if the sun was coming in the windows. Have any of you two stories found ways to beat the summer sun?
I’m considering purchasing a two story home but keeping it cool in summer is a concern, especially since the floor plan I’m looking at has the bulk of the entertainment, bonus and theater rooms upstairs. This is where I’ll be spending my time but if its difficult to keep it comfortable, I’ll just put my money into a larger 1 story house.
Thanks for the advice everyone!
Hey Ryan I’m in Texas too. The important thing when looking at 2 story houses is to MAKE SURE the upstairs has it’s own thermostat, as well as the downstairs. So in other words, make sure the house is “zoned.” If it’s a really large 2 story house, there will be 2 AC units and there will likely be 2 or more thermostats as well which is fine. We just have 1 AC unit, but our house is zoned, and our electric bills are ridiculously low. And I do use the upstairs too! Also since you’re in Texas, I’d also recommend putting solar screens on your windows. Really cuts the heat down in the summer and the blinding sun. :)
I know I’m finding this post years after it was written, but I have to weigh in here since this is a hot topic for me too. :) When going to showings at two-story houses a couple of summers ago, I noticed that the houses with rooms over the garage were MUCH hotter upstairs. My favorite house had a separate AC unit upstairs and the garage was separate from the house (it was attached by a hallway, but under it’s own separate roof). That house’s second floor was nice and cool. I decided the garage and what’s on top of it makes all the difference. We are now looking to buy a lot and build, and I will absolutely NOT be adding a bonus room over the garage like so many plans offer. :)
As far as 1-story vs. 2-story goes, I am not sure yet. I grew up in a 1 1/2 story house, and loved it. All the bedrooms were down, and the upstairs was a large balcony room, a 3/4 bath, and a room we called the “pool room” because it had a pool table in it. :) Sounds extravagant, I know, but it really wasn’t. My dad went to the auction every Friday night and bought everything used. All my furniture was mismatched. Anyway, I digress. :) My family of 5 now lives in a 3 bedroom 1-story, and I like it just fine, but as our 3 boys are getting older, I’d like to have more space. I love natural light, and it seems a 2-story is the way to go if I want windows in every room. We will definitely put the master downstairs because we will likely live there for many years to come, and don’t want to have to go upstairs when we’re old. My dream right now is to put the laundry downstairs, possibly connected to the master, and then add a small second laundry upstairs for the boys to do their own laundry. A girl can dream! ;)
I have a 3 story house -one thing I love is the ability to safely leave upper windows open all day night in warm weather and not have security concerns. Waking up to the birds chirping is wonderful.
I’ve been in a 2 story house for 10 years and I HATE it. Mind you, I’m only 37 but my joints ache having to climb up and down with loads of laundry. Forget about having a pet that sheds, those hairs end up all over the stairs on a daily basis. I’m actually selling to buy a 1 story, it’s that bad. The noise from the 2nd level sounds like a trampeding buffalo, I have to scream to call my kids because they can never hear me. Granted, I have a lot of backyard space but don’t really do much with it. The worst thing ever is that being a single mom, I can’t do anything myself on the house. My house has 9 foot ceilings which means my house is over 25 feet tall with the slanted roof. If I had a small one story, I’d be able to do a lot of repairs on my own and save money. I’ve learned my lesson, never again will I have a 2 story house.