DawnM Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 than the rest of the house. We live in an area with a lot of lightening/storms. We have two friends whose houses have been struck by lightening and started on fire. I have always been worried about having the kids on a different floor, even as teens. Would you be or am I too over-protective? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Our master is on its own floor...one level up from our kids. I haven't really worried about a fire, as two of their windows are right over the garage roof, and my oldest has a fire ladder in his room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Our bedroom is on the main floor and the kids' rooms are upstairs. It's always worked well for us. We live where there are lots of strong storms but our kids usually come downstairs and sleep on couches when there's a bad one. I actually loved being on a different floor- we had our privacy and so did the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Fire is a particular phobia of mine, but I would not rule out a house just because the master was on a different floor from the kids. My thoughts are, we can get those fire escape ladder things and drill, drill, drill so that the kids know, to an automatic reaction level, how to get out of their bedroom safely. If we end up in a 2 story, with master bedroom downstairs, we will do that. No question. There are other benefits to being on a separate floor from the teens, which impact us much more often than a maybe fire. Having spent the last 2 yrs in a house with a split-bedroom floor plan, and enjoying the extra privacy that affords, I'm more open now to considering a house with master down/kids up. Prior to this house, I don't think I'd have considered it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I am a sleepwalker and so is one of my boys. So that would be a consideration if we rent or buy a house which is split level. We prefer single floor though because I get easily breathless with stairs. Privacy won't be a concern for my hubby and me because we grew up in big households where everyone line up for the single toilet, and the master bedroom door being closed means do not disturb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Our layout is like that too. Our master bedroom is on the top floor, there are no bedrooms on the main floor, and all the other bedrooms are in the basement. I don't like it either, but when DH and I bought this house we didn't have kids yet and hadn't quite thought that through. If and when we move (which is something we occasionally discuss), I'd prefer to have all the bedrooms on the same floor. Even one floor apart would be fine, but two floors apart with little kids is not ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have this arrangement. I don't like it, and I disliked it even more when my children were small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 We looked at a house that had the MB on the main floor and kids bedrooms upstairs. I wouldn't have considered it with younger children but our youngest was 10 at the time and that wasn't the problem. The reason we decided against it is beause I'm pretty sensitive to sounds while sleeping. With older high schoolers and college kids, they stay up later - watching tv, or just talking and goofing off. There's no way I would be able to sleep with them in the next room talking/watching tv. No way. One of the pluses is that it would have definitely been a house we could have grown old in. Since the MB (and full bath) were on the main floor, we wouldn't have to deal with the stairs issues as we age. We have friends whose parents have a set up like this. It works great for them. The upstairs is set up with 3 nice bedrooms for the adult kids and grandkids to come for extended visits, but my friend's parents mostly live on the main floor (laundry was on the main floor at their house too). Its definitely something I would consider once all the kids are grown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 29, 2013 Author Share Posted July 29, 2013 As for ladders, I don't know what to do. On one end of the house, it is 3 floors up as the basement is walk out on that side. On the other windows, they are on a Cape Cod style house, no "lip" on the windows to hook anything to and there is quite a bit of roofline before actually getting to a place to start going down a ladder. I don't know if they make any specialty ladders for that kind of set up. The traditional ones don't work in our house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 We looked at a house that had the MB on the main floor and kids bedrooms upstairs. I wouldn't have considered it with younger children but our youngest was 10 at the time and that wasn't the problem. The reason we decided against it is beause I'm pretty sensitive to sounds while sleeping. With older high schoolers and college kids, they stay up later - watching tv, or just talking and goofing off. There's no way I would be able to sleep with them in the next room talking/watching tv. No way. One of the pluses is that it would have definitely been a house we could have grown old in. Since the MB (and full bath) were on the main floor, we wouldn't have to deal with the stairs issues as we age. We have friends whose parents have a set up like this. It works great for them. The upstairs is set up with 3 nice bedrooms for the adult kids and grandkids to come for extended visits, but my friend's parents mostly live on the main floor (laundry was on the main floor at their house too). Its definitely something I would consider once all the kids are grown. One of the reasons it's worked well for us is that there is a separate living room upstairs- so that's where the kids go when dh and I are ready to call it a night. Works really well when we have friends over- the adults can hang out downstairs and the kids upstairs. We never allowed the kids to entertain guests of the opposite sex in their bedrooms so the extra living room was perfect. We can still hear them but it's tolerable. And we were just talking last night about MIL moving in with us if FIL passes away first. We could easily move to an upstairs bedroom, giving her privacy and a place with no stairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 We have it with the master bedroom on the main floor, 2 bedrooms and a loft area with bath for the girls upstairs and 2 bedrooms with a full bath and family room for the boys in the daylight basement. We LOVE it. Our kids are older though. It gives dh and I privacy and with us doing foster care, respite care, etc. it is really nice to have a floor for the girls and one for the boys (no sharing bathrooms) with dh and I in the middle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Our last house had the master on the first floor and the rest on the second. I don't have little kids, but I hated it! It was hard to monitor tidiness, going to bed, whether they got up at night, laundry, etc. We rejected homes this time that had the master separate from the other bedrooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 We had a house with the master on the main floor and 3 bedrooms downstairs. We decided we'd all sleep on the same floor till the kids were old enough to get themselves out of the house without help in case of fire. As it happened, we moved away before they were old enough. So we had a really nice guest suite for those few years! But we weren't comfortable with young kids that far away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tita Gidge Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have so many boys that most of them have always shared the master bedroom and en suite bath. Right now my middle five are in there. I don't care which floor it's on :lol: but I like the rooms on one level. For me it's an electricity issue - cheaper bill keeping all rooms at a sleepable temp. I don't have a strong preference, though. It's not something that would make or break a house deal for me, not by any means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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