Tell me about your upstairs lounge

[bullgoggy]

We’re looking at a house which otherwise ticks all boxes except the living room is upstairs

ground floor is hallway, downstairs loo, kitchen/diner with French doors to big garden and garage (annoyingly with no internal door to garage but we can prob sort that so we can have tumble dryer in there)

first floor is huge master bedroom with en suite shower room, big living room.

top floor are two bedrooms, family bathroom and office/laundry room

i suppose I’m just a bit worried about kitchen feeling isolated when in my head it’s the ‘heart of the home’ and also kids being in living room while I’m cooking and not being able to watch them properly. Also not sure about master bedroom being just across hall from living room

My friend lives in a house like this and when she first moved in it was just her and her husband and she didn't mind it.

Now she has 2 kids she hates it and wants to move!

She says the endless up and down stairs between the lounge and kitchen is difficult. Can't keep and eye on the kids who want to watch TV whilst she cooks.
If her husband is staying up watching TV in the lounge and she's just across the hall in the bedroom it's too loud.
She also doesn't always hear the kids at night as their bedrooms are on the floor above so still has monitors even though they are 5 and 6.

Mr dried also lives in a house like this, the kitchen is huge and has a snug and they mostly live on that level. The living room is definitkey more formal

I knew someone with a house like this. By the time they brought your cup of tea upstairs it was almost cold.

My house is like this and its absolutely fine tbh. I do have a conservatory so there is sitting space on bottom floor but we only really use it in spring and autumn.

If my son wants to be with me while cooking he does something at the table or plays ball in the long entrance hall.

The key is how big the kitchen is. Is it big enough for a sofa and tv?

We have that and really like it. Just be careful buying sofas and getting them up the stairs...!!! Pivot! We had a real mare with it😫😂

DS used to call it the 'Television bedroom' when we first moved in.

Also we do have a snug downstairs and a big kitchen.
I think it slightly helps keep the sitting room tidier with it not being next to the kitchen too.

We have this and love it, never any problems with toddlers or cups of tea. It's nice to be separated from the kitchen.

We rented a place like that once when my then youngest was 1-3 years old. It was a bit of a nightmare really.

I found it a pain in the arse having to go up and down all the time. The kitchen was only big enough for a dining table, so it was a bit crap really.

Next door had converted the garage into a living area off the kitchen though and that was so much better to have the additional living area downstairs, they used that as a family room and had a sofa and children’s toys in there, it was far easier for them than it was for us!

I wouldn’t live in one again unless it had a living area downstairs too.

No room in kitchen diner for a sofa sadly. Had thought about garage conversion but because top floor is in the eaves we don’t have loft for attic storage.

good point on sofa - ours wouldn’t fit up stairs