Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be amazed at how far you have to walk in some houses?

104 replies

ChachiChichi · 01/08/2024 22:47

Ok right I'm in a holiday cottage and it's taking me a good 60 steps (ok I wrote this as a guess originally , it's actually 33 but the point still stands!) between the living room and kitchen. The bedroom feels miles away. How do you manage when you live in a massive house? I only have to walk 1 step between my living room and kitchen and I don't have any corridors in my house (just a small landing). I'd find it boring walking around just to get to the kitchen /living room/ bedroom/ toilet.

AIBU to think there's just too much walking involved with some houses and it makes them boring and tiresome?

OP posts:
MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira · 01/08/2024 22:47

You've inspired me to leave the living room and walk to the kitchen, counting the steps...

saltinesandcoffeecups · 01/08/2024 22:50

I have 12 steps to the basement…

Other than that what really bugs me about my house is that if I’m sitting on my porch and I hear my phone ring from my office. I can see the phone from the porch window but have to walk allllll the way around my house to get to my office. That’s tiresome.

jolenethea · 01/08/2024 22:50

Are you still walking @MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira?

jolenethea · 01/08/2024 22:52

Sadly I don't have this problem, the furthest point (bungalow) is about 20 steps

UpUpAndAwaySheSays · 01/08/2024 22:53

Do not have this problem here and there are five of us in this house 🤦🏼 oh well

JaninaDuszejko · 01/08/2024 22:54

We're in a holiday home at the moment and the walk to the bathroom is very irritating. That said the walk to the loo in our house is longer but it doesn't bother me. I think there's an element of getting used to your own house and always taking the most efficient route and planning layouts so minimise walking and in a new house you are much less efficient. When we bought our house I found breakfast took forever as I walked bckwards and forwards getting things. Now I know the most efficient way to do it and combine tasks.

HeySummerWhereAreYou · 01/08/2024 22:54

My DD and her other half moved into a huge Victorian house 2 years ago, and I'm not kidding, going to the main bathroom is like going to the loo in Wetherspoons. They have en suites in 3 of the bedrooms, and a downstairs loo, but if someone is in the downstairs loo, and you don't want to intrude in the bedrooms, it's a looooong way to the loo! I love her huge Victorian house, but wouldn't want to live there as it's so BIG!

TargetPractice11 · 01/08/2024 22:54

Oh to have a problem like this one

MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira · 01/08/2024 22:55

jolenethea · 01/08/2024 22:50

Are you still walking @MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira?

😂 no got distracted by the cat trying to pretend I hadn't fed him earlier.
37 steps, I was at the point of the living room that is farthest from the kitchen

Thunderpants88 · 01/08/2024 22:57

It takes my parents 100 steps from the kitchen to the bedroom

Flossyts · 01/08/2024 22:58

We have a long house and it’s on 3 floors. It takes me forever to get from kitchen to my daughters room. That means I can’t be arsed checking if she’s done as she’s told (ie put her washing away) and she knows it so doesn’t do it 🫣. I average about 15k steps a day because of this bloody house.

Whycantibetangy · 01/08/2024 22:59

14, grabbed a couple of
biscuits whilst I was there so thanks for that 😁

Fupoffyagrasshole · 01/08/2024 23:01

Haha I’ve been talking bout this loads lateky

we live in a 2nd flat with toddler and baby all on one level so never far to walk

staying with my parents for a few weeks In a 4bed house and the stairs is driving me mad🤪

bedtime with toddler and her always needing something from downstairs and having to go get it

i wake up so thirsty needing water and the kitchen is far away - so I’ve been taking 2 big glasses up with me at night

Put me off wanting a bigger place tbh 😂

maximist · 01/08/2024 23:04

My bedroom is above my living room, but the staircase is at the other end of the house, so I have to walk through the hall and two rooms to get to the stairs, then back along the corridor to get to my bedroom, which is a pain. They're both in an extension, which explains it, but really the stairs should have been moved to a more central point when the work was done. All before I bought it, so not my fault!

Didimum · 01/08/2024 23:08

I love a big house because of the feeling of separation. When the kids are running riot in one room I can feel at peace in another part of the house.

RaininSummer · 01/08/2024 23:09

You lot almost have me getting out of bed to count steps in my house. This is a tomorrow job.

libertybonds · 01/08/2024 23:14

This is an interesting question. My new house is HUGE and I will need some time and energy to do the trek around it.

junebirthdaygirl · 01/08/2024 23:15

Thunderpants88 · 01/08/2024 22:57

It takes my parents 100 steps from the kitchen to the bedroom

As people get older this is actually good as it keeps us moving. Having an upstairs bedroom is also good as that running up and down keeps us active. Until we can't make it any more of course!

Pallisers · 01/08/2024 23:19

Years ago we rented a house near Hyde Park once for a holiday - one of those early victorian houses where the drawing room is on the first floor with a bit cut out of it for the stairs (Anthony Trollope rails about this feature in one of his books - he hated these new builds) and three or four floors for bedrooms - master bedroom on the top floor. I was exhausted running up and down the stairs - probably good for me. My kids were in shock when they saw a maid scrubbing the step of the house opposite.

Longchampsachomp · 01/08/2024 23:20

My parents house is big. There are different routes to the same rooms. I often think no wonder my mum is so fit, I get half my steps in just going to the loo. I do enjoy mixing my routes up though. But less fun trying to keep track of my 3 year old and making sure my parents close all doors leading outside...

Elphame · 01/08/2024 23:24

My house is J shaped (with a line across the top).

It's a very good contributor to my 10K steps a day, made even better by the house not being connected on the upper floor so we have separate staircases for each end.

I do a lot of running around and stair climbing even if just pottering about putting things away.

FourChimneys · 01/08/2024 23:27

We have three floors and an odd layout. What is great about that is the amount of incidental exercise we get just being around the house. Both DH and I have office spaces on the 2nd floor so are constantly up and down the stairs.

Apparently there is such a thing as "bungalow legs" when older people live in one small home on one level. They quickly lose fitness which leads to all sorts of health problems.

I can't see how walking in one's home or holiday home can be seriously tiresome.

EmeraldRoulette · 01/08/2024 23:30

God I would kill for this

small flat. Feel boxed in and trapped.

Pirateshipmethinks · 01/08/2024 23:31

I think I'd find all the rooms so close to each other a bit claustrophobic OP.
Good to get a bit of exercise too.

YesIReallyDoLikeRootBeer · 01/08/2024 23:37

Okay, before I count steps I have to know, are we counting from where one room ends to where the next starts? or should I count from my chair to the refrigerator (my most likely trip LOL). or from my chair to my bed or my chair to the toilet? Oh and if the answer is from where one ends to where the other begins its ONE step from my living room to my kitchen