Staircase in the lounge!

[Madisonsha]

We are in the process of buying a house , survey has done and mortgage approved. But first I liked the house this was the only house that looked much better and affordable. Now am in confusion, staircase in the lounge and this makes me unhappy about it . I dont know wat to do. Is there anything can do about?

Is there’s space, you can put up a wall to section it off. If the room is quite small, just place your furniture carefully so that you aren’t looking at the stairs when you’re sitting on the sofa.

if the staircase is at the side you could box it in so its not so obvious

We have a staircase in living room, don't like it as all the heat goes straight upstairs and draughts come down.

Also means living room noise/TV can impact those trying to sleep upstairs. Was annoying when ds was young and wouldn't sleep with bedroom door closed.

We are lucky it is at the back of the room/in dining area so not in eyeline.

Completely agree with Broken

We had this in our last house, the children's bedrooms were hotter as all the heat from downstairs went upstairs, plus the noise from the lounge TV or just talking.

We didn't realise how awful it was until we had it. It was on our deal breaker list when we were moving. Ours didn't run with the lounge but was between the lounge and dining room so didn't impact on furniture placement.

Is there is a way to box it in or make it part of the hall?

Can you put up a link to the house on RightMove? People might be able to give you some ideas if we can see the actual layout.

We used to rent a house where the staircase was in the lounge and I didn't like it at all. It was always really cold in the lounge and if one of us stayed up to watch TV when the other went to bed, the TV downstairs would disturb you trying to sleep. We've recently bought a house and we wouldn't have considered one with the stairs in the lounge. The only thing you could do would be to add a partition wall if there is enough space?

We had a staircase off the lounge in our first house but it just went up to a half landing. We had effective heating though. The only way to have shut it off would have been to have a door fitted, but who has a door at the bottom of the stairs?

The house we are in now had stairs going up from the dining room. We repositioned the stairs when we renovated and extended the house. We have friends with open staircases going up from the lounge in small 2 bed houses and boxing them in would make it feel claustrophobic.

So if you can box in the stairs and it works fir the house, consider it. If it’s too expensive to do the work, don’t buy if the stairs are a deal breaker. Bedrooms have doors though so I’m not sure how noisy it is in the bedrooms. We never noticed it.

It might depend on the floor coverings too. My sister lives in a modern, architect designed house with an open staircase. It’s awfully noisy in the bedrooms but it’s all hard surfaces and double height spaces. It’s very toasty in there, though.

It's usually done to make the downstairs seem roomier.

In Somerset there is a practice, in old cottages, of stairs being boxed in with wood panelling and a door, they speak of "having stairs in a cupboard"

A cottage does not have a hall.

Hmmmm

So it seems you have 3 choices.
1- Box off the stairs in some manner.
2- Live with it.
3- Pull out of purchase. Though obviously you would sacrifice all the cash you have laid out to get to this point of purchase.

Good luck with your choice

Another one who rented a house with stairs in the living room. Never really realised how much hot air really does rise . Absolute deal breaker when we bought.

Our first house had an open staircase and the living room was cold, but it had been opened up so the stud wall could have been replaced. We couldn’t afford it though.

A proper hallway with doors on rooms was a real luxury when we moved.

Oh and we have lots of small old terraces here in West Yorkshire with doors at the bottom of the stairs, usually back to backs or one up one downs.

I have the stairs in a cupboard! Mid Wales though not Somerset.

We have this, but heat in living room isn't affected. If anything it's too bloody hot. We don't have space to box it in but I quite like it.

@JoJoSM2 only way is to place the sofa under the stairs

@BrokenWing I totally get it and another problem is that there is no door for kitchen. I assume lounge will be cold eventhough heating is on. Kitchen with no door and stairs in the lounge I have left with no choice. I dont think my husband will back off.

@Grumpyunleashed boxing the stairs will make lounge look smaller and my husband will not back off and he is already happy about the new house , just me disappointed with it.

Any reason why you can't add a kitchen door? Is it all one room downstairs?

I prefer the stairs separate to the lounge. I also like detached, and I like a downstairs loo, but either of our first 2 houses had these because of limit budget & prioritising other things, such as area and 3rd bedroom. There are always going to be compromises with a house, unless you have way more money than most of us! You say it's otherwise a great house and affordable. It may not be perfect, but is this a compromise you can live with for a few years? In return you are getting a house that's better than the competition in other ways, and/or lower mortgage. And it's several thousand pounds cheaper than starting again.

It's up to you, and ultimately your husband can't force you to go through with this purchase against your will. But keep your eye on the big picture. Is this a normal "buyer's remorse" wobble or something more serious?

Is there another reception room i.e. a separate dining room? Maybe you could swap the rooms, have the dining room as your lounge and the lounge as your dining room?

It sounds like my house! Heat isn't an issue for us but noise definitely is - if we're lucky enough to move again it would be a deal breaker for us. Kitchen also doesn't have a door which is weird, think it's down to space. We bought the house because it was affordable but did so with a view to extending and completely changing downstairs but then reality hit and we've realised we'll probably end up moving rather than make the changes we thought we would. It's grand in the meantime, but not what I'd choose again. My suggestion would be to view the house again now you have these concerns and see if you can live with them!

If you can’t add a conventional door to the kitchen because of space would a folding or sliding door be an option?
Also thinking laterally if you can’t box the stairs off downstairs is the layout such that you could add one upstairs at all to make a separation between upstairs and downstairs? Or if not what about a big curtain? (We have this with a tie back so can either be closed or tucked away neatly).

www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Geneva-Oak-Cottage-5-Panel-Internal-Bi-fold-Door---1981mm-x-762mm/p/132012?utm_source=google&scid=scplp132012&sc_intid=132012&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1255408&ds_rl=1255411&ds_rl=1256312&gclid=Cj0KCQiArozwBRDOARIsAHo2s7uzBT3e3L8_TC40Oq6TP1K9BAot9s4NGyOyWwbm7A8lCvim7XNs4oYaAj3NEALw_wcB

www.leaderdoors.co.uk/doors-c14/internal-doors-c111/coloured-internal-doors-c398/white-internal-doors-c124/internal-white-primed-grange-shaker-sliding-barn-door-prishak1-p73626/s187639?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=curated-by-jeld-wen-internal-white-primed-grange-shaker-sliding-barn-d-internal-standard-door-size-2073x862x35mm-81-6x33-9-track-industrial-track-sku-187639&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=Cj0KCQiArozwBRDOARIsAHo2s7t71ws4HG7h2TFbvDyLDE4uNJNEy3nzu5eViOsvP03gKv1lmHvsgd8aAmrDEALw_wcB

Examples of the two doors if the links work

@pregle the house feels cosy and we planning to move out within 2 or 3 years we buying this house just to get on the property ladder. My intention is to get on 3 bedroom house since we couldn't afford it.

I’d definitely never buy a house with the stairs in the living room. No way.