Does your house have the kitchen and living space upstairs?

[Thinkingaboutmoving]

If you live in a house/have lived somewhere where the kitchen, living space and possibly a bedroom is upstairs, did you love or hate it?

DH and I are empty nesters, rattling around a 4 bed detached family home with a decent sized private garden.

A new small development in a stunning location near us will have 3 bedroom semi detached homes with a kitchen, living room and master bedroom and ensuite plus cloakroom upstairs, then 2 double ensuite bedrooms downstairs.

There's a balcony from the upstairs area which would make the most of the beautiful views.

But, I'm not sure how we'd adapt to needing to go downstairs every time we want to answer the door, bring shopping inside or go outside, especially if we want to eat outside.

All thoughts welcome! It would be a more expensive house and we don't hate where we live now but don't love it either.

It doesn't sound like a big deal?

It's practical in terms of temperature and views.

I did, but it was on a hill and the garden was 'upstairs' iyswim. I don't think I'd have liked it as much if I couldn't go from the living area to the garden.

The driveway was downstairs, so had to bring shopping up, but it wasn't much bother.

Is the balcony big enough that you could have a table and chairs? Is there a garden at all?

not now, but I grew up in one and it really wasn't a big deal. Nowadays I'd get a ring doorbell so you can see who is there on a camera to save you going downstairs if its someone you don't want to see.

However, make sure to futureproof yourselves. If you see yourselves living there in your elderly years make sure there's enough room for a stairlift. Its easier to change your downstairs dining room into a bedroom than to add a bathroom and kitchen if you get stuck not being able to climb stairs

I suppose you eat out on the balcony with the beautiful views, which is off the kitchen/living room, and treat downstairs like upstairs and vice versa. Will you be answering the door often enough for this to be a significant issue? Is there a garden, and is gardening important to you? I think that would be the issue for me. I garden a lot and would prefer to be able to come in and out of the house easily. But YYMV.

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut The plans they've published aren't very clear, but the illustration shows an outdoor sofa and coffee table on the balcony, so, yes, there should be room for eating out there. Not sure how many people it would accomodate though. You couldn't go from living area to garden, no, but the balcony would be the alternative and it would have amazing views.
@BallybunionTao There's a very small front garden on the plans. I like my garden but gardening is a chore to me - I think I'd be happy with some pots with herbs. The development is surrounded by acres of beautiful parkland, so I don't think I'd miss our existing garden.
@IsThisLifeNow Yes, a Ring doorbell would be a solution, especially if there's an entry system. There's a utility room downstairs but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a covenant saying you can't hang washing outside. I'd already thought about a stairlift as we aren't young now and it would be our final home.

The other big adjustment is going back to a semi - we've become very used to being in a detached house.

I did in NZ, but the house was on a hill with the road above, so the front door and living areas were on the top floor and the bedrooms were on the bottom floor. As was the garden so annoyingly you had to go through the bedrooms to get to the garden so not ideal but not uncommon there.

Is the garden access via the front door?

Yes - it looks like a tiny garden and it's paved over in the illustration.

A bit like @GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut our last house was raised up from street level (it was a converted mill built on a slope, so had an 'undercroft' beneath the kitchen which was at the front of the property) and therefore you had to climb several - external - steps to the front door. The reception rooms, cloakroom and little utility room were also on this level and the bedrooms/family bathroom on the next floor.

The drive was at street level, obviously, but the garden was accessed via a lobby from the main living spaces or the front door. So, coming home with heavy shopping was a faff, but the rural location and 0.5 acre of garden compensated for that. We didn't need to go downstairs to answer the door, but often had to go down to the gate for parcels etc as most delivery drivers didn't bother coming up to the door.

It didn't particularly bother us, but we were also empty nesters. However, we knew that when we came to sell (last year) we'd have a smaller pool of buyers because anyone with a baby/young DC and all the associated paraphernalia wouldn't want the access issues. We sold to a couple in their 30s with no DC.

However, I've never been drawn to upside-down houses, and wouldn't want to sleep downstairs. If the main bedroom is upstairs @Thinkingaboutmoving and it'll only be your guests using the lower bedrooms, that would probably be fine.

@LibertyLily Good point about selling it on, although our plan is to stay there until our expiry dates. It would appeal to younger childless couples but you wouldn't want a baby there. The main bedroom is upstairs.

So you would have your cooking, living and sleeping space on the same floor and visitor bedroom space downstairs?

Apart from going downstairs to answer the door and bringing shopping etc upstairs, it would be rather like apartment or bungalow living.

Yes - except the utility room is on the ground floor too.

I suppose you’d have to be organised about laundry and shopping, but the payoff would be the views.

Yes, it has the potential to be an amazing lifestyle. But a big adjustment from the way we live now. I could do it, not sure about DH.

A friend of mine has lived in a 2 bedroomed upside down house for 20+ years and likes it. The bedrooms and bathroom are downstairs, the living room and kitchen is upstairs. He has never mentioned any drawbacks.

My aunt had a house like there. In a beautiful location so the upside down-ness of it meant that the living room (which had large windows on three side) got the views, and the dining room opened out onto a balcony big enough to have a dining table on it. The bedrooms downstairs had french doors opening straight onto the lawn.

It was a lovely house.