Baby on different floor from master?

[COElizabeth]

There was a previous post on this topic a couple of weeks ago, but Idaho was the main topic, so not too many people responded, and I am seeking additional input.

What do you think of having the nursery and children's rooms upstairs and master bedroom downstairs? If I had this set-up, I would probably have any #2 sleep in our room for a few months, but beyond that, what do you think? I worry a little about not being on the same floor if there is a fire, not hearing small children get up at night, etc. And it just seems so separated!

Also, I really like a plan that has a 2-story living room ceiling with a loft space on the second floor, but I wonder whether that half-wall upstairs (looking down into the living room) would be dangerous with small kids. I wouldn't put any furniture next to it until the kids were much older, but do you think it would be safe until then?

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[ddmarsh]

There were many floor plans I liked when we were choosing a design that had the master on the first floor and to be honest I just couldn't bring myself to go that route. I am really safety conscious and as you said in the event of a fire it could be difficult to get to the children. I also just wondered about children wandering down the stairs in the middle of the night when the awake, as they often do.

Just my .02 -
Debbie

[sugarsnappea]

We had the set up you mentioned. We were downstairs and the baby was upstairs in a lofted room. I think we moved her upstairs around 4 months. I had no problem with the baby being upstairs. It worked well, being able to hear her wherever I was in the house. There was no need for a monitor unless I was outside. I also think it helped her get accustomed to daily noise. I would vacuum, do dishes, watch tv, whatever and she would sleep soundly. Also, it was extremely convenient to have conversations (ie; ask for water while nursing, ask if the hat is in the stroller etc.. thru the open wall.)

However, I can't imagine living like that now. We sold that house when she was 11 months old. At 24 months, the sound of the wood floor creaking wakes her up. My child now catapults out of the crib and climbs up bookshelves. The thought of her being in that loft at this age is scary. Keeping furniture away from the wall, as you mentioned is a good idea. At her young age, she was never interested in the wall. In my opinion, it was as safe as a 4- walled room.

I think lofts are great for baby rooms. But for toddler rooms, it depends...
Good Luck!:)

Deb
Mom to Julia Grace 6-23-01
#2 EDD 1-15-04

[mcmorfit]

Elizabeth,

Thanks for posting this again. We are going to make an offer on the house in Idaho that was questioned. Our floor plan is a little different as it is a true colonial with a family room and then three bedrooms off of that upstairs and the master downstairs.

[sweetbasil]

Elizabeth,
That sounds a lot like our floorplan- except that instead of a loft, we've got a long walkway that spans an entire wall-length of the 2-story living room; on one end of the walkway (at the top of the stairs) are the boys rooms & bathroom, and across the walkway, there's the playroom, another bathroom, and the guest bedroom. The walkway half-wall scared me a lot when we moved in, but DS has expressed NO interest in it at all. I've made a strong point with DH to never hold DS over it- to see me, look downstairs, or whatever, b/c he'd probably get some ideas, but for now it's okay. I asked the mom who we bought the house from if her teenage sons ever jumped into the living room from up there, and she was shocked I'd even suggest such a notion (their bedrooms smelled like pot, though, so she was probably living in her own little world)! Anyway, I plan to hire a contractor in a year or two, or whenever it becomes an issue (DS is pretty short), and have the half-wall raised with some sheetrock. It won't look as great architecturally, but I didn't want to go with a plexiglass divider or something like that, and wanted a more permanent solution....

We plan to keep DS#2 in our room for at least a month or so, and have never had a problem hearing DS make any little move from downstairs. Again, the safety gates are really important, and make us sleep a little better at night, knowing that DS won't come tumbling down the stairs or anything.

HTH,

[ddmarsh]

Julie - I remember looking at a plan like this and wondering the exact same thing. Now that I have 3 boys I can only imagine the number of toys, clothing items, and bodies that may have flown down there at some point had we gone with such a setup, LOL!


Debbie

[egoldber]

Our floor plan is very similar to this, although we do have an upstairs master. I love having an open floor plan, but I REALLY wish we did not have a vaulted family room that all second floor opens up to. I LOOKS really cool, but is not very liveable. If someone is watching TV downstairs, you can hear it in all the upstairs bedrooms. And now that Sarah is no longer sleeping through everything, I find I need to keep things quiet while she is sleeping.

But in general, I don't think that a downstairs master is a problem. We found that we spent VERY little time in the nursery until pretty recently. And as long as you have a monitor, I think it would be fine.

HTH,

[sweetbasil]

Toys, yes. And usually they're balls- because they bounce so well! But it's also really handy for tossing loads of laundry downstairs w/out having to carry it (only when DS isn't looking, though) ;)

[COElizabeth]

I should clarify. The bedroms upstairs have 4 full walls, so the nursery wouldn't have any opening to below. The loft space that looks down onto the living room is a little area we would probably use for a play area or desk.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[cara1]

We looked at a number of homes where the master was downstairs and the kids rooms were upstairs. I just couldn't get past it. I was too uncomfortable with it. I think it depends on what you're used to. Growing up, all our BR were upstairs. My "aging" parents, however, think a master on the main floor is great so that when you get older (or break an ankle, or are post-partum again) you don't have to climb up and down the stairs. But a)*I* didn't want to be on the main floor. We're just graduating out of an apartment, so I wanted to be upstairs and b)I just couldn't handle DS being so far away....

[Rachels]

To each his own, I think, but I wouldn't be comfortable with that. I would never get any sleep, because I'd be creeping up the stairs to listen. And in an emergency, I want to be able to get my hands on my kid, pronto.

Also, I don't know what this is worth, but it never occurred to me to sneak out of the house or anything as a teenager. My room was right across the hall from my mom. She knew when I was there and when I wasn't, and it just didn't enter my consciousness to try to be sneaky the way some of my peers were. If I had been in another wing of the house, I might have tried to get away with more. As it was, I'm glad I was close. I think it was good for me.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[cara1]

Rachel, what a rebellious little rascal you must have been! :)

[Rachels]

Not at all, actually. :) I would have gotten caught. I never got away with anything, and I'm a terrible liar. And my mom had some kind of radar, I don't know. I remember telling a whopper when I was really little, and having her say, "Mommies know when their little girls lie." And thinking, "Gadzooks! HOW do they know?" but buying it absolutely. It seemed to be true in her case. By high school I had pretty much given it up. My little sister was the sneaky one. She operated on an "ask forgiveness not permission" principle, starting when she was five years old and smuggled parent-vetoed costume jewelry into a birthday party. (She carried a little straw purse, stashed it in there, and put it on the moment my mom was out the door. Big, green, globby old lady clip-on earrings. Forgot to take them off before getting picked up. Oops.)

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[sweetbasil]

Me too, Rachel. My little sister rarely caught, didn't seem to care much when she did, and by the end of high school, had mom and dad laughing with er about pranks she'd pulled. I was always just too much of the obedient, wanting-to-please older child to even try anything, and unfortunately, I was too easy to catch, and they didn't think it was quite as funny when I did it! :)