This one is for all the split-level home owners.
S and I bought our first home in May 2012. We weren't initially thinking of buying, and rather, renting an apartment. We really wanted a house, but didn't think we do it. After going through our budget, we decided it was a feasible idea. We talked about all the pros, the cons, and the time in the housing market was perfect. So, we started looking online at homes in our price range. We weren't looking for a Pinterest dream home, but something that was in "liveable" condition (aka not a fixer-upper).
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| Our humble abode, 2014 (eek, nasty springtime grass) |
I was still finishing my last semester of college in Iowa at the time (go Cyclones!) , so I couldn't see the houses that S toured. But, I trusted that he would find a house that would be suitable for us. He toured all sorts of houses, and at the end of the day, we found our "little gem"- a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, split level home. It was recently flipped by a company, so a lot of the house was brand new- kitchen, bathrooms, roof, siding, etc. We put in our offer, worked the details out, and moved in the day after I graduated college (talk about a crazy weekend). Here are the pictures before we moved in (this house was staged by the realtors, this isn't our stuff):
This all seems like a Cinderella story, right? Well, I can't lie, it is. Most of the time. The longer we live in our split level, though, the more we learn that we'd like to not live in a split level in the future. Now, I am not saying that I am not grateful for what I have, because I love the fact that I live in a house, and I love the fact that we have the flexibility to do what we please to this place. I love that part. But if I was given a choice as to what type of floor plan I could live in, I don't think a split level would be my first choice.
One thing we have found to be difficult to regulate is the overall temperature in our house. The upstairs temperature is set to 67 degrees, and then when we go downstairs to watch tv, it is 57 down there. We fixed the solution temporarily by turning the furnace fan on 24/7, but when the electricity bill came back the next month, we decided to cancel that thought immediately ($40 later!). Our spare bedroom for guests is also downstairs. We have now honed the skill of heating the basement and keeping them thawed- run the fan while they're here, turn a heated matress pad on, and keep the door open. Ta-da! Much more tolerable. A programmable thermostat also really helps to cut on costs as well. S's company makes thermostats, so we were blessed to be part of a "beta test" for a wifi-connected thermostat, very similar to the Nest that they sell in stores. We installed an app on our smartphones and are able to control the temperature from that, making it even more efficient if we are, say, out of town and don't need the heat or a/c on constantly. It also keeps the house warm during times of day that we are usually home, like after we get home from work on Mon-Fri, and most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. Very handy, and a very affordable solution if you don't have one!
Another major thing we have found to be challenging is the entryway. When guests enter our house, they can't linger in the entryway- upstairs or downstairs, but not near the door! This makes it impossible to have a place to greet or say goodbye to people, which is what I like to do when we have company. Given, this might not be a big deal for other people, but in the T family, that's just what we do. If we have money in mass quantities someday (it's okay, feel free to laugh; you'd be laughing with me, not at me!), we'd like to make an addition to the entrance so that we could have more than 2 people in the entryway at one time, but for now, we'll make due with what we have. Our front door also happens to be perpendicular to the driveway and cannot be seen from the road, therefore defeating all intentions of having adorable front porch/door color/decoration, because no one can see it!
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| Not a great picture, but that's our entryway. |
The last huge "deal-breaker" for me is the fact that all bedrooms are not on one floor. This isn't a big deal for us right now, but when we have children, I'd like to be on the same level as them. Right now, we have 2 bedrooms upstairs, and 1 bedroom downstairs (we knocked down an interior wall in the basement to create a larger recreation room). The extra bedroom upstairs is our computer/craft room, and our extra bedroom downstairs is for guests when they stay over. It works out well for our guests, since they have their own bathroom down there and everything (minus the fact that it's cold down there). It's also nice, because I can wake up and grab the newspaper, grab coffee, make breakfast, etc. without waking them up. When the kids are young, though, and get scared, I'd like them close to our room. I also would prefer to not have to choose one of the kiddos to be sent to the basement.
Also, now that we have Sadie the Pup, there is no entry to the backyard through the basement, and so when we're watching a movie in the basement and Sadie's gotta do her business, well, Sadie's gotta do her business. One of us walks upstairs, lets her out, waits for her to go, brings her back in, turns the movie back on, and watch from where we left off. I realize that I am pointing out such first-world problems here, but I'm just saying that if I had the ability to have these things in a not-split-level house, I'd be looking for these things.
Now, here are some things I love about our split-level home. I absolutely love the open floor plan concept. If I'm in the entryway, I can see every communal living area in the house; the only rooms I can't see are bathrooms, bedrooms, and the laundry room (and quite frankly, ain't nobody got time for that!). I can see everyone watching the football game in the basement, everyone preparing food in the kitchen, gathering around the kitchen island, and in the living room upstairs. I love this part, and if we ever had a different house in the future, would be looking for a similar type of concept. S has a big family, and it would be wonderful to be able to see the entire family rather than shoving some in one room, more in another room, you get the point.
I also am in love with our yard. And our deck. The one thing that would make it complete would be a fence for Sadie, but again, this wasn't in our house-search criteria when we were hunting for one two years ago. When we moved in, the yard was less than fortunate, but it has been relatively painless fixing it up- meaning a lot of elbow grease, but the problems have solutions to them. For example, we had a dandelion field rather than grass, had grape vines and Lily of the Valley plants overgrowing everything else, and had huge unpruned trees/shrubs. Easy fixes with loppers and weed killer, but like everything, it took time, patience, and effort. If I could put a not-split-level house on this lot where this house is, I would. The backyard is a rather modest-sized lot, and is pretty flat, with a view of a park rather than a house in the back. Huge pro = no neighbors in the back. The neighborhood is very quiet, has nature (deer, birds, etc), with respectful neighbors. The woman who used to live here had (what I assume was) a fantastic garden. I wish I could've seen it before it was sold and bought by people who let it go non-maintained. We're working on restoring it, but seriously, this garden is huge. And hugely overgrown. It's a work-in-progress, and I'm sure I will post another blog post entirely on the garden.
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| The back corner of our yard, snow freshly melted. |
Anyone else have a split-level home and have pros and cons of living in one? Comment your ideas to share- I'd love to hear them!
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