Split Level Home, No Storage

I grew up in a split level.
It had average bedroom closets, coat closet by front door, built in closets in the lower level family room....5 people lived in that house & it was OK.
O. of my good friends has a "multi-level" (which is like a side-to-side split), and she has TONS of storage and space. If we ever move again--I'm looking for that.
How are the bedroom closets? Wall width?
Is there an under the stairs closet on the lower level?
Shelving in the garage? Attic?
I'm not a fan of keeping stuff around, so, although I like "enough" storage space, I don't need a ton of it.

And remember--space is what you make it & how you use it!

It seems a bit small for a family of five. Also, storage is a big deal, especially if you plan to stay in this house for any length of time.

I bet if you keep looking, you'll find the perfect house - and you'll know it's the right one as soon as you see it!

Worrying isn't very helpful. Storage is what you make of it. There are plenty of ideas to trick out closets which seemingly adds space, trunks, ottomans, etc all provide valuable storage while adding decorative touches to your space. I have a family of 5 now as well. My kids are teens. 3 boys. They share what would be the master bedroom and split the double closet space in that room. My husband and I are actually in the smallest bedroom which is cozy and wonderful. The third bedroom we converted into a dressing room for me and hubby and office space. The computer is in there too. It works for us.

Do what works for your and your family. You can always create storage. My mother was a hoarder so I'm learning not to adopt her ways of saving and keeping everything and it isn't easy but I'm working on it.

I think the things to consider are whether the place is well built and designed for the price and location. Considering the housing trends, some analysts are predicting smaller homes are going to be in high demand, so if you ever did need to move, you would hopefully be able to sell at a fair to good price. If it is in a good neighborhood, great for your budget, and well designed, then you probably have a winner.

Split levels, depending on the design can make a small home feel roomier than it is. They usually have vaulted ceilings in the portion of the house that is one level. If it is laid out well, it can be very nice. You will however, definitely have to learn to live light where storage and having "things" is concerned. Y ou really learn to weed through stuff well, and it is a great deterent if you are a spend thrift who buys too much! LOL. But do you really need alot of stuff to live well anyway?

Things that make a smaller home with limited storage bearable:

A finished basement in addition to the main living and dining area is a must.

Purchase furniture and appliances that are multifunctional and small.

Bunk beds can maximize space in children's rooms.

If you don't have one, look into adding a 4-seasons porch to the home. It will give you much added space for entertaining and more.

Make sure the yard is well landscaped and can provide you the flexibility to add a screened gazebo or places to entertain guests during warm weather months.

A heated garage can be additional space if need be. I've known people who have used their garages for extra spaces to entertain when they have large dinner parties. They just rolled out a nice indoor/outdoor carpet, put up tables and voila, a nice extra room for family holidays during cold months.

If your yard allows, consider building an insulated storage shed or garden house in the back yard and keep alot things stored there.

Purchase put-together storage cabinets and closets: You can buy these California closet type storage systems at IKEA, Target, or your local hardware store. If you don't have enough closets, these can help.

Small scale furniture and keep furniture to only the basics to save on space: So much furniture today is designed for McMansions. I highly recommend checking out stores with the small home in mind. You will find creative storage ideas that will make living very doable in a small house at stores like IKEA (www.ikea.com). We recently bought a wall desk for the kids to do their homework. Opened it's a normal desk...closed it is flat against the wall and looks like a built in shelf. We have a sectional couch from there in our den that triples as storage (the chaise opens and you can store alot inside!) the couch portion opens into a double bed, and closed it's a fantastic sectional that seats up to 5 people, but it fits in a corner taking up little space. You get the idea. They have tons of stuff like this and more. If you don't have a store near you, you can order from their catalogue or online. They're very affordable too.

Furniture that folds up and can be put away when not in use is great for a smaller home.

I wouldn't buy it unless you are completely in love. We bought a new split-level and it's been great. We are military, so I know it won't be our home forever. The house did not have any settling problems. The storage isn't great, but we have a HUGE garage, so there's a lot of space out there. I definitely want bigger closets in our next house. Our house is 2200sq.ft. and we are also a family of 5. It seems small at times. Our kids are 6, 4, and 1. This house would not work if the kids were older. But, one of the pros to the military is that we get to move often--like next year, so we'll be in a different house.

In this housing market, I believe your money would go alot farther with an existing home. Look for a foreclosure. You could get a whole lot more house for your money and the older homes are built very differant than the new ones. New homes have a giant master bedroom, bathroom, and closet, a giant Kitchen and great room, and a tiny everything else. Older homes have more storage and the space is more evenly distributed. THe neighborhoods and landscaping are already established too. No waiting for scrawny sticks to grow into trees.

From what you are indicating in your question it's not so much the style of the house it's the available area and the usage of the floor space that you are questioning. I went from a 1400 sq ft house to a 2500 with a family of 6. Having the extra space to spread out and having an area to store out of season things was wonderful. I'd say if the house doesn't feel like the right choice for your family then you need to keep looking.

There is just too many questions you have on this house, too many worries which tells me it isn't the right house for you. When you find the right house you will know, it will be a good fit. It is always good to have them inspected before you purchase it also. No house is perfect and you need to make it your own, but if you go into it worrying about storage, the foundation and size, those will eat at you after you move in.

I don't know how to answer you specifically, other than to say, I live in a 1339 sf split. We have 3 bedrooms on the top level, with 2 bathrooms (one in the master, one in the hall). I have 2 girls (4 and 5) and a 1 yo baby boy. The girls share a room and the baby has the third bedroom. There is an attic for storage, and the bedrooms have decent sized closets. The bedrooms are all also a decent size. On the 1st floor we have a living room and (too small) kitchen, and a door leading out to our deck. Downstairs is an office/guest room/tv room for kids when we have parties, and a laundry room.
It is ok for us, it would be nice if it were bigger. We liked the split layout, it was what we could afford, in the neighborhood we wanted, and did not need work when we moved in. Many people in our area have expanded theirs by dormering out their attics or expanding back to enlarge the kitchen etc.

If we are in this house when my kids are older, we will need to do that. I think they should each have their own rooms and we will need more space.

I don't know what to tell you about the foundation settling? Is that a split issue or any house? And that may have more to do with how it is built etc.

Anyways, personally if you can afford it, you're better off getting a place with a bedroom for each kid.

Sounds like you aren't sure about this house, which means it's not the right one for you.

a 3 bedroom with 5 people sounds a bit small. I know you can share rooms, but as they grow - you're going to be out of space. QUICK. if you're already concerned now - just wait till they're bigger.

And about not having storage and wondering if you should be worried about that. Um, well, duh. seriously? you're asking us if you should be worried?

does that tell you that, uh, you should be worried?

I have never lived in a split level but friends have--I would never live in one. You have 3 children so tons of laundry. Assess the number of loads of laundry you will do in a week and the location of the bedrooms vs rhe laundry room. How many steps is that? Yes it will help you stay in shape but what if you hurt a knee or similar injury. Who is going to run baskets of laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs? Also where is the bathroom in relationship to the room you will use the most. Are your kids potty trained? Are they old enough to be independent when pottying--showering ect? So you are busy in the kitchen making dinner, cleaning up --run upstairs to potty a child -- run downstairs to switch a load of laundry -- run upstairs to help another child --run down to finsh dinner -- run down another flight to get load out of dryer -- run up 2 flights child needs you -- run back down to kitchen to serve dinner......

I live in a 100 yr old house not a lot of storage. If you are not a saver you will be fine but if you like to save things or shop yr round for holiday gifts where do you store it?

Our first house when we got married was a split-level. We were pre-kids so at the time it was perfect for us. Then we added our first baby a couple years later and my opinion quickly changed! My main issue was the major lack of space. And this was with one baby at the time!! Bedrooms were small, closets miniscule, and storage horrible. All we had was a crawl space under the stairs and I was afraid to go underneath to use it, hubby had to be in charge of that. Laundry was on the lower level and was a pain. As our baby grew, so did the amount of stuff we accumulated and we ended up building a 2-story which we moved in when she was 1.
So bottom line is I'm not a fan of split-levels. And if you have 3 kids....not too ideal. Good luck with your decision!

Seems a bit small. Also, we have a split level or a bi-level home, and we have a storage closet underneath the staircase going upstairs. Might want to check into whether or not the builder put in a storage closet under the stairs.

Yes, in a split level home, unless there are enough closets or wall space against which to place "storage" units/wooden cabinets, it does get to be a bit difficult to find enough storage space. In all of our closets, we put in a second shelf, just to give us extra storage room.

If you don't immediately walk into a house and say, "This is the one," then I would suggest you keep looking. There is a house out there for you that, when you walk in the door, it will say "Home" to you. That's the one you should buy.

Do NOT buy a 3 bedroom if you are a family of 5! Its way too small! I assume your kids are still little but you will appreciate as much space as you can get when they get older. We have a 2000sf 4 bedroom home that we rent and its too small for all of us. The kids are preteen and are listening to music (too loud), having their friends over (too loud) and seem to be just too loud in general...lol! We dont have split levels in AZ. Is it like a two story? If that's the case, maybe you will be ok, but I still think if you are BUYING that you should get it big enough for each kid to have their own room. Its not like you are renting and its easy to move. I hope you get some good answers. Good luck.

We live in a split level. I can live with it, but I don't like it. We are starting to look at houses, and if one is a split level I'm less likely to look at it. Things I don't like:
--carrying anything into the house from the garage usually means a couple of trips up and down the stairs, especially if I have groceries.
--taking laundry up and down two flights of stairs.
--had to have two baby gates and mounting them was not fun because the tops of the staircases don't line up with the wall studs.
--twice, in a hurry to grab a kid I have missed stairs and almost fallen.
--still worrying about my kids falling down the 2nd flight when we are getting ready in the morning and they aren't paying attention to what they are doing.
--My sister-in-law and my brother-in-law both live in split level houses that have VERY small entryways. It is almost impossible for more than one person to be in the entryway to put on coats or shoes.
--Our entryway has a very high ceiling and a window above the door. It has been very difficult to find and install window coverings so anyone across the street pretty much has a wide-open view of our kitchen through that window.
--because of the very high ceiling above the entryway (which connects to our living room/dining room/kitchen), it is hard to keep those rooms heated.
--We only have two bedrooms on the main level and both are very small. Our kids are young enough that we aren't comfortable with them sleeping on a different level from us, but they are getting big enough now that their bedroom is really too small for them to share.

What do I like about the split level? I can't think of anything.

As far as storage, we don't have a lot either--just a small storage area under our stairs. I wouldn't mind that too much, but we also have very limited storage in the rest of the house--no pantry in the kitchen, no storage except under the sink in one bathroom, a very small linen closet, and fairly small closets in the bedrooms and entry ways. It makes it difficult to have anything "on hand" and our closets seem over crowded because there really isn't anywhere to store out of season clothes or to hide toys when someone comes over. I would be careful about storing anything in the garage. If the garage isn't insulated, extreme temperature changes can ruin things. A friend of mine had the unity candle and some Christmas candles melt in their garage storage, and she had some snow globes in her Christmas decorations that cracked when they froze. Then when they unfroze, the liquid leaked out and ruined everything else in the box including some antique ornaments from her grandmother.

I agree with what some others have said. If you have that many questions about the house, it might not be the right purchase to make.

With only being 1500 sq feet and you are a family of 5 and you say there really is NO storage inside, I'd move on from it. As kids get older, so does their "stuff", from clothing, to the amount of text books to their toys etc... and if you are already tight on space, it's not a good fit in my opinion. As far as a split level house, my husband and I lived in one and I thought it was fine, but it also had 2700 sq feet with 5 bedrooms.