People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

ok, my one rule when it comes to purchasing a house is that all the rooms MUST be on the same floor.
i am just paranoid . i want everyone to be on the same floor in the event there is a break in in the middle of the night or a fire God forbid, or want to know if teenagers are sneaking out in the middle of the night...

how did you come to terms with sleeping on separate floors? how did you decide who goes updstairs/stays downstairs? what is it like? do you like living in a cape?


there is a BEAUTIFUL 4 bedroom cape at a ridiculous price. and it has everything.. total move in ready.
it just goes against my one stipulation.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

I have a cape 2 BR on the second floor and 2 on the first. I was not worried about the reasons you express. But when we first moved in we had no children so we were on the first floor. Then child #1 came. and we put the nursery in the second room on the first floor. And then when child #2 came we moved child#1 up stairs as well as ourselves and kept the nursery on the first floor. Now that they are older I am moving child # 2 upstairs so both kids are up and we will move back to the first floor. wow that was a lot of moving around. LOL dont know if this helps but you asked. LOL

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

I grew up in a cape and own a cape. Growing up, we were all on the same floor. When we first bought our house, I actually didn't feel comfortable sleeping on the first floor because I felt like people could just climb right into my bedroom window. Now I don't care as much but we are all moving upstairs once our dormers are finished.

Don't miss out on a house that is otherwise perfect for you bc of a stipulation you have. You may feel different about it once you move in.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

I love capes! But got a ranch. Anyway grew up and at first we lived on the first floor all together because my parents rented upstairs. Then when I was around 6ish we moved upstairs.

Basically:
Top floor = parents and me
Middle Floor = older brother who then moved into the basement (separate apartment)

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

We bought our cape almost 7 years ago. We have a large master on the first floor and 2 BR upstairs. At first it was a little weird sleeping on the first floor, but we set the alarm every night and we have a dog so I'm not concerned. DC sleep upstairs in the nursery and I am totally used to it now. We are actually putting the house on the market and probably won't end up in another cape, it will be weird to re-adjust to sleeping upstairs!

If you love the house, go for it.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

We live in a cape. We moved the master upstairs and the nursery is upstairs as well.

We're planning to redormer our house soon so we're going to be adding another bedroom which will be used if we have another DC.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

i own a cape and we sleep downstairs with 2BR upstairs. Our house has a basement so the first floor is about 3 feet above ground level if that makes sense. so the windows are pretty high up. if someone were to break in they'd probably need a ladder. i don't feel uncomfortable about it at all.

I do worry about when we have kids - being on separate floors - but i'd rather them be upstairs instead of the other way around.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

just moved into a cape less than a year ago. we have 2 bedrooms upstairs (master and guest) and the 1 downstairs (office). there was another bedroom downstairs but we converted it to a den. we are childless right now and plan on the guest room being the nursery. if we have 2, then we'll just have to figure it out. the office can always convert to a master suite or we can build above the garage. we loved everything else about the house...so we just dove in and i have zero regrets!

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

We have a cape with 2 up and 2 down.

When the kids were little we were all downstairs...the smaller bedroom was the nursery.

Now that they are 3 and 4, they have their own room upstairs and we are downstairs. The spare room is an office.

We have an alarm and dogs, I don't really worry about anything.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

I grew up in a cape and now live in a colonial that has 2 beds up and 1 down. In my parents' house and my own, the kids slept upstairs. I prefer it this way as a parent, for a number of reasons:

1) If a burglar decides to try to get into my house while we are home, he will encounter DH and I, as well as our guns. Kids will be safely upstairs.

2) When the kids are teenagers, unless they are gonna shoot down a drainpipe, we will hear them attempting to sneak out since they will have to walk down the stairs.

3) As far as a possible fire is concerned- regardless of whether the bedrooms are all on one floor or not, it will depend on the situation and where it started. Either way, I will walk thru flames to get my kids out of the house to safety.

Message edited 7/29/2010 6:38:47 PM.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

We have a cape.... 2 bedrooms down and 3 upstairs. Right now we are using the 2 bd's on the 1st floor for ourselves and ds. We plan to move all the bd's upstiars eventually. I grew up in a cape and the kids were all upstairs.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

I felt the same as you, we are now using the 2brs upstairs for all of us and its fine, we really just sleep there. When DS#1 is older we may let him take a room on the first floor.

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

we started with us in one bedroom on the first floor and the other was the nursery. both bedrooms were empty on the second floor. but when baby #2 was born, dh and i went upstairs to our master suite. i think it helped because we had an alarm and our wood floors were really noisy.

we have since moved to another cape (expanded) and all three bedrooms are on the second floor

Re: People that live in Capes- please come in, a few questions for you

I grew up in a house with one BR downstairs, and Two upstairs, when my sister and I were younger we shared a room and everyone was upstairs, when we got a little bit older my parents went downstairs and we each had our own room upstairs. My mom liked it that way bc it kept our "mess" out of her sight, she also really like the convience of having her room on the first floor (less up and down).