Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

Our house is strange - I've never seen anything like it (maybe you have, and I would love your input!)

When we bought, our house was technically 3 bedrooms (cape). Two on the first floor and one large room on the second floor the entire length of the house.

The back bedroom on the first floor had a door in it that looked like a closet door, but when you opened it, it contained the stairs to go up to the second floor. We, obviously, didn't like the idea of going up stairs through a bedroom and ended up remodeling so that we opened the wall, revealing the stairs, and now use that space as a den. So we are down to a front bedroom on the first floor and our upstairs master suite (which includes a full bath).

What would you do for a nursery? Our plan at present is to carve a nook out of the master suite and use that as a "nursery". I just can't imagine having the baby downstairs and us upstairs. This may actually have to be a long term solution!

Our long term plan is to dormer upstairs (which would create 3 bedrooms upstairs).

If we can't dormer, and we'd like to have a second DC, then they will share upstairs and DH and I will move downstairs into the front bedroom - so long master bath.

Any advice or thoughts?

This is the kind of space we would be working with, from pinterest

Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

Your layout sounds a lot like mine. Our house was originally 3 bedrooms and eventually remodeled by the previous owner. The whole upstairs for the longest time was a huge master suite including a full bathroom and a loft type space. We ended up walling up the loft and use it as my dd's room. Im assuming your bedroom is pretty big considering it takes up the entire second floor, so I would agree with you to use a part of your bedroom as a nursery. When the baby gets older you can always move them downstairs. The first few months they are with you constantly anyway.

Message edited 10/28/2014 3:20:21 PM.

Re: Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

Thanks for your feedback. It is a pretty big space but unfortunately because of the eaves (sp?) it is a kind of awkward layout so we can't really "wall" anything off. Also, we have the ductwork for the CAC running through one area, the nook where the baby will be, but we had that dry-walled and made into bench seating.

There's a small bronze chandelier hanging in the middle of that space and we should be able to fit the crib and a glider and maybe a chest of drawers/changing table. Sometimes I wish we had a more traditional house.

Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

Is it possible to move your staircase? If you aren't able to dormer, then regaining that den as a bedroom would definitely be worth it since you don't want to have to sell as a two bedroom.

We have a similar cape with 2 bedrooms down and one up that goes the length of the house front to back over the two bedrooms (the other half is open cathedral ceilings over the living space). Our stairs were originally in the middle of the house facing sideways and we moved them to in front of the front door. It works so much better for us. We're going to keep both kids downstairs for now and when DD is old enough we may put her upstairs by herself. I'm not sure I'd be okay with kids downstairs and us upstairs but I'm sure there are plenty of people who make it work that way.

Re: Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

We entertained moving the stairs for one minute when we were renovating and decided the expense (including hiring an architect) weren't in the budget. We're really hoping to be able to dormer in the next 3-5 years, so it may be a bit tight until then. We don't want to move ever, so long as we can figure out a way to make this house work for us! It's so quirky, which we love, but can be challenging too.

Re: Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

Well for now, it sounds like your plan is good. Personally, I would want to transition the baby sooner than later to their own room. So I would probably turn the room you have downstairs into a nursery and use it for day time naps and just keep a basinet or small crib in your room for night time. Personally, having a baby/child on a different level does not bother me. Especially if the house is relatively small.

Re: Spinoff to nursery - WWYD - weird house question

The "thing" about making the downstairs room a nursery is that it is already a spare guest room - meaning there is a bed and dresser in there that has no place to go. Small house living. SMH. We need to make this work.