hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

I'm personally more of a CH colonial type... but trying to keep an open mind given the situation we may be in once we sell.

I like the colonials b/c we want/need a 5 BR house. We need a finished basement. Here's why... we have 2 kids who we want to keep in their own bedrooms, we talk about a 3rd in a year or 2... and we still want each child to have her own room. I need an office in the house and DH needs a separate office as we both work from home, I was going to take one of the bedrooms and Dh was going to create an office area in the basement. We want an EIK, formal (large) DR, den and LR and garage. In a CH I was planning on making the LR an enclosed play room with some french doors or something. Plus have a den as the family room to watch tv in. We are not putting a tv in the play room, just our preference. I'm trying to figure out if it's even possible to make all this happen in a high ranch. The houses I see on line look pretty big. Just not sure if I can work it all out. Having some trouble wrapping my arms around the layout. Do they ever have master suites? That is also a strong preference. We have cats so I was going to make a small "room" in the basement for litter boxes tucked away somewhere. I mean, they are usually okay sized homes and all. I'm currently in a ranch and 2 of the things on my top 10 of what I cant stand about the house is we all use one bathroom on the main floor and second, the kids rooms bump up on the DR and bathroom so I have to plan my life around when they sleep which should be my time to get stuff done, but we have to be so quiet since their rooms are right there.

Just curious, they pop up in all my searches and until now I've passed them by. maybe a splanch would suit us better?

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

I have a high ranch with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. We have 3 kids and 2 are in the same room right now. We plan to use the 4th room which is now a playroom and change it into a bedroom adding another bath. There is also a basement which my DH has an office. I have a den and LR and eik too. I think you can find what you are looking for in a ranch. We love the ranch living except bringing groceries into the house is a Pain.

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

we are in an in-line high ranch, but we added to the house. We added off the back a den, which in turn we made the small bedroom bigger on the upper floor and added a bedroom and a dining room the the lower lever. So on the upper lever we have 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, dr/lr, den, kitchen - all large closets. Lower leverl we have kitchen, dining room, living room, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. I am so happy we added the den and extra rooms, made a big difference.

Where are you looking

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

We have a hi-ranch with 3 bedrooms and the 4th bedroom is in the apt where my mom lives now. so 3 bedrooms are upstairs and the 4th on the 1st floor. We don't have kids yet, but it works for us. We have a den on the 1st floor, but no garage. But in some areas, they make Hi-Ranches a lot bigger. Some on our block our bigger then ours. We don't have a EIK and we don't have a Formal (separate) DR. It basically is a Great Room that we love. I would take a look at some of them and see if you like it or not. Otherwise I would have loved a CH Colonial.

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

We have a high ranch -before we changed it to fit our needs we had 4 bedrooms upstairs including a master bedroom suite - it had a very small bath and small walk in closet, on the main floor there also afull guest bath, an eat in kitchen with small number of cabinets in a u shape, formal dining room and living room upstairs,

then down stairs we had a living room, full bath, another bedroom, weird alcove, and large utility area with laundry (so 5 bedroom house)

after we changed it to a large master suite with large master closet and bath, 2 other bedroom (now only 4 total bedrooms) - we vaulted the ceiling and made a great room out of kitchen, dining room and living room - but i like open spaces and now i have tons of cabinet space and bar area with 4 stools

downstairs - we took some of the utitlity area and made a nice laundry room and pantry - weird alcove became a mudroom with a bench and storage for coats and shoes - still have downstairs living room and gust bedroom downstairs


high ranchs definetly range in size - we are in huntington area - but all the other high ranchs around us look smaller than ours

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

We have a high ranch with a 1-car garage and I think we have plenty of room for what you would need. Here's our layout:

Upstairs:
livingroom
kitchen
diningroom
1 bathroom
3 brs (one being our master with a connecting doorway to the bathroom....another doorway from bathroom leads to hallway)

Downstairs:
laundry room
2 brs
family room
kitchen
1 bathroom

The downstairs we use to rent out as a 1br apartment. And even when we did that we still had use of part of the downstairs....the laundry room and other bedroom.

Hope this helps!

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

I had many of the same requirements as you, and a high ranch would have never worked for us unless it was expanded. I am basing this off my MIL's high ranch. They have 3 bedrooms upstairs, a full bath, kitchen, small DR, and a living room. Downstairs is a den type room, 2 additional bedrooms (one built into half of the garage), laundry room, and full bath. This difference between her house and the colonial we are in contract for is basically another whole floor. The colonial has 3 levels including the basement, while the high ranch has only 2.

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

Message edited 6/30/2010 9:16:18 PM.

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

Re: hi-ranches - parents especially could use ideas

I have a hi-ranch. I guess you'd say it is a "bigger" one. Upstairs I have 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, EIK, LR, DR, laundry room and playroom that we built over the garage. The master BR is BIG -- king size bed, armoire, chest and double dresser; also with cathedral ceilings. One of the full baths is attached to the master BR, so it is just for us. Also has walk-in closet. The EIK wasn't huge, but enough room for just that. I wanted a bigger, "farm-style" EIK so I added an island and got rid of the formal DR and just made a huge EIK. The garage was not under any part of the living space of the house so adding the room over it just made sense and didn't take anything away, other than headroom in the garage, but it is still high enough in there to stand.

Downstairs I have 2 "bedrooms", both of which are big enough to fit at least a queen set, a full bath, a second laundry room and a hugh living area where I have a second kitchen with a round dining table, full living room set, a desk plus another area suitable for another designated "area" -- we have a treadmill there right now.