We have a daylight basement that has 2 bedrooms, an office, a full bath, laundry room, exercise area and mechanical room. The bedrooms both have big windows and the office and exercise area have sliding glass doors. It does not feel like a dungeon down there but I would not want the master bedroom down there. I prefer it on the main floor. We are in a mountain community and many of the houses have daylight basements with bedrooms. Maybe some places don't count the sq footage down there but here it counts as actual sq footage.

We have our offices, media room and games room in our walk out we spend a huge amount of time in those spaces they have big windows and honestly when there you never really think about it being a basement. In our old house we had our guest space in the basement mostly becuase we lived in the inner city and it was noisy. All of our guests said they had the best sleep in that space since it was quiet. IMo you do waht you want in your home and there will always be someone that loves it just the way it is.It honestley makes sense to me to sleep in the space that is the quietest. BTW we were told this kitchen would keep us from selling our home which sold in 11 days for more than asking goes to show you it is just a matter of the right buyer .I think you need to build a home not something for some imaginary buyer down the road.

I would have at least one bedroom on a main floor - aging in place considerations (unless you want an elevator, which is fine, too).

My brother and I spent a bunch of years living in basement bedrooms, but my parents had the master upstairs (main floor), and there were two other very small bedrooms right next to them. (We were both teens, and elected to be downstairs so we could have privacy, and they were probably grateful for that as we both developed tastes in music...)

My brother and I never felt "relegated" to a basement - these were our rooms. Just... downstairs rather than up. My brother even had two windows, one facing north, the other east. And an exit door of his own. (But I had the larger room, and even further away from disturbing anyone or being disturbed. So, we both won!)

They had no problem selling the place when they needed to downsize into an apartment. Even despite the other cardinal sin.... the guest bath off from the entry way foyer!

I think getting a construction loan may well depend where in the country you are building. (Whoever built that old house of ours had done so back in the 50s, and no idea if they needed a loan anyway.)

We stayed in our friend’s basement guest suite when we visited their city on vacation. It was uncomfortable on several fronts.

First, temperature wise. It was late fall, early winter, and the basement was cold. Their HVAC designer didn’t pay enough attention to making it dry and warm. I’m used to my nice heated floor bathroom and an endless hot water supply for my shower, and it was a rude shock to just get warm and then quickly step out to that crisp bathroom. The sitting room and bedroom needed sweaters, which I thankfully brought for layering. I didn’t expect to wear them indoors.

Second, it was dark. I like a dark room to sleep, but this was dark in the daytime too. It faced north, which I’m sure didn’t help. It was depressing enough for 5 nights. There’s no way I’d stay in that full time. It felt, well, second class. I know that my friends thought it was the cool private retreat. But I’m guessing that they never spent time in it. Which leads to my next point.

Third, it was noisy. Sounds and vibrations from above made it down. Bonus was we never had to be called to dinner! We could hear them prepping. And arguing. Awkward!

Fourth was the access. I am a chicken on stairs. Code minimum stairs have me moving slow and holding on. My big feet don’t fully fit on the treads. I never got used to going up and down. Going out the walkout and around to the drive wasn’t really a good access route either, even though the grassy slope seemed easier to navigate at first. I slipped on the dead grass and almost ended up in the neighbor’s back yard.

Fifth, it felt a bit awkward interacting with our hosts by having to deliberately go upstairs to let them know our plans for the day, or to try to socialize a bit in the evenings on their schedule. Like I said, I’m sure they thought it was a great private retreat. But it discouraged interactions to have to go upstairs to do it. That’s not what you want for a family home.

I think a basement can be a great exercise room or movie watching space. As long as the stairs are wider, longer, and shallower, than required by code. I don’t think you want your kids down there. I’m sure you don’t want to be down there.

Thanks everyone for the comments! Lots of stuff I hadn't considered. We will have in -floor heat to help with that "cold basement" feel, but ventilation is something I hadn't thought about. Fresh air is a must! Ive never posted a picture on these forums before but I will try to upload my "rough draft"

I'm sure many will consider it too small and simple for their tastes, but that's what we're going for! We hoped to be "Tiny House-ers" before kids came into the picture. So 24x40 basement, main level, and loft is actually big for us! (about 2200 sq ft)

Thanks for all the tips

I think The Cook's KItchen provides you with some good things to keep in mind of when designing your home... not as deal breakers but as things to plan around. I will note that the dining room and part of the kitchen was directly above my bedroom, and I never heard anything.

(While the house did have most of its windows to the north, that was for the view. Of a lake. If you don't have a great view, it is nice to orient most windows to the south or the east...) The lake actually reflected some light back at us. I typed up my master's thesis overlooking that lake in my bedroom, placing my desk right there. And not remotely wanting to work on it anywhere else in the house.

I never had heated floors until my current house. While I love them now that I have them in the baths, I never felt the floors in the under-the-main space were too cold. Do make certain stairs are comfortable for various foot and body types. This goes for those bedrooms being upstairs as well.

HU, regarding the design just posted...

The deck WILL block light from entering the bedrooms below. That was something neither my brother nor I had to contend with. What direction are those bedrooms facing?

Currently I do have a walk out basement in this house, but no downstairs bedrooms. There is a workshop, where I plan to do artwork and woodworking, and also start up baby chicks - the window there, even though I face south, is seriously impeded by the deck above it. Which is fine as the workshop fills its intended purpose, which is not to be a bedroom.

I am fully with downstairs bedrooms, but decks above those windows are not going to help those rooms.

All bedrooms facing south.

Good point about deck blocking sunlight.

Hmmm...

Flipped (or reversed, I can't remember the name) houses are really a thing, often when there is a great view. Homeowners want the view visible from the top rooms where they spend their days, not the rooms where they sleep at night.

Also, in a hot climate, it can help keep the bedrooms a more comfortable temperature.

In the right location, I wouldn't hesitate.

I think it's a great idea and very eco friendly. My high school teacher lived underground with portholes and one side a walkout. It was gorgeous and very efficient!

I would add window wells for light or glass block for the other sides. We have windows the size of doors, IMO there's never too much light!

So you are thinking about building a second story so more than 50% of the second story is open, unusable space and the rest a loft? I'm sorry to say it, but that is an enormous waste of financial resources when you're talking about a plan with all the bedrooms in a basement.

We have a full finished walkout basement with 9 ft. ceilings. In her teens our daughter decided to use one of the rooms as her bedroom. Her room has three large windows, each about 60 inches or more high. It still feels kind of "basementy." The family room down there has double french doors with and 3 large windows. It sits under the deck, faces south/southeast and feels dark most of the time.

Have you talked to an architect or builder? My understanding is that building on a sloped lot is more complicated (and thus $$$) than building on level ground. Is it worth it? (not sure if there are special issues for dealing with all the plumbing + sewer that needs to get pumped up to grade. You'll need a good sump pump, to start). You mentioned this is on a large family property. Why choose this location vs. a flat site where you could build a nice one story house? Why not just build at the top of this hill?

Everyone has different goals for their home. I personally value being connected to the outdoors, seeing trees and plants, and love natural light, so the more windows (on all sides of the house), the better. For example, both my guest bath and master bath have smallish windows (3x3 and 2x2) so I'm adding a suntube in the guest bath and a skylight in the master bath, so the rooms gets plenty of natural light. In this proposed house, the bathrooms in the basement would get no natural light whatsoever and there's no option to add a skylight. Maybe you can rent a similar airbnb for a week or month and see how you like it? Or maybe ...this may sound crazy, create a mock-up in your current home, by keeping the corresponding drapes closed 24x7 for a month and see how it feels.

FWIW, the "tiny house" analogy is confusing. Those a little homes have windows on every side, so I think tiny houses have more windows proportionally, compared to a regular house. A lot of people have houses much smaller than 2000 square feet (including me) so this isn't the issue.

Sounds like I'm going to be the lone person giving you a thumbs up on bedrooms in the basement. Our last house was a 930sqf 1959 ranch with a full basement that was originally unfinished, my husband finished it with basically the same floor plan downstairs. We didn't have air conditioning and spent winters upstairs and summers down. my bedroom growing up was in the basement basically the same size and vintage house. Basement bedrooms are usually Dark and cool and quieter. It is my preferred sleeping environment. Basement bedrooms now need egress windows and because of that are not the dark caves they used to be. I would suggest that you think about one main floor bedroom though. Ageing in place is something we all have to deal with sometime. My mom still lives in my childhood home and would not be able to use the stairs daily. Because of our parents situation we bought a home on one level without stairs. A knee replacement or other health issues could require not using stairs.

Okay, here's a very rough viewing of how the lower level in the parental house looked. Mind you, they sold the home in 2000 - we kids were both out on our own, and as they were aging and didn't want to take care of a house with 5 bedrooms, what I am drawing here is NOT to scale. But this is why it worked for having two of these rooms downstairs. I left out details of the back end of this space for reasons that they are irrelevant here.

Facing south, with a deck above any windows - here it simply does not work for me ever to turn my workshop space into a bedroom. And the den even worked in their house, with a deck overhead, since there were two large windows as well as the less useful one under the deck.

ACK - EAST AND WEST NEED TO BE REVERSED! YES THEY DO...

Great idea! The lower level will be like an earth berm house and very energy efficient.

And as to the "horror" of an inverted living house, a real one was used in the 1959 movie "A Summer Place".

From IMDB:

The house where Ken (Richard Egan) and Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) lived toward the end of the film is an actual private residence that was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948. It still stands today on Scenic Road in Carmel-by-the-Sea and is a prime feature in local tours.

Also, I never knew that hitting 60 would make me too decrepit to scale a staircase. Silly me, I've foolishly kept doing it. In the mid-west we recklessly have houses with both basements AND 2nd stories.

catlady: Also, I never knew that hitting 60 would make me too decrepit to scale a staircase. Silly me, I've foolishly kept doing it. In the mid-west we recklessly have houses with both basements AND 2nd stories.

I'm 65 and climbing up and down with relative abandon.

But a few years ago I had a workplace injury with a broken ankle. And last year I had surgery to remove a benign knee tumor. NEITHER event was age-dependent. BOTH limited my ability with stairs.

It is really nice to know if one gets a mobility injury, no matter how temporary, that one can still get around on, say, a main floor.

Silly me to worry about this. Even though I've experienced it.

rrah- It does seem, at first glance, a disproportionate use of space, i agree.

However, we really love the feel of a big, open, main living area with a high vaulted ceiling. That is the space in the house that is most used. The bedrooms, which you really only use for sleeping, have no need to be large, bright, and airy. The "second story" is perhaps a mislabel on my part. Its really just a loft to use the added open space. We want a vaulted ceiling above the living room, but didn't need a high ceiling in the kitchen. So we felt a loft would be the best use of all that extra headroom.

Walk outs are VERY common where we live, and basements are considered "cheap square footage" to build

As for as the issue of aging in place that has been brought up, it definitely is an issue to think about. We would like for this to be our "forever home", but we think its quite possible we could add on a master suite to the main level some time in the next 35 years before we would likely need it.

Thanks for all the ideas and thoughts! I'm so glad i found this site!

So interesting reading all the pros and cons. Good luck with the build.

"Also, I never knew that hitting 60 would make me too decrepit to scale a staircase."

I'm 69 and have been struggling with osteoarthritis issues for a few years now. For the last two, I've had extreme difficulty managing a flight of stairs. I recently had a hip replacement, and can climb them better now, but I certainly look at staircases in a different light than I did when I was younger. And my late father was totally unable to manage stairs in his last decade or so. If he visited, he had to have both a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor (or a stair lift). Silly me for taking potential mobility limitations into account.

While not meaning to minimize mobility issues, I only wonder why this has been made such a big deal on this thread as opposed to the many plans with all bedrooms on a second floor. Why has the inversion suddenly made this a prime concern?

Since the kitchen/living room level is where I spend most of my time, I prefer to be able to walk from that level on to the ground, not an elevated deck. I like the green stuff right in my face and under my feet.

Partim- only the back door walks out to an elevated deck. The front door and the side entrance (which I think I actually wrongly labeled as a back entrance on my plan) both walk out onto ground level since the lot is sloped.

Catlady - as with any design project, there are many considerations to be taken into account and many compromises to be made. It's up to the OP to decide the weight to place on them but at least he/she should be aware of them. Mobility is a genuine issue, and one coming more to the fore as populations age. It's not the "inversion" that has made this a prime concern: it's now increasingly common (at least where I live) for new builds to have a master with full bathroom on the ground floor, even in two story houses with the rest of the bedrooms up above.

But the main thing for me would still be the issue of natural light, and making sure that those bedrooms really had access to it. I want a bedroom I can enjoy during the day as well as at night - I love to lounge on the bed reading, and I have been known to get the flu...

Do what you want. I hate basements , they creep me out no matter what the configuration is, but I live on the west coast so that skews my opinion.

Another note I should add is that I want my master to be on the same level as my kids bedrooms at least while they’re young. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping a whole floor away from the kids.

I owned a house where the bedrooms, bathrooms, and a den were on the first floor and the living room, dining room, kitchen, and huge deck were on the second. The back wall of the first floor was below grade, so there were no windows, but the other three had windows. It was in the woods.

jmm1837 - Building a house that you have to be under 60 to live in is short-sighted IMHO. - Assuming that all over 60s have serious agility problems is a pretty broad statement. People over 60 have actually been known to purchase and enjoy houses with stairs. But I look forward to seeing your similar comments on all future 2 story house threads. Just for consistency.

You mention you are on a large lot? cant you expand sideways at least for a master on the first? I also feel like you could expand the loft area into a bedroom (at least dry plumb for a possible expansion?) Where is the garage please.

Is the stairwell to the basement open or closed- I think it will really matter on how it comes off. Btw I would call it lower level to avoid the "basement bashing".

I have bedrooms on all three floors- each with different +/-

ie the bedrooms on the first floor can get carryover noise from the family room - but I also love staying on that floor as its very quiet in rainstorms (no roof over head) and easy walk to the kitchen

the bedroom in the basement is a walk out to a lake- while nice, at night you can hear animals etc which is a bit un-nerving at times. My son loves it down there as he feels its very calm.

the bedroom on the top floor is my most recent addition - I stay there most often but I am getting older and the stairs are getting challenging in the morning

So bottom line there is no ultimate best-- you live with what is feasible

My best friend recently did something similar. They bought mountain property on a lake and wanted the main floor living space to take advantage of the view.

Their plan is similar to yours except they added one bedroom/bath on the main level for her parents to use and not have to navigate stairs. The thinking is that they would use it as their master as they aged. They do not have a deck across the back for the reasons mentioned already about blocking light to the lower level. They have a deck accessible from that main level bedroom and family room and a deck near the kitchen for grilling and dining outside.

When dealing with a sloped lot, I personally much prefer a multi level home like a tri level rather than a stacked floor on floor vertical arrangement. One level at the walkout elevation for the family room and a bedroom/office , and a half a wide flight up to the kitchen and dining, and flex, and another half flight up to the bedroom level. Every level has the walls exposed enough to have windows and light. And because it works with the contours of the land, the costs can be comparable to the stacked floor plan that requires more excavation manipulation to achieve the fit to the land.

I live in the mountains and a lot of the bedrooms are lower level/basement level. The better views are up higher in the living area.

I'm witnessing the "aging" issue firsthand with my parents.

In their 80's, my dad JUST retired from working full time running his business. They were exceptionally healthy 50, 60, 70 and even 80 year olds. This sense of security they've always had with their health completely distracted them from thinking SERIOUSLY ahead to when things could get tricky with stairs. So when my dad's hip finally developed arthritis months ago, he was forced to retire and the stairs remained climbable, but became an absolute hazard with every step.

It has been an extremely stressful experience for them to have to sell their really beautiful home of 55 years, and my parents are very positive, easy-going, down-to-earth people. The stress of purging, organizing, updating and open houses in your 80's (or even 70's for that matter) posts a whole different set of risks to health. Finances become more stressful too when you've bough a new house yet haven't sold the first....or sold the first, but haven't found a new one.

I did find them a great ranch that we are in the process of updating so that everything will be easy and accessible on that main floor (laundry currently in a great basement needs to come upstairs), but this move poses a risk of really rattling them mentally and emotionally....and it has become a full time job for me to help them with the buying, the selling, the updating, etc. They are the best, so I'm so happy to help them, but this is something we could have avoided by thinking ahead.

So my long-winded point is that if I had the opportunity to build my forever house and think ahead....EVERYTHING needed to live (kitchen, bath, laundry, bedroom, attached garage, etc) would be on a main floor. Though I would not personally care for the bedrooms in the basement, if you are insistent on doing that...plan ahead and create a complete MAIN floor so that you can stay put in that house should the need for main-floor living arise. It's also good for future/children/grandchildren to have a separate floor too for when they happily visit ....or if you ever need them to help you/stay with you.

Upside down homes are not unusual in my seaside community where every wants an ocean view.

May I add that the walkout level bedrooms will be safer than traditional 2nd floor bedrooms in the event of a nighttime fire?

After reading everyone’s comments I think perhaps “basement” was a bit of a misnomer. Maybe I should call it a lower level since the majority of the downstairs will in fact be above ground.

And to the often mentioned point of wanting lots of light in the bedrooms, we are not people who spend an excessive amount of time in our bedroom. Almost no time in our bedroom during the day actually. My current, south facing, second story bedroom is usually VERY dark when I’m in it after 10:00 pm. I also forgot to mention we are planning on having electricity in our new home!

I do think that a bedroom on the main level may be convenient to have 35 years from now when our children are grown and we are older. But its not something we would want to use any time soon as we prefer to be on the same level as the kiddos. I actually peraonally know 2 different people that built their “dream home” after retiring, and both chose to include lots of stairs to force themselves to stay somewhat active in their old age.

Thank you everyone for your comments, advice, and interesting opinions!

Most of the time I spend in my bedroom is in the dark too. But for those times when I am in the bedroom during the day (putting away laundry, getting a book or a pair of slippers) I sure enjoy a lot of light streaming in! My kids spent a lot more time in their bedrooms during the day, and always had the curtains or blinds wide open.

The cross-ventilation issue is much bigger for me. Both my Mom and my son live in apartments with windows all facing the same direction. The only way to get air flow is with fans.

My house is 2 rooms deep, and even though the bedrooms have a hallway, we still get nice air flow if we open both a bedroom and a living room window.

Have you approached your lender of choice to see if they have constraints on this type of design? Do that sooner rather than later in the design process. If they do allow it, ask them what happens if the home does not appraise for the cost to build. That happens way more often than you think. Couple that with the usual over budget e vacation or other dirt work, and the usual underfunded allowances, and a light contingency fund, and the risk to your family land and personal finances gets pretty hairy.

Building a custom house is all about building the bank a house that they let you live in. It has to have resale appeal, and to follow guidelines to get funded. To achieve that, you have to have some conventionality and rules, even if you WANT to live in a 3 bedroom light house in a marsh next to a river that floods.

It seems that a lot of folk here have experience with lower bedrooms. They can work. My mentioning having something accessible on the main floor can indeed be modified to at least some place that could be made private, with a full bath somewhere available on that floor. It really need not be a master.

Catlady, in my case I've made numerous references to this concept on threads discussing 2 story plans.

As kids and then young adults, my brother and I did not only use our bedrooms for sleeping. We listened to music there, had friends visit there (if the den was otherwise in use), and I completed the writing of my master's thesis there. Older kids usually need privacy to work on homework and to study. I had my desk by the window, and as there was no deck overhead, I still had plenty of light. Even facing north, and partially underground.

Another advantage of underground - it's cooler in summer down there! Parents had main floor central air, but we didn't need that downstairs!!

Do you mind me asking if you ever built a home this way? We are wanting to do this but not many pictures and plans out there with it. Our bedrooms are to sleep in and thats it. Our main focus is family time and outdoors. We want a decently small house as well. So like you said, bedrooms downstairs (I want laundry down there as well) Then we'd do kitchen/living/dining upstairs along with a larger closet for winter items and some storage.

Reverse layout homes are fairly common in small bungalows in Vancouver. People make a playroom and office upstairs and bedrooms downstairs

We have 3 bedrooms in our walkout basement - 2 with nice big windows. It feels