It is a personal preference and how you want to use the interacting spaces. Some parents want to hear what is going on in the child's bedrooms or bathroom.

Thanks! I do want to hear what's going on in the children's room but I don't want to worry about every little noise we make on the main floor once they're in bed...

A better question might be, "What is the goal of having a 2 story greatroom?". The reason I ask is that depending on the goal, it might be accomplished in different ways.

Search on this forum as the topic has been discussed many times over the years.

I would not choose to build a house with an open 2-story design. There are issues with noise, echos, heating/cooling. Sure, they look pretty and sometimes impressive, but they don't work great for everyday living.

I have no issues with doing a room with a peaked/vaulted ceiling that is not open to any other space above.

You can use a baby monitor to hear what your kids are doing!

Jennifer K - We're looking at an A-Frame which typically has the two story of windows, although it's a vaulted ceiling and not totally opened to other space above. We like the modern A frame for our lot which is in the forest in a country setting.

I guess we could always keep the A frame style in the exterior but not inside? That may be odd though.

We're meeting our architecture/design team on Monday, but we wanted to have a good idea of our wants and needs so that we communicate them well.

chispa - We do use a baby monitor. we don't necessarily need to hear what they do upstairs, I'm just more worried about how loud the main floor is for them when they're trying to sleep and we're down there. I've searched the forum which is what lead me here. Most of the posts mention two story rooms opened to the second floor, but I hadn't been able to find lots about two story rooms which were closed off to the second floor.

Here's a photo of what I'm trying to describe.

The "A Frame* portion of the noise being the living room, and the kitchen and dining at 8-9 feet height.

I think you may not be finding many posts about closed-off second stories because they don't cause difficulties. ;)

JuneKnow - I'm curious how the noise is still an issue without the second floor being opened to below? Wouldn't the wall help with the sound?

I'm not necessarily fixated on this, we just really liked the A Frame idea for our custom home in a forested lot. Trying to find out the pros and cons.

anj_p that could well be! Perhaps I've been searching for the wrong thing

Yeah, that photo is just a vaulted ceiling! With a vaulted ceiling you don't get the issues of noise transmission between the upstairs room, but there can still be issues with the HVAC and echos. Maybe you can plan a vaulted family room that comes off the main part of the house and the vault isn't so tall and steep. You would still get the effect, but bring the scale down a bit.

Thank you very much chispa. Sounds like a good compromise that I can discuss with the design team for our new home.