We were told that the same square footage in 1 level living will be ~50% more than 2 level, so we designed a 2 level. Basically building a second level saves foundation and roofing costs, which are 2 of the biggest costs in building.

Tons of homes in our area are designed without main level bedrooms at all. Most have offices on the main floor that could be bedrooms but don't have full baths so wouldn't ever be used as full-time bedrooms.

Why does laundry have to be on the main level? Why not put laundry upstairs and hookups somewhere on the main level so you can move it downstairs when (AND IF) you actually get old enough in this house that you can't walk upstairs? For example, put hookups in a closet large enough to house W&D, but use it as a closet now. You may think this is your forever home but a lot can change. If you have really young kids (as you seem to) you may outgrow your house/tire of it/want to move closer to your kids if they move...etc. etc. Build your house for now, taking into consideration what you might need in 40 years, but with the understanding that you may not be living there in that time.

We custom built 22 (!) years ago and designed the home with a downstairs master and full bath and an upstairs master and bedrooms. Our laundry room is downstairs. 22 years later and we have never had a need for the downstairs bedroom which we converted to a study. Personally I like all the bedrooms upstairs, it's private space vs. the public space downstairs.

I think your idea is excellent. I assumed I would live in my 2-story home for the rest of my life. Loved everything about it until at 70 the stairs became impossible. If there had been a spare room and full bath on the first floor I would still be there.

One of my houses has the master on the main floor. I absolutely loved it when I lived in it. It was so nice not to go up and down stairs anymore even though I'm young and don't really mind stairs. The laundry was also on the main floor, so I never really had to go upstairs at all. I think your idea makes a lot of sense to use it for a different purpose now and use it as a master later.

@anj_p LOVE the laundry idea. Thank you!

Wanted to add that I think a master up and down is a good idea (one I've seen used well in other plans), so yes, I agree with that approach if this is a need/want of yours for your build. Making it function for you how you live is the best approach to design. Like Caroline, you may not ever use it for a bedroom, so design it so it can change as you need it. Maybe now as a play room it doesn't need to be enclosed. Or maybe it could have double pocket doors (with pocket doors it could still be a guest room if needed). Maybe once the playroom is no longer a thing, it can be a den/TV room, or a music room, or a homework room. But in the future when you want to convert it to a bedroom, you can just add a wall and turn it into a master bedroom.

@anj_p thanks so much for the insight. Honestly I’ve been so set on all one level so I was really bummed to feel the need to reevaluate.... but now I’m actually really excited about it!

Glad I could help! There are a lot of ways to think about a house...like Caroline, I kind of like the idea of having "levels" of living: private upstairs, public downstairs. We designed our home around that concept. We even put the offices upstairs since I wanted the downstairs to be open to all. Good luck!

Another thing about private vs. public spaces... I have always worked from home and I appreciate having my bedrooms and private spaces on one floor while my office is downstairs. I joke about my commute but I really do like the separation. It puts me in a different mindset when it's time to work.

I have lived in both recently. One advantage of a downstairs master is sound control. I know it sounds strange and is certainly design dependent, but sounds travels vertically a bit easier. One specific thing I do is build so that there are 2 doorways from master bedroom to rest of house so that helps on the horizontal sound transmission. No way to do that between floors.

If the master bedroom is above the kitchen or living room, sound will travel. Even if not - the "diagonal" sound transmission is harder to stop also.

One unforeseen downside of 1st floor master is comfort level about windows being left open at night. It was really unremembered because we had it 15 years ago and it was an issue. And then we moved more urban and built 1st floor master.

Speaking of commutes, a big commute can be an issue for coffee drinkers.... (Typing 10 feet away from my Miele which is another 15 ft from Master bed - it is almost perfectly centered). The same issue comes up with laundry.

One unforeseen downside of 1st floor master is comfort level about windows being left open at night.

Yes, David Cary, good point. I never leave downstairs windows opened at night - maybe too much ID channel.

@shirlpp @David Cary I've never thought about how nice it would be to feel like I could leave windows open at night - I'm really starting to love this new master up plan. I'm a firm believer you must have one bedroom downstairs, but as much as I had my heart set on a rambling ranch plan I think this is going to be better all around.