ᐅ Sleeping on the ground floor / living on the upper floor. Any experiences?

That really depends on the specific circumstances. Friends of mine built like this because the view from the upper floor overlooks beautiful trees, while the ground floor only faces concrete. They are happy with it and enjoy the view (large windows) every morning when they go upstairs.

Thanks for your answers!

Maybe a bit of background: as I mentioned, we are renovating. The attic is no longer in good condition, so we are removing it and building a new upper floor. The idea is to live there because it gives us a lot of freedom in terms of design, which would be great for the living room and kitchen. For the bedrooms, it’s less important if we have to make a few compromises here and there, which is unavoidable in a renovation.

The view from the new upper floor isn’t completely different but it is definitely more open. However, I also see the disadvantages mentioned, especially the garden access and carrying groceries up the stairs.

Carrying groceries upstairs is manageable in everyday life. Millions of apartment dwellers do it as well. It only gets a bit tricky with furniture and bulky items, but still not impossible.

I personally like living upstairs. I even prefer it over living on the ground floor. The lighting conditions upstairs are usually better than on the ground floor. When I moved from my apartment into a house, I really had to get used to living downstairs and sleeping upstairs. My living room is upstairs, while the kitchen and dining area are downstairs.
It just feels a bit unusual to decide on this arrangement because hardly anyone does it. Probably because of the groceries. 😀

If the house offers you more options for space utilization this way, I would go for it—unless you are truly garden enthusiasts.

It usually pays off to plan with the house, the circumstances, and the lighting conditions in mind. Then it works well. If you can imagine it, why not? I have often lived higher than the garden level, and it worked fine.

I once visited a newly built house with a similar layout. The main reason for it was the view. On the upper floor, there was a lake view of Lake Zug. The garden was very small and almost completely occupied by a long, narrow pool. On the upper floor, besides the living area and kitchen, there was a 50 m² (540 sq ft) roof terrace with a wonderful view of the lake and mountains. That was also the main outdoor living space.
I can’t think of any other reason for such an arrangement.
But seriously, if the entire attic is going to be demolished and completely rebuilt, the ground floor will probably also require significant renovation. Is the difference between that and a complete demolition and rebuild still that big?

NicolettaZ schrieb:

that we live there because we would then have great freedom in the design, and that would be really nice for the living room/kitchen area.

Let’s be honest: how much freedom will you actually have there? Are you planning something really stylish and elaborate architecturally, or will it look similar to a standard floor plan with an open plan living area around a corner or straight layout? If you simply remove one or two walls on the ground floor, you can definitely create an interesting design that offers more than a typical new build. It would be best if you shared the ground floor plan and let others discuss it in the floor plan subforum (don't forget to complete the questionnaire and, if possible, upload a photo).