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Single story. I don't like the big rooms, cleaning would be a nightmare, echo makes them feel cold, wasted space, and nobody in my family is so tall they need a 20 ft ceiling I would never buy with a double height family room. I do like double height foyer to give some grandeur on entrance (thus can speak from experience on the cleaning problem)
Have seen some houses with 12-14ft family rooms with raised bonus room above. That is the best way IMHO - best of both worlds
The two story rooms are a pain in the butt to paint on your own. Might as well plan on having a pro do it. I won't own another home with a 2 story family room. Just my .02.
I've had both. Two story rooms are difficult to paint, decorate and expensive to heat and cool. Of course they can be very impressive, especially if you have a lot of windows and a view. In Cary we went with a bonus room over the family room. It added nearly 400 square feet at a cost of $6k (including 2 large and one small closet). It was one of my favorite rooms in our house and I believe it was a big asset when we sold. We used it as a play room for our small children. The closets were great for storing toys and I was able to keep my family room reasonably uncluttered because most of their stuff was upstairs.
I would much prefer the bonus room above - I think the 2-story rooms waste space, cost too much to heat, cool, paint, etc, and make the house noisy - in most I've been in, you can hear everything from downstairs in the upstairs bedrooms. One of my favorite features of my current house (with a small 2-story foyer, but that's it) is the quiet upstairs. I would only buy a house with a 2-story living room if I could afford to create/finish a bonus/bed room above it. I'm amazed at just how many houses have the 2-story rooms.
Raised Bonus Rooms are 2 steps above the other rooms on the 2nd floor,
hence the name Step up Bonus Room.
It creates additional height to the Family Room under the Bonus room.
Some of the newer homes have these fitted with Coffered Ceilings and looks very elegant.
I think they look amazing but do not like the 2 story family room concept. From my experience it makes the sound travel upstairs and the room is hard to keep warm in the winter. Would prefer the space of having the bonus room.
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