Anyone live in a Cape Cod style house? (floor, dining room, kitchen)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi,
anyone out there live in a cape cod style house? We are in the market to purchase a house and in the Chicago area we're finding a lot of cape cods. I have a question about safety...most of these houses have two bedrooms downstairs and the master bedroom upstairs. How do you feel having your young kids sleep on the first floor while you are upstairs? I'm a little fear-based, I admit. But it makes me a little uncomfortable to have the kids (ages 4 and 6) all alone on the first floor while I'm upstairs. I think I've watched too many horror movies.
What do Cape Cod owners think about this set up and the safety involved?
My ds and his wife have a cape cod with the master bedroom downstairs and the other bedrooms upstairs. I don't like it, but I am just Mom. There are problems with any style home. Just be sure you have a good fire alarm or more and a carbon monoxide alarm and the locks are all in good shape. I don't like two stories at all because they are fire traps. Just ask any fireman. I also like the idea of parents and children being on the same floor, but if I were to buy a two story home now, I would make sure there was a master bedroom downstairs. I am too old to run up and downstairs. This is something to think about if you plan to live there long.
Thank you for your response. I, too, like having the parents and children sleep all on the same floor. I thought I was being too paranoid but I think I should go with my gut. And yes, we'll be in the house for at least five years. There are some cape cods here that have the master bedroom downstairs and the children's rooms are upstairs. I'm more comfortable with that vs. the master upstairs and children's rooms downstairs. It kinda freaks me out.
We currently live in a Cape style home. Like you mentioned, there are two bedrooms down and one large room upstairs. We actually have two of our kids upstairs. DH and I took the larger of the downstairs rooms, baby is in the other. In our house, there is a little loft-like area right as you go upstairs. My son has claimed that space. My daughter has the actual room. It works really well for us.
I grew up in a Cape style home a long time ago. Two bedrooms and a full bath were located on the main floor, and a loft room with a half bath was located upstairs. The loft room had an open floor plan, but did not really "feel" like a master bedroom besides the fact that it was on a different floor. The loft basically turned into the multi purpose room with some bookcases, computer, typewriter, and other items back then.
Our first house was a cape, and out two kids were on the first floor and we were on the second. There were actually some advantages, they rarely went upstairs, and it was so easy to keep clean! Now in our one level ranch our 4 year old really makes a mess in the master bedroom, really the whole house now. But as for safety in our cape, that didn't really worry me too much. We had smoke and carbon monoxide detecters, and also a monitor upstairs so we could hear everything downstairs. All the bedroom doors were kept open, too.
My parents have a Cape. It is a very nice modest house. It has two bedrooms upstairs but no bath (what a pain!). Downstairs there is a living room, a kitchen, one bedroom, a bath and a room that could either be a dining room or a bedroom. My parents use it as a dining room. This is a common configuration for capes here in New England.
I too prefer being on the same floor as my young kids. You may consider having the kids share one room upstairs and you use the other until they are older and more independent.
This style of home has been around for centuries and families have made it work fine. We are just kind of spoiled today with what we want in a home. Also I do not agree that a 2 story home is a fire trap. There is no statistical data supporting this that I know of. That is being a bit paranoid. JMHO Jay
We live in a Cape. Master bed and bath are downstairs, 2 bedrooms, full bath, and bonus room upstairs. It works out well for us. The upstairs is mainly for the kids, which they enjoy. Although we do all spend a lot of time together in the bonus room. I would prefer for our next house to be a ranch. Got tired of the stairs in our current house very quickly!
Location: Danbury CT covering all of Fairfield County
2,636 posts, read 7,428,667 times
Reputation: 1378
It depends on the floor plan. I recently sold a cape where all 3 bedrooms are on the 2nd floor. My parent's first house they owned was a cape and after the expanded it, there were 2 bedrooms on the first floor and a bedroom, full bath and master bedroom on the 2nd floor.
We lived in a cape ; our first house. There was good and bad. The good was that our master was downstairs and once the boys went to bed, we had a lot of privacy ; could get a snack or whatever without waking the house. our children were babies there and there was many nights I couldnt sleep for fear that if they woke, I wouldnt hear them.
We moved onto a newer victorian and all our bedrooms are upstairs. Its nice and cosy.
However, we just bought a chalet for a vacation hosue and we will be back to the master downstairs and the two beds upstairs. Now as I am getting older, I see more benefits for the master downstairs.
dorothy
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
