{"id":163,"date":"2024-07-23T08:57:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T08:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paskutineszinios.lt\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/have-a-split-level-home-heres-how-to-design-it-so-youll-actually-love-it\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T08:57:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T08:57:30","slug":"have-a-split-level-home-heres-how-to-design-it-so-youll-actually-love-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paskutineszinios.lt\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/have-a-split-level-home-heres-how-to-design-it-so-youll-actually-love-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Have A Split-Level Home? Here’s How To Design It So You’ll Actually Love It"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I\u2019m just going to say what some of us are thinking here: Split-level homes are not ideal for a lot of reasons. This isn\u2019t just an empty statement from a design writer looking for something to post about. I know this because I live in one and while it\u2019s mostly fine (and even has its \u201cpros\u201d), it can also be quite frustrating both to live in and also to decorate. So I figured, \u201cHey, if I struggled with this, maybe some readers out there in a similar style of architecture also do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post is going to walk you through some concepts for how to make a split-level or bi-level house and townhouse look and feel great visually, whether you\u2019re simply decorating or planning on doing some renovations. <\/p>\n

But first, a little background about my particular situation:<\/p>\n

I live in a multi-level townhouse that we picked because it offered us the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and workspaces we needed for our family, as well as an ideal kid-friendly community. Those are all things that, frankly, matter more to me than a bit of a funky layout\/flow. BUT, it\u2019s not without its flaws (like basically having no real entryway beside a landing strip I carved out of a small slice of a wall).<\/p>\n

Every room is essentially on its own level. Garage: one level (bottom). Downstairs office: Door to room at garage level but then four steps down from the door to its own level (also there\u2019s a flight of stairs down from living room\/front door). Living room: At main level with the front door. Dining room\/kitchen\/powder bath: Five steps up from living room. Bedrooms: Upstairs from dining room level. Patio: Three steps down from the living room. Front door: Three steps up from the front walkway which is three steps up from the main street. Are you dizzy yet with all those steps and levels to account for?!?<\/p>\n

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photos of our main living spaces before we moved in. you can see the railing at the bottom right of the left photo which is a barrier to the stairs down to the garage; then the stairs and railing between the living and dining rooms. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You\u2019d think my legs and tush would be in much better shape. In all seriousness, my husband and I have serious stairs\/level fatigue. Even traveling between living and dining spaces is a chore some days, not to mention how much smaller each space feels because they aren\u2019t open to each other (mostly a problem for my daughter not having enough room to run around, push her little cars and toys, etc.). And don\u2019t get me started on the baby gate situation, which I know is temporary but very much a part of our current life.<\/p>\n

When we first moved in, we had a newly minted one-year-old child, so there were three baby gates all within view: right when you opened the front door down the stairs to the garage, at the top of the steps between the living and dining room, and at the opening of the stairs up to the top level (there was a fourth one at the top of the stairs outside the bedroom doors). It was madness. We\u2019ve since taken down the one between the living and dining spaces because our girl can confidently and safely climb up and down those.<\/p>\n

But readers, there are some positives here. It is nice to have our dining room fully separated from our living room as someone who works at the dining table, and it\u2019s nice to be a half level above to see out through our windows onto our beautiful street without being directly at eye level with anyone walking by.<\/p>\n

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don\u2019t forget that em lived in a multi-level home where the living room was sunken down a half level, the dining and kitchen were on another level, and the family room and bedrooms were on yet another level (none a full story up so not technically two stories). design by emily henderson | photo by tessa neustadt<\/a> | from: how we styled our living room to sell<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aside from my own pluses, there *are* reasons split-level and bi-level homes came to be so popular. According to this Architectural Digest article<\/a> on the subject, they started popping up in the mid-century after World War II when families were moving out of cities with all those babies they were having. The suburbs were booming, and developers were squeezing as many homes into neighborhoods as they could. The split-level offered a way to get more square footage into smaller lots, which meant they were more affordable than a larger single-level ranch or even two-story Colonials or Craftsmen. Here are a few other advantages:<\/p>\n