I think they can work in the right situation but it ruins the open plan you seem to be after- without it you have a nine foot ceiling? Do that.

A "step down" is an invitation to a fall, soon to be followed by an insurance claim. Search Houzz discussions on this topic.

I think this is one of those ideas that sounds good (better room differentiation, more volume, etc) but in reality -ESPECIALLY in an open concept - just turns into a trip hazard.

Our old house had one step down into a great room. BUT... the entry to the room was through single door or doube door sized case openings that made you clearly aware you were changing rooms. I never tripped or misstepped due to the walls / doorways.

Here - with a wide open step down, I see ER visits in your future.

Unless someone in your family is 7’ tall a 9’ ceiling is very adequate. Agree with both previous statements. Keeping level floors is critical for any stage of life, from toddlers to grandparents.

9’ ceilings are fine.

Two steps down is better than one step down, it’s more natural.

My family home had a sunken living room, though a level family room, too. My parents stopped going into the sunking living room by 90. (Although with a caregiver, Mom could still do it at 93.)

The little kids loved it. No falls in 50 years.

If you don't see a particular design element like a sunken room very often there is usually a reason why and you see very, very few sunken rooms.

A very common modernist feature from the 1960s.

71 Park Lane Circle, Toronto. sold C$13.8m Oct. '21

Our sub-division-style two-storey 1964 house, now awaiting demolition, has a sunken living room. A tripping hazard in a room we never used.

Steven Holl Architects, which delights in creating high-end geometric puzzles, is noted for using multi-level layouts.

Planar House, Paradise Valley, Arizona. arch. Steven Holl Architects

IMO a 9' ceiling is perfect and I do not know what your home looks like but I had a 1905 house and it had 9' ceilings everywhere and I did not ever feel they were too low . In fact now wehave 8' ceilings in our MCM ranch and I like them too. FYI do get the architect to design your kitchen either.

When house hunting last year, I wouldn't even take a second glance at any listing that had a sunken room (because of the trip/fall hazard others have mentioned) so take your resale value into account.

How tall are the ceilings on the first floor in the original 1910 home? I would replicate that ceiling height in your new space. You are differentiating your new addition with modern windows, I assume. They will give you the spacious feeling that you are looking for, I believe. Good luck!

Only do a sunken living room if there is space for a four foot by fifteen foot ramp.

@ptreckel 9' ceilings. The exterior is going to match the rest of the house with windows, french doors, etc.

Homes around us that were built in the mid-90's are having their sunken rooms raised (at a considerable expense) to have a safe flush floor throughout the house.

btw, even though I like sunken spaces (hey, I’m a child of the ’60s), I don’t think they work in an open concept like this.

I would stick with 9ft ceilings throughout the first floor as they are not considered low ceilings anyways and are in keeping with your house. I think doing a step down or a step up for just one foot difference will also translate to the exterior which will look different no matter which floor it is on. On the top floor you'd have to raise the roof in those areas along with the windows, and a sunken area will have the windows at a different level as well and also provide less headroom for the foundation as I'm assuming you have a crawlspace or a basement. Having the space to easily access the crawlspace would be preferable to me in addition to all the other drawbacks and potential dangers of a step-down inside.

@lyfia he did the sunken room because of the exterior, so I get where he was going with it. We're not big fans of the steps down inside though. The french doors are lowered because the family room would sit lower.

Not a fan of small step-ups or step-downs myself. Also for only a foot difference it wouldn't be worth it to me. I'd rather have uniform continuous ceilings in my house vs. the 1ft difference as it would look off with just the 1 ft and like someone made a mistake while building it.

Looks like he tried to balance it with the transom, but from that it also looks like raising it in the upstairs will cause some elevation issues.

This is the updated exterior once the sunken living room is removed. Does it look odd? @lyfia

@Hillary no it doesn't but if you were to raise the master above it then it would as the master window would need to sit higher and the roof line needs to be higher as well. The window no longer would align with the right window.

I would never want a sunken family room, even for 10' ceilings. 9' ceilings are still quite luxurious. A step down is an annoyance and at worst a potential trip hazard. I had a multi-level home where the main family room was 3 steps down from the kitchen and it was incredibly annoying.

I can't comment on the overall plan or your reasoning.

I just want to mention that the house that I grew up in, built in 1914, had a sunken room (2 steps down IIRC) off of the LR and completely open to the LR (but it wasn't as wide as the LR - the door to the screened porch was on one side, a window on the other. The ceiling in that room reached to the top of the 2nd story; there was a little room accessed from a 2nd floor bedroom that had small windows that overlooked the sunken room. We referred to it as the "music room" because that is where the piano and the stereo were kept.

So yes, you might see a sunken room in a house or that era.

I would NEVER do a sunken room of any sort in any home - I am too much a klutz to deal with that. And if I were looking to buy - a sunken room would be an immediate: "delete from consideration" choice.

@lyfia thank you for your responses! The right window is on a 2 step up from the addition window, it's complicated :P our staircase turns and up on 2 steps to the main bedrooms. Where the addition is would be flush the staircase landing (so 2 steps "below" the rest of the house).

@Patricia Colwell Consulting thank you, we don't feel like we need more ceiling height either, I believe it was done to also tie in with the exterior designed (french doors open straight to terrace). What would you suggest on the kitchen?

A friend fell down her sunken LR steps and did major damage that will be a lifelong issue for her. I would never do it; especially if the home is to be a retirement home. The fad may come back at some time, but I wouldn't hope for that; it has probably been over and done for a long time. As the population ages, deadly trends will fade, and good riddance!

Agree with artemis: I would never build nor buy a house with sunken or raised rooms. They are dangerous and seem really contrived to me - a little bit of the unusual just for the h@ll of it. I’d pass.

@Hillary - I think I'd rather have the steps to the terrace than inside the house since inside the house you will be using those steps a lot more than you do going out on the terrace in daily life. It sure is a lot of quirks dealing with an old house vs. starting from scratch. Having the entry to the master from the landing seems better to me than adding additional steps to also get into the master, which I'm not sure where you would put them without taking up space in the master or encroaching on the ceiling downstairs. Or is your second picture with the raised master already in place?

No. Please don't. Sunken living rooms are outdated and impractical, not to mention dangerous.

2017 - neighbors were doing an extensive remodel on a newly purchased 1970's home. I strongly suggested that they have the sunken LR filled in...but they didn't. Christmas 2021, her mother (a life-long teetotaler at age 62) fell, resulting in a broken ankle and bruising. The LR will be filled in as soon as the matching hardwood floor becomes available.

chifipper, thinking you meant you strongly suggested not to have a sunken living room?

Chiflipper said she ”strongly suggested they have the sunken living room filled in.”

I had cllents who wanted to modify their house so the husband's father could live with them. The work included raising the living room sunken floor which was very expensive but they didn't want to move.

The first thing we did to our '70s house was raise the floor in the sunken living room. It was down one step from the foyer. This was a fad that ran it's course. We are so glad we made that change. The house still has 3 steps down to the den but it a doorway and obvious. The old dog can't manage those 3 steps anymore but it is fine for most humans.

We have 4 steps down from foyer to open concept main floor but all of the main floor is one one level. One room on own a step down seems like a dangerous plan.

@lyfia I agree, I personally rather one flat first floor inside and step down once we go outside. That's the master being level with the landing. Adding a step up just means all bedrooms would be on the same level