Two words: site specific.

There are lots of apartments in my area wit the upside down arrangement, and I know someone who had a house with this set-up. But in each case you enter on the floor with the living space. The shore house we used to rent was upside down so you could see over the dunes and this house you entered at the bottom but really only big grocery trips were inconvenient. But there was an elevator. We rarely used it except for moving in, out, and the first big shopping.

I lived in one of the upside down apartments. It was fine.

@3onthetree of course it’s site specific. I suppose I over assumed that people understood it only makes sense if the views make sense.

@chipsa I’m a real estate agent in my beach community, and most of the 1st and 2nd and even 3rd row houses from the beach are 3 floor stilted homes, but aside from the bottom floor basically being an above ground basement, the middle floor is the main living space and the bedrooms are still on the top floor, or they’re 7 bedroom vacation homes with 2-3 bedrooms per floor, so I’m not really considering beachfront stilted homes. Im mostly thinking about traditional 2 story homes, just, upside down.

Traditionally, the bedroom sq ft. is smaller than the living area sq. ft. So having the bedrooms on the second floor gives you the option of a smaller second floor.

Homes always designwed for the site . We have a MCM ranch with a walkout basemetn where we are on a hill so all of our bedrooms and main living space on the main floor to really enjoy the view the walk out has offices, media room and storage the media room still has bit of the view but no much. This house wastoatlly designed for the view with facing south and huge windows on thta side with large overhangs to protect from the summer sun. God design is always done for real living .

"Traditionally, the bedroom sq ft. is smaller than the living area sq. ft. So having the bedrooms on the second floor gives you the option of a smaller second floor."

Not to be intentionally didactic, but the smaller second story put on top of the larger first story is primarily a latter part of the 20th century phenomenon, and an irregularly shaped small second story plopped on top of a larger irregularly shaped lower story to which it bears no relationship shape wise is almost an entirely 21st century phenomenon.

Traditionally, the house was a rectangle of the same size on both stories unless the upper story was not a full story and impinged upon by the roof, or if it was two different sizes it was a smaller rectangle offset on a larger rectangle, with which it usually shared some walls.

With regard to the main living and bedroom square footage:

Again, I’m not a pro, other than being a real estate agent, but every time I design a traditional 2 story, I’m always struggling with the puzzle that is laying out the bedroom spaces. I always end up expanding my main living spaces to unrealistic sizes to compensate for the bedroom layout and square footage I need.

And yes, with the main floor primary bedroom trend (which I dislike) and keeping the overall bedroom count low, the bedroom sqftage is often smaller than the main living space. But if I want a 4 or 5 BR home with all bedrooms on the same floor, that bedroom sqftage is certainly going to be larger than the total main living sqftage.

I am not sure that it's necessary though. I grew up in a 4 BR, + bonus room that could have been a bedroom, and the house was the same square footage on each floor. I guess the difference was that there was one hall bath for three bedrooms and one master bath and neither of them were the huge bathroom that people seem to require now.

I live in a city where the houses are all attached so every house is rectangular on every floor. Many of them though are three story.

I was in an urban infill house built like this - the light and vaulted ceilings were lovely. entryway directly to stairs was weird/uninviting. many houses have lots of stairs up to them here so not as much of an issue for resale here. i have to carry my groceries up 12 stairs in my house that is essentially 1 story so no different really!

Actually this is not to one-up anybody, but in the place we lived in before this we carried groceries up 52 steps. And I think there was another unit where once inside, they needed to carry the groceries up a flight inside the apartment because their kitchen was on the very top floor.

Yup -- our beach front house has the bedrooms on the lower levels and the kitchen and great room up on what's technically the 3rd floor. Every time I carry the groceries up I wonder if the view of ocean, beach, dolphins, etc. is worth it and yup, it is every time.

"why do the bedrooms get the benefit of the higher/better views from the 2nd floor?"

Trees grow leaves at second floor level and they block the view.

What do I win?

@Mark,

Would you be open to a weekend in a tree house as reward for your contributions to this thread? If so, e-mail tink@peterpanenterprises.com

Mark has a good point there! Our first-floor living areas look straight out into garden views. Our second story bedrooms look out at tree tops and neighbor's roofs. Another reason to have bedrooms on the top floors is traffic. Much nicer to have the active living-area people tromping about below the sleepers, not above them.

Mark always has a good point, usually hidden under the humor. He wins yet another golden retriever......? : ) or a new ensuite at the kids house, where the bed is in the "wrong" locale.

To be noted, there are climates with trees barren of leaf for six months of the year lol.

California splits and split entries have the living spaces upstairs, along with a bedroom or two, and other bedrooms downstairs. Not a full flight up or down, but when you take into account the stairs from outside to the front door, that’s a flight.

In some places, tree canopy Is the view, not an impediment to a view. Better than a line of parked cars.

Our beach house has this layout. The first floor is the garage, 2nd floor has bedrooms, 3rd floor kitchen, living, dining room and more bedrooms and the 4th floor two master suites. The 3rd and 4th floors have decks with ocean views. We do have an elevator.

Rather than the view, the best benefit of an upper story is privacy, security and evening breezes. The original purpose of louvered shutters was to facilitate those advantages.

I love ranch style homes where one end has bedoorms some with a view and some not but the whole main living space has the view we have one now with a full walk out basement that also has a view since we are on a hill . I think every home needs to be designed for the plot that they are on and the whole issue of security I guess is a must for some people but good design rules . I have never felt unsafe in my ranch.

The first upside down house I encountered belonged to my best friend's family when I was a kid. The house was on a sloped lot with a walkout basement, along a river. Street level had a formal living room and a couple of bedrooms; downstairs was the kitchen, dining, family room, and at least one more bedroom.It was great for access to the outside.

My son's townhouse is similar to Caroline's beach house, with garage/laundry at ground level, bedrooms and bathrooms in the middle, and kitchen/living room on the top level. Yes, it is a hike with groceries, but he lives a block from a grocery store and usually walks or rides his bike there, so there's never much to carry at once.

We stay in a 3-story cabin at a resort, with the kitchen, living room, and one bedroom on the middle level. This is great for eating meals on the deck off the kitchen, with a view of the lake. Floor level has a second living room, bedroom and bath; top floor has 2 bedrooms and 2 alcoves with trundle beds.