Parlor or Garden bedrooms for lower duplex?
I searched the forum and didn’t see a lot of opinions on this (and I thought I would). So. If you could renovate your owner’s lower duplex any way you wished, would you prefer: a) bedrooms on garden floor, home’s main entrance through shared stoop/lobby into parlor floor (higher ceiling kitchen & living room) with…
I searched the forum and didn’t see a lot of opinions on this (and I thought I would).
So. If you could renovate your owner’s lower duplex any way you wished, would you prefer:
a) bedrooms on garden floor, home’s main entrance through shared stoop/lobby into parlor floor (higher ceiling kitchen & living room) with deck/stairs to yard, or
b) bedrooms on parlor floor, home’s main entrance through private under-the-stoop door, with kitchen and living room at garden level opening onto patio/backyard.
I’m so torn. I feel like the parlor floor windows (and higher ceiling) deserve to be the living room.
BUT… “Going downstairs” to go to bed seems so bizarre.
Anyone care to speculate on the best combination for resale value?
(FYI – can’t turn it into a garden rental due to rent regulated tenants on top floor.)
Thanks for your thoughts!
We live in a place with Option B and I like it. We sleep in the back, so we don’t hear upstairs neighbors coming and going, and we keep our TV and computer in front parlor room, with our daughter in the middle bedroom on that floor.
I like that our bedroom has 12 foot ceilings and 10 foot windows. You really see the plaster details when you are lying down…. but if we had to use the front parlor room for sleeping, I think I would be less satisfied. In fact, we did for awhile, and it was not great. I also wouldn’t feel great about having a kid sleeping that close to the front door. Call me paranoid.
Not long after moving, I was talking to a neighbor at a party and mentioned my desire to (one day) move our kitchen up to the parlor floor. She replied immediately: “Don’t Do It!” She said she knew a lot of people who had moved kitchens upstairs and didn’t like it, they didn’t like having the kitchen away from the garden and ground floor entry. Something about downstairs bedrooms just seems a little creepy to me, but I can’t explain that.
The weird thing to me is, the parlor floor is the most beautiful thing to see when shopping for real estate, but when you’re living in the house, the parlor floor is not a optimum space in many ways. The problem is the exposure to the street and of course upstairs neighbors if you have them.
There was a discussion here a few months back about whether a garden apartment would have too much street noise. But the gardens don’t get much street noise at all. You get it all on the parlor. I guess that’s why in single family buildings the parlor is formal room and not often used.
My current renovation fantasies are more along the lines of partially exposing the kitchen ceiling beams and installing some wainscoating and built-ins downstairs, and keeping the parlor bedrooms, maybe with a few built-ins up there as well.
I really like the living/kitchen/garden space being all continuous, and the lower ceilings make it cozy, which is not a bad thing.
I wouldn’t worry about resale. Decide how you want to live. And the fact that moving a kitchen costs major bucks is nothing to sneeze at. For now, we are staying put…
We lived in a coop where the lower unit had the bedrooms on the lower floor. It was a stunning apartment, and makes a lot of sense because the darker rooms are what is used at night. They had it set up with LR/DR/Kitchen/Powder Room and deck with stairs on the Parlor, and they had reclaimed some of the front hall space next to the stairs. Downstairs there was room for 2 bedrooms and a rec room in the back with garden access. Separation from the hallway flow of other tenants was nice for them. Also allowed the washer dryer on the bedroom floor – nearer to where the laundry is.
Thank you very much for the comments and perspectives – it’s a relief to hear it all come down on one side.
This should (emphasis on “should”) help convince the wife. 😉
Happy Holidays!
Definitely for Resale you should do option A. If you get a good architect on board maybe they can show you some options you didn’t know existed.
Option A. Much quieter and not a waste of the high ceilings, etc. I have the option of using the parlor or garden entrance. I try to use the garden mostly to maintain privacy for myself and the tenants.
definitely option A. I have spent time in both, and as others have said – noise from upstairs tenant will bother you if parlor floor is sleeping quarters. That said, there can be humidity probs on garden levels, so if you are sensitive to that – best to factor in dehumidifying / conditioning the air down there.
most people i know convert the second and third floors into the landlord apartment with a stair to the rear yard and the garden apartment is just that
OPTION A!!!!
We live in a lower duplex rental that is configured like Option B and it is AWFUL. The noise from our upstairs neighbors is so bad that we now temporarily sleep on the garden level until we can move.
Plus, the Garden level really is quite dark compared to the lower level and spending all waking hours there especially during the winter can be a bit depressing.
I am in agreement with the option A gang. A parlor level floor open to the full length of a brownstone, and visually open to a rear deck and yard, is a wonderful space to behold…