Stairs in living room or not?

gazfocus

Just looking for a bit of advice...our house is a 7 year old, 3 bed semi so is quite modern but we're looking to make some improvements so enable us to make better use of the space.

One of the things that put me off the house initially is that the stairs are in the living room so one thing I'm thinking of is having an internal stud wall built to separate the stairs,giving a doorway into the living room and to give us an under stair cupboard.

Do you think this would be a good move? Would this make the house more (or less) appealing if we were ever to sell?

Thanks in advance

ariba10

It would make a difference to the cost of heating the room that the staircase was in.

Bella73

More appealing to people like us as we immediately discounted houses with stairs in the living room as we just don't like it and always think that you lose so much heat going up the stairs. So personally would do it.

gazfocus

Bella73 wrote: »

More appealing to people like us as we immediately discounted houses with stairs in the living room as we just don't like it and always think that you lose so much heat going up the stairs. So personally would do it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one...I immediately dismissed the house due to the stairs but my wife twisted my arm.

mummyroysof3

I don't like that due to heating issues and personal preference so would appeal to me more if wall was put up

katejo

I quite like stairs in the living area but this usually comes together with a front door which opens onto the living area with no porch area and I don't like that .

gazfocus

katejo wrote: »

I quite like stairs in the living area but this usually comes together with a front door which opens onto the living area with no porch area and I don't like that .

There is a porch but its still not great having stairs in the living room

jellie

This is my second house with stairs off the lounge, so not a problem for me although both houses have porches.

As for the heat rising, it means the radiators upstairs can be turned down low or even off altogether.

ed110220

If there's room I'd do it. I always think stairs in the living room looks show home-y and not very practical. In my type of house there is a non-structural wall between the living room and hall/stairs that quite a few people remove to have one large room across the whole width of the house, but I would not like that at all.

SailorSam

My last house had the stairs in the lounge, a couple of people boxed them in but it didn't look right. Ok you lose a bit of heat but you gain it upstairs.

Yorkie1

I can't quite picture what you describe, OP.

When you come down the stairs, will there just be a door at the bottom step which opens straight into the lounge still?

If so, that sounds a bit of a pain to me if I needed to negotiate a door whenever I came downstairs. Could be a safety hazard?

You'd also have to consider whether boxing the stairs in / putting a door at the bottom made them a little too narrow to carry larger things / furniture up and down stairs.