The Best House Floor Plan For Work-From-Home Parents With Young Kids

In the past, I used to think the best house floor plan for a family with young kids was all on a single floor. The house would have 700 or more square feet per person and be spread out over a large lot. However, with many parents now working from home, I've slightly changed my mind.

My original thinking was that with a house all on one floor, there would be fewer to no steps to trip over and cause potential injury. Further, parents could more easily keep an eye on their kids if the floorplan was more open and on one floor.

If you have endless money, having a massive house all on one floor is the best floor plan. You can have “wings” of the house where parents work, kids play, and the family sleeps.

However, I live in San Francisco where land is extremely expensive. And many readers live in expensive cities with expensive median home prices as well. Thus, having a good-sized home all on one floor is uneconomical for most people. As a homeowner, you would be foolish not to build at least two levels or more.

More Levels The Better For Work-From-Home Parents

If fewer levels are more ideal for a family with kids, then having a home on two levels is the next best thing. A home with three levels may be the third best choice for the best floor plan for work-from-home parents.

Let me explain with an example and floorplan of a 3,373 square foot home on two levels. A house on two levels is a standard floor plan available for most families.

A Two Level Home May Not Be Ideal For Work-From-Home Families

Below is the floorplan of a 3,373 square foot home. It has three bedrooms, an office, three full bathrooms, one half bathrooms, and an open kitchen/living/dining room.

It is on a 5,000 square foot lot and is newly remodeled. The home should be able to comfortably house a family of four (two adults, two children). It is the typical middle-class home with a nice backyard.

A Great Home, But The Floor Plan Was Not Ideal

Originally, I thought this two-level home was ideal compared to our multi-level home.

But after each successive review, the desire to own the home waned. Not only was the price expensive, but we also realized the home's layout was not ideal for the two of us working from home with a toddler and a 5.5-year-old.

For their asking price, we felt like it was missing one level or an additional wing. Even though this house was 1,000 square foot larger and more expensive than our home, I'm not sure we would trade homes, even for the same price! We owned a home on four levels.

Here are five reasons why the house did not have the best layout for work-from-home families with young children. If our kids were teenagers, the house would have been a better fit.

Not The Best House Floor Plan Reason #1: Primary Bedroom Shares Walls

Sharing walls is not ideal if you want more privacy. The fewer the number of bedrooms that share walls, the better the floor plan.

The sound from watching TV or taking work video calls will easily bleed through the walls, especially if there is a vent. As a result, your own relaxation or conference calls will be affected.

If you have guests or an au pair staying in one of the bedrooms, the layout may also feel too close for comfort. At least each bedroom has its own bathroom. This prevents any awkwardness of coming out of the room naked and bumping into someone.

Ideally, the best house floor plan has bedrooms that don't share walls with other bedrooms. If they do share walls, ideally there will be a buffer with a closet or bathroom.

Not The Best House Floor Plan Reason #2: Family Room, Dining Area, Kitchen Are One

If you have an open kitchen that blends into the family room and dining area, you end up just having one large room. It looks and feels great. However, if you're working from home and can't deal with distractions, then this one great area effectively becomes only one room. It's kind of like the open office floorpan.

As a result, the house might get smaller with an open kitchen, not larger. Sure, one of the solutions would be to wear headphones to drown out the noise of playing children. But if you are easily distracted visually by someone else in the room or your kid running around, it will be difficult to concentrate.

Therefore, it may be better to have a house floor plan consisting of a formal dining room that can be closed off. Although, the house tends to become darker as a result.

The modern home that more people tend to love is the open floor plan. So take note for resale value. If you have a dining room, living room, kitchen combination, then use that room for its intended purposes, not for work.

Not The Best House Floor Plan Reason #3: Bedrooms Above Family Room

Notice how the primary bedroom is directly above the family room. As someone who likes to take afternoon naps, having my kids screaming with joy right above isn't great.

The first floor family room also has a huge TV on the wall, which may also disturb bedroom occupants upstairs. Although this can be mitigated by turning down the volume.

Therefore, the best house floor plan does not have bedrooms above a busy common area. Instead, bedrooms should be above the least used space in the house.

Not The Best House Floor Plan Reason #4: Bedrooms Above Common Rooms

A bedroom above common rooms isn't ideal for noice either. Given every person has to walk around their bedroom, foot noise is unavoidable. This is especially true if you have thin and creaky floors with no sound-proofing layer.

Luckily, this layout has one of the best layouts, where all three bedrooms are on one floor. Below the bedrooms are the family room, living room, and garage room. If the residents in the bedrooms above are quiet, then the noise won't disturb the people below.

Ideally, you want to have a floor that contains a kitchen, living room, and/or dining room in between the bedroom, which will act as a sound buffer. Further, if you have a home on two floors, ideally, the bedrooms on both floors will be on opposite ends of the house. If you have a home on three floors, the rooms can continue to zig-zag.

Not The Best House Floor Plan Reason #5: No Door At The Bottom Of The Stairwell

If you work from home and have little kids, you want to confine them to a certain area of the home while you work. Kids naturally gravitate towards their parents for fun, love, and support. Wherever I go, my kids follow! Hence, having them out of sight on a different floor enables you to work more efficiently.

In this home's layout, there is no door at the bottom of the stairwell to confine, or at least, slow down the kids. As a result, if the kids are playing downstairs, they can easily “escape” and run upstairs to see what daddy or mommy are up to. Not only that, given there is no door at the bottom or top of the stairwell, sound travels much more easily throughout the house.

The good thing about this house floor plan is that it has a large double garage at the other side of the house. The owner can turn the garage into a play area for the kids, like we have done with our home.

Utilize your garage as a living area, play area, or work area and park your car in the driveway!

Multiple Floors Is A Better Floor Plan For A Work-From-Home Family

If you can own a large, one-storied home sprawled across an acre or more, then having only one floor for a work-from-home family works. Having different wings designed in a hub and spoke layout works well. However, due to economics, most homes aren't built this way.

Therefore, the second best house floor plan for work-from-home parents is for the house to be on two floors and spread across as much land as possible. Ideally, the offices and bedrooms would be on opposite sides of the house for privacy. In addition, the family rooms are not directly above or below bedrooms or offices.

Below is a two-story home I could live in. Even though it's only on two floors there are bedrooms at the ends of each home. Further, there's this office/gym room to the left on the ground floor near the pool. Not bad!

Alas, this 7,000+ square foot home costs over $15 million in Oahu.

Consider Each Floor As A “Unit Of Privacy”

Instead of one or two floors, it may actually be better to have three or four floors in your house if you plan to work from home with young kids. This way, you have more areas of privacy and levels for buffers. Rooms count as one unit of privacy while floors count as another unit of privacy.

Other units of privacy include decks, where you can rest or work outdoors on a nice day. Another unit of privacy is a nicely finished garage, which we currently use as our playroom. Another unit of privacy is the pool or hot tub, where you can take conference calls or just relax.

The final unit of privacy is the back or front yard. In the home above, you've got a backyard, the public beach, and endless miles of ocean. Sweet!

Having a large yard for the children to play in as you do work or take a nap is huge. The outdoors is great for kids.

Safety From The Stairs Abates As Kids Get Older

The biggest downside to owning a home with three or more floors are the stairs. Stairs add more risk to everyone, not just young children and elderly parents or grandparents.

Therefore, if you're older, the ideal home layout should also have bedrooms and bathrooms on the entrance floor. Ideally, you walk into your home from street level and the bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, and living room are all there for the best layout.

For kids, a home with multiple floors becomes less of a danger issue once kids are about five years old or older. By age three or four, they will learn how to more safely navigate the stairs. But it's only after age five where you will stop truly worrying about them falling down the stairs and hurting themselves. Make sure to be vigilant in guiding your kids up and down the stairs before age three.

Due to the fear of falling, the desire to have a one-story home or two-story home is ideal for many families. It just depends on how much you want to sacrifice in terms of size.

Most homes in expensive areas build vertical to maximize land cost. But if you can find a large-enough home over one or two stories, that could be the best house floor plan for work-from-home parents.

You Want Fewer Floors As You Get Older

After the age of 60, you may want to own a home with fewer floors. Knees tend to give out or get damaged with age. The fewer the number of stairs, the better as you age. Hence, plan the type of house floor plan you want to live in accordingly.

The best time to own the nicest home you can afford is when you have kids. Once the kids are out of the house, you may want to simplify to a smaller, one-story home or a condominium for safety and simplicity.

Four Floor Home Is The Maximum

Four floors is doable as the best floor plan for work-from-home parents. But any more than four floors might make the house feel too vertical. It's cumbersome enough to climb up three flights of stairs, let alone four. But again, it depends on the layout.

If you can enter the home from the ground floor where there is the kitchen, living room, dining room, and bedrooms are located, that feels pretty good. The split down and up is nice.

However, if the home has three floors above the ground floor, then that might feel like too many floors for some people.

Related: Why Remodeled Homes Will Sell For Greater Premiums Going Forward

Silence And Privacy Are Golden For Work-From-Home

As someone who does 99% of his writing and podcasting at home, I need silence to think, write, and record. It's the same thing with reading.

Whenever I hear my kids running around and squealing, all I want to do is stop what I'm doing play with them. Being in a different room on a different floor while working or napping is, therefore, the best solution. If you've ever flown Business Class upstairs on a Boeing 747, I think you'll appreciate the privacy of being on your own floor.

Here is a sweet clip of my boy when he was 3.5 years old. All he wanted to do was play with daddy at 2 pm. But I woke up at 5 am and all I wanted to do was sleep! Although I was exhausted, of course I ultimately agreed to play with him. These are the precious moments parents will cherish forever.

Work-from-home is here to stay. I suspect well-laid-out-homes with two or three floors are going to be more desirable going forward. The larger the home with more land and amenities, the better!

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The Best House Floor Plan For Work-From-Home Parents With Young Kids is a Financial Samurai original post. Sign up for his free weekly newsletter and podcast.