Hellobee Boards

I wish all of our bedrooms were on the same floor. Our main living area is away from our bedrooms so that is good. We can make all the noise we want while DD is sleeping. And then I would want an open floor plan so I can cook and see DD in her play area at the same time. Those are the features that I think are useful. Oh, and air conditioning for the summer is a must. Good luck with your search!

My must haves from the perspective of kid friendly were: two story with all of the bedrooms upstairs, open between the kitchen and living room, and space to have a dedicated playroom (we will use our loft upstairs). We got all of those things. Baby isn't here yet so I can't say for sure that the house will work our perfectly but so far we don't have a single regret. Also, we chose to buy a house well below the max price we could afford. We still have three bedrooms and 2 baths and decent upgrades but we definitely could have afforded a much larger and fancier home but it was important to us to have plenty of extra cash each month for daycare or other expenses. And if God forbid one of us were to lose our job we could still easily afford our mortgage payment on one salary.

I actually prefer a non open kitchen so I can baby gate it and keep the toddlers out of the kitchen. Right now I can gate of the kitchen and dining area. I'm my old house everything was open and it was awful trying to cook and keep them away from things. None of the stove safety precautions were very good. The knob things my kids could just rip off then they would run off with the actual knob. We also have a designated playroom now and it's not the living room. Is very nice to try and keep toys out there. They still bring them into the other areas but at least when I go to clean there is a place to put them.

We have a one story house, so we don't have to worry about stairs or someone opening the window and falling out. And we put a fence out front so LO will be able to run around in the front yard and I won't have to worry- we actually put it in for the dog but it will work for her too.

I'm having more trouble child proofing the actual things that are in the house now that LO is moving around. Like we have a fan in her room, it's free standing, and she loves to try to knock it over, which would be bad if it actually fell on her.