apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I live in a space with only stairs and an industrial elevator. I know plenty of people who take the stairs. What's the takeaway from this post?

Having lived in apartments my whole life, I just don't feel comfortable sleeping on the ground floor. Plus, I like the division of purpose upstairs/downstairs offers.

Depends on whether you're under 40 or over 40. (Only half-joking.) But once you've experienced being put out of commission even temporarily with a knee or foot problem, stairs stop being romantic. I moved from a charming fourth-floor walk-up three years ago just before facing knee surgery, and was congratulating myself for having moved into an elevator building ... then I had to deal with the three steps down into our lobby, not to mention the two steps into my sunken living room! And as for loft beds ... not any more!

I recently moved out of a two-level apartment - my beef with the stairs was that the bathrooms were on the 2nd level, which could be annoying.

Stairs or not, I have to have high ceilings.

Stairs for the building are welcome. I prefer the apartment itself to be all one level. However, I have a toddler.

A lot of houses in Amsterdam have huge hooks on the top, which they use to hoist up the furniture because the stairways are sooooo narrow and steep. And here in Belgium they open the windows and load the furniture in from the street by way of an escalator-type thing attached to a truck.

I responded no stairs to the survey; however, its seems to me that, from an environmental point of view, two story/multi story residential dwellings are better uses of space, as opposed to same amount of square footage over a much larger footprint. But maybe I'm wrong . . . .

I prefer stairs. I like having the living area downstairs and the bedrooms upstairs. Of course, there needs to be a bathroom on each floor. That being said, moving furniture is a pain and items do tend to get dinged more in the moving, but I have realized that movers are a vital luxery. And my family and friends are much happier too.

BTW: does anyone know who manufactures the clock in the photo?

Thx. David

This is an area where I would have answered in a completely different manner twenty years ago. Now that I'm in my fifties, all on one floor is heavenly. When my back is bothering me, carrying things up a flight of stairs is miserable. When the leg I injured in an accident when I was thirteen aches, I am very grateful not to be dealing with stairs.

Believe me, the places that I lived in when I was thirty are not the places I want now that I'm fifty.

I miss the daily exercise of living in a 5th floor walk-up in Boston. Even though moving in and out were probably the worse days of my life. :)

Now, I'm lucky to find an apartment with even a 3rd floor in LA!

I went from a 2nd floor apartment to a 2 story townhouse and now live in a small cape cod home and have gladly traded the stairs for one story and big back yard.

I answered "no stairs" also. But I wouldn't mind a second story that had a disabled ramp up to it. And it would have to be with nothing of real importance on that second floor.

Maybe if it was a roof deck on a small home.

But I can't do those stairs anymore. My spinal problem just gets worse each year, it seems.

And even without it, I don't like heights. One floor off the ground is OK. More than that and it's like the Vertigo movie.

I try to fit in as much activity during my daily life as I can, so I prefer stairs. However, I can see where it would be difficult for those with back or knee problems. I hope my body holds up a little longer, because I live on the second floor and there's no elevator.

I like both. It depends on the style of house. I just moved into a 2-story and love it, but it has the luxury of a half-bath on the lower level, too.

I second david--who makes the clock?