Dwellings you LOVE

[ny biker]

My father has lived in the same house since he was 12 years old. He is now 76. My mother has lived there for more than 50 years, and she is 74. It's two stories with a basement. The house is on a hill, so the basement is below ground in the front of the house but ground-level in the back. When they go out to the car, they usually go out through the basement. The basement is also where they do laundry, store a lot of their food (the kitchen is small so there is a pantry area in the laundry room, along with a full-size freezer). There's also a work room for my father and his large model train layout.

Their bedroom is on the second floor of the house.

So my parents walk up and down stairs all day long. Honestly, I think it's one of the reasons why they are in such good health for their age, because they are constantly getting exercise as they go about their lives.

(If they had to, they could move their bedroom to the main floor, though my father would hate that since there is no heat in that room.)

[emily_in_nc]

So my parents walk up and down stairs all day long. Honestly, I think it's one of the reasons why they are in such good health for their age, because they are constantly getting exercise as they go about their lives.

I totally agree. I'm 50, and DH is 58, and I wouldn't hesitate to build a two-story house again if we were going to build a house. My mom is 77 and still lives in a two-story house and does fine. It's actually some of the only exercise she gets, so I am glad she has stairs to climb! I fully intend to be able to do stairs for a long, long time. Only time living in a two-story (w/all bedrooms and showers upstairs) wasn't good was when I fractured my pelvis and had to have a hospital bed in the living room until I could butt-scoot up the stairs.

We live in a four-story condo building now, and the wife of the couple who live in the penthouse is scared of elevators and always takes the stairs. She's 72 and very fit. That's exactly how I plan to be. And if by chance I'm not, I'll deal with it. I've moved enough in my lifetime that having to move again due to a physical limitation wouldn't be a huge deal.

We happen to live on the first floor in a single-story condo now, but that wasn't by choice; it was just the only condo available that suited our needs. If we could have put this condo on a higher floor, we would have done it and taken the steps. It's just more private being on an upper floor.