Getting ready for retirement - upstairs or main?
 

DH and I are buying (totally my idea but he has given up and joined in) a little 1960's house in the country. I want to remodel it, use it for a weekend place until we retire, then live there full time. Closer to the kids/grandkids, doctors, etc.

I am planning to remodel the house by adding a garage and master bedroom with bonus area (including dormers) above. So my question is - should I use the bonus area for my sewing area (couple of machines, embroidery, long arm and a lot of fabric)? Or should I knock out the wall between a couple of bedrooms on the main level and use that? I would then have natural light and views to the north, east, and south (would also have that in the bonus area). If I use the bedrooms on the main, the bonus area would then become a couple of bedrooms (or a 'bunk room') for the grand kids.

New area would mean new wiring, outlets where I want them; main would make it really easy and convenient.....

I would really appreciate your input!

We kind of did what you are discussing. We knocked out the wall between two small bedrooms and made it one bigger room with a half bath in one corner. Originally we used it as our master bedroom. My husband had three children from his first marriage. In the first ten years or so or our marriage they have moved in and out of our home as things with their mother changed etc. We ended up adding an additional bedroom on to the far end of our house which is now our master. For a time our together daughter used the former master with the half bath as her bedroom. She has since finished college, gotten married and moved entirely out of the community. That room is now my sewing/computer room. At this point we don't even have a bed for guests anymore. I would recommend that you use the ground level room for your sewing area. At this point my stash is housed in a room in our basement along with our laundry facilities. The main part of the basement is a finished club room that requires a fire in the woodstove to make it useable in the winter. The steps are getting to be a challenge as I and my spouse age. I would vote for the main level workroom.

I have my sewing room upstairs. Bought the house that way with a sewing room already set up. While everyone drools over it, I wouldn't have another one upstairs. I spend all my time running up and downstairs. My dh calls me and back and forth I go. Laundry or baking whatever, I am up and down. On the plus side,you don't have to worry no matter how messing yr room gets upstairs, no one sees it. I really believe I would have more time to sew if it was on the main floor.

I think it should be on the main floor as you will use it more often than the grandkids will be over (probably?). My sewing area is downstairs and so far the stairs aren't a problem, but I can see some days my knee would rather not cooperate. Options are a nice problem to have. I just think proximity would be convenient and the lighting sounds wonderful. Good luck on your decisions and retirement is fabulous!

I would have mine on the same floor in in proximity to the kitchen, as these are the two "activities" you will travel between multiple times per day.
Another consideration is the bathroom location.

I vote for the ground floor. The stairs get harder and harder to use as time goes on. I have a sewing room upstairs and one downstairs. My cutting table is upstairs. When I'm up there, I stay up there and I have to be very careful coming down the stairs. I can no longer just go up and down like it's nothing, and I do have to hold on tightly as I come down. Again, downstairs would be my vote.

Definitely main level. Last summer we sold our two story and bought a one level home for the very reason you state... getting ready for retirement. We have one guest room and the other bedroom is my sewing room. Sometimes both our grown children and their spouses spend the night at the same time, so the sewing room is converted into a bedroom via a high quality queen size blow up bed. But there's not closet there as we shelved the entire double closet with shelving to hold my stash.

Main floor sewing/quilting space - bonus space would be a great bunk room for the grandkids....

I would choose downstairs. You will probably be sewing well past the time you can navigate the stairs easily. I like to still feel close to my husband when I am sewing. When the kids all moved out, we converted one bedroom to his office and across the hall another bedroom became my sewing room. We really like this set-up. We are close yet still have our separate space. He's neat and I'm messy. We still have a guest bedroom for when the grandkids come over.