Well, nothe 70s split level is not the new ranch. Not yet. But were wondering if it might be. Were thinking the rage for midcentury modern has just. Ever since I posted about our ranch redo here at TPH, Ive been getting tons of hits from people wanting to update ugly ranch house or make exterior. How to update your home and still keep its unique architectural character is one of the questions we are asked frequently. People are keenly aware that a contemporary. Jalopnik has reached out to Cadillac for comment, and will update if we hear back, but its a surprising move considering the car just came out and to mostly very. Is the 7. 0s split level the new ranch Well, nothe 7. 0s split level is not the new ranch. Not yet. But were wondering if it might be. Were thinking the rage for mid century modern has just about run its course, and something else will have to take its place. If its hard for you to imagine the big 7. We fully appreciate the ranchs low, lean lines and clean, open spaces. Its hard to see anyone getting all drooly over the split levels boxy exteriors and awkward entryways. So, we had a hard time getting excited about the one we were buying. Weve definitely got a city sensibility to us, and our suburban community is long on strip malls and short on charm. It is, however, close to where we work. And its affordable. While we loved the idea of a small, vintage house in a great neighborhood full of old trees and great restaurants and independent bookstores and one of a kind shops, we knew that just wouldnt work for the lives were really living. Weve got two adults and a revolving door of three getting bigger kids with other parents who live about 6. Were a financially stretched, stirred family with members who need both proximity and space. So, yeah We bought a big, boxy split entry house in the suburbs. Ive worked in this city because it is a city in its own right for years, and I always took some pride in living somewhere else. Id tell people where I worked with a smirk, quick to add that I didnt actually live here. I thought I never would. But here I am now, and Im damned if Im going to be all hangdog and sheepish about where we liveor spend the years well be here wishing I were somewhere else. We may be five minutes from chain restaurants, discount retailers, and a warehouse grocery store by car, of course, but were determined to make this our version of the American Dream. While a city neighborhood full of mid century ranches and small, independent businesses would be cool and all, it wouldnt get us the things were really yearning for. Simplicity and sustainability are ideas we like a lot. Buying a house we can afford that works for the life we really live as opposed to one we might dream about seems like a different kind of cool. A more authentic one. Maybe our community isnt full of great stuff and interesting people. Yet. Maybe our house is lacking some style. Right now. But we see lots here to like. We think the suburban split level may be a house whose time is coming, and we want to tell you whyso you can get in while the gettins good. And because if more people who like what we like join us, the community will change in ways wed like. Wouldnt this be a great place to get all craftycreative But I think its not just the lack of front porches that keeps us from seeing more outside art studios. Wed love to live in a sweet little cottage like this, or at least have one in the neighborhood. But theres still a kind of cool. Its just a different kind of old school cool now that the 7. Weve got sidewalks and streetlights and just as many big trees as any established city neighborhood. The street view just around the bend from our cul de sacand the view around the corner at the end of the previous image. See the two split level homes peeking out from those gorgeous trees Weve got spacious yardsWhile corner lots always tend to have more space, those arent the only ones with some breathing room. Our front yard isnt particularly large, but it feels spacious because theres a nice distance between our house and the neighbors on either side Here you can see the space between our house and that of our next door neighbor to the south. And this is the distance between our house and the neighbor on the other side. The neighborhood may be filled with just about nothing but split level homes, but weve realized that theres still quite a bit of architectural variety We really like all the windows on the front of this one. Reminds me of the prow of a ship. We love the outdoor living space over the garage. Thats a feature we havent seen much here. Probably not what you think of when someone says split level but thats exactly what it is. This, too, is a split level, turned sideways on the lot. This is our favorite, with the long, sloped roofline and open center courtyard we so often see in classic ranch homes. This is a classic split entry house. With an updated color scheme, we think its got its own kind of vintage charm. We like our neighborhood so much better than many of the new neighborhoods we see, with houses all crammed together on postage stamp lots, nothing much more than paint color to distinguish one from the other. Our neighborhood has an organic, grown over time quality that we just dont see in new developments. Yes, almost every house is a split level. And yes, some of them are pretty boring and dated. But we see so much potential here, especially for people like us. Meaning, people with more energy than money, who like a good project and want to make a place their own. Take a look at this home, which was on the market for less than a week before a sale pending sticker appeared on the realtors sign This is a project house, for surebut when we look at it we dont so much see the dated color scheme and too cute window boxes and boxy shape as we see that sweet bay window and space for kids and the trees framing three sides of the house. You cant see it, but theres a large side yard and a creek that runs along the back of the property. With an asking price of 1. Apparently, someone else did, too. And finally, even though we do have more strip malls per capita than any place should, we do have a tiny downtown area that dates back to the time our bedroom community was mostly farmland. The coffee shop on this corner is one of our favorite places to hang out. This 4 block area is filled with small, independent, locally owned businesses. As much as we can, we try to spend our money here, rather than in Portland. We might not have a whole lotta dollars, but were supporting the kinds of businesses wed like to see more of with the ones weve got. Reason 2 We love our house. Yeah, we really do. Right now its got all kinds of funky wallpaper, and we still need to tear the carpet out of the bedrooms, and the exterior needs paint, and the landscaping needs an overhaul, and most of the light fixtures are brassy uglies, and dont even get me started on the living room ceiling, done in something we call wedding cake. Close cousin to the popcorn ceiling, which we have in all our bedrooms. Here on move in day, you can see our wallpaper and border, one of our brassy glassy light fixtures, and the wedding cake ceiling. Weve already replaced that floor, which you can read about in our cork flooring posts. In spite of all that, we love the house because we really like how our split level house lives. Some people dont, citing issues with the stairs and the separation of kitchen and family room. We had some of those concerns, too, but in the end we decided that the things that work way outnumber those that dont. We actually like the separation of main living area from family room. Weve got two bona fide teens and one on the cusp of adolescence. While I loved the open floor plan of my old house when the kids were younger, it wasnt working so much anymore. A combined kitchendiningfamily room didnt give my kids any privacy when hanging with their friends, so they preferred spending time at the houses of friends who had a separate room for playing gameswatching moviesetc. Now, weve got a place that helps me keep them close, while giving them the space they need as they become more independent. You can hardly see him, but that dark spot in the bottom left corner is Will, playing video games the morning after we moved. Some split level family rooms are dark and dank, but ours gets a lot of nice light from the wall of windows. Were pretty much a family of introverts, and some of us havent always lived with others of us. In other words, we all need our space, and we need our spaces to be flexible because we live in lots of different configurations sometimes one kid, sometimes two kids, sometimes a different two kids, sometimes three kids, and sometimes just two adults. This house works for all of them, giving each of us plenty of room to do our own thing, both together and separately. Our kitchen is roomy enough to hold a table for eating, so were using the dining room as a different kind of space.