Our stay at Seral's place was lovely but there were a few things we wished we'd known about beforehand.
The location is lovely; you can walk to the waterfront within a few minutes and walk/scoot along there for a while which is excellent fun for kids (tho a good stretch of the waterfront promenade has no railings whatsoever). You can drive to beaches in about 30 mins and into Istanbul city centre also in 30-45 minutes. There are ferries from the ferry station that's about 10 minutes walk from the house and the Sadberk Hanim museum is a gorgeous gem of a museum.
Parking is a bit tricky as the road the house is on is very steep at the top so if you're not a confident driver this might be challenging. There's a bus that parks directly outside the house most nights too so we sometimes had to park further down the hill.
The windows in the house are extremely difficult to open and are impossible to use safely as they are (very heavy) sash windows that only open the entire way meaning a child can extremely easily fall out. The AC is only on the top floor so it's difficult to ventilate the house on a hot day without jamming the windows open with books for example.
Checkin is via a key in a secure box by the front door. When we entered the house it was stuffy and smelled of damp. It turned out the basement had flooded in the storm the night prior and was covered in water. There was a dehumidifier already there presumably to deal with long term damp issues as the landlord wasn't aware of the flooding. This meant that the 'double bed' in the basement wasn't usable at all as none of us wanted to sleep with the smell of damp. It's actually an IKEA day bed that opens up into a double sized bed.
The stairs are very, very steep and dangerous and altho there are two stairgates, another 3 are needed. Staying with a toddler is challenging as they want to climb the stairs.
The bathroom is tiny and a larger person might struggle to use the toilet and bathroom altogether.
The layout is that you come into the ground floor and its an open plan hallway, dining area (with the two staircases coming right off it) and the kitchen. The kitchen is very well equipped, clean and lovely.
Then the basement has a room with a rowing machine and bookcases, a toilet with washing machine and drying machine and then a room with no doorn (just a curtain across the doorway) that has the daybed that opens up onto a double bed and another single daybed.
The first floor has the main bedroom (whose door doesn't close at all so you need to put a bag against it for privacy), a small bathroom with a lovely rain shower (but any water that hits the door then floods out onto the bathroom floor as there's no seal) and a children's bedroom with two toddler sized mattresses (not single beds).
The top floor has gorgeous views and a sofa that can be slept on (not a sofa bed) tho it's cushions mean its wavey and only really suitable for a child. It has a great AC system. One of the windows doesn't have any curtain or blind on it at all. There's no door to this room either (it opens onto the staircase so there's no privacy for that room either).
The location is quiet and peaceful tho there is a low rumbling sound in the house at random times including throughout the night which can disturb you if you're a light sleeper. The mosque is very close so the adthan is incredibly loud so it's best to sleep with the windows shut!
Overall we enjoyed our stay but it wasn't as smooth as we'd have liked or expected and we wouldn't recommend it for people with crawling babies or toddlers due to the stairs. Clarity on the house layout and bed situation is essential and the basement bed shouldn't be advertised as available at all due to the damp issue.