Renovation advice

I live in an expanded ranch with 3 bedrooms. the master has a small bathroom and tiny closet...only enough room for my clothes. the other bedrooms are 10x11 (my son's room) and 9x10 (my daughters room). my daughter's room is in the front of the house and her window is on the porch. so you can literally climb in her window from the porch.

We're adding a master extension in the backyard...it will be behind my son's room so we need to use 3 feet of his room to create the hallway to the new master. now his room becomes 7x11. but...we're going to push the wall between my current master and his room 3 feet into my room so it will become 7x14.

Ideally my son (8.5) will move into my current master and my daughter (3) will move into his room. I work from home, so I'll use her current bedroom (off the porch) as my office.

My issue is...is 7x14 way too small for a bedroom? We will use the bottom part of the room and turn it into a 5-6 foot closet and 3 feet deep. So technically we can do built in dresser inside the closet. so she'll only need a twin bed and a nightstand inside the room (which leaves her with 7x11).

Or should I take that room as my office and leave her in the 9x10 room off the porch?

I figure by the time my son goes to college (hopefully), she'll be 11 and can move into his room.

I like the idea of moving her away from the porch and that room is right across from the kitchen and entrance to the basement. so she hears everything that goes on in the main part of the house.

we're also renovating the basement to give the kids their own space so she doesn't need to play in her room.

I'm leaning towards moving her to the new bedroom, but i don't want her to feel like she's living in a coffin.

granted i grew up in brooklyn and i think my room was only 6x10 and i survived.

I drew up a mock up of the layout to get a visual (Emme's current room is labeled Diana's Office, Ian's current room is labeled Emme's Room, and I moved Ian into my "old" master bedroom):

Message edited 4/19/2018 2:44:21 PM.

Renovation advice

DS is 6. We also live in a exp ranch. I don't know the exact measurement of our rooms. Our master is an extension off the back of the house as well, so I suspect our homes are quite similar. I don't know the exact measurement of his room but it is more than adequate. The room that you have with the windows on the porch, we have one similar and it is our playroom. Our basement is my workshop/office. He only sleeps in his room. So even the size it is now is too big for him. He spends zero time in there with his eyes open. IMO a bedroom is for sleeping, nothing else. So the 7x14/11 should be more than enough for a BR, IMO.

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Renovation advice

not too small for a boy IMO- should be fine

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Renovation advice

If 7x 14 is too smal, my kids are screwed! I think my middle bedroom is like 7x10 it’s a closet. One may move in there eventually? But I have both kids in an 8x10 bedroom, nice and cozy! It’s only to sleep, why do they need a huge room?!! I think it’s plenty!

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Renovation advice

I may be the odd one out but I think it is too small for a girls room, sorry! My dd is 6 and is just starting to really enjoy 'playing' in her room - even though we have a play room. And my older dd is 8 and she now spends more time in her room. Its her own space.

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I don't think it's ideal. A 7' width is not very wide. 14' is long, so it will have enough space overall, but it will be tight across the 7'. Half that width will be filled with a twin bed. You will have to layout the furniture in a row, rather than in a square, if that makes sense.

In my opinion (which you can feel free to disagree with!), it will be a bit awkward. If you're expanding the house already, and you can find a way to get to 8 or even 9', I'd do that. What I'm basically saying is that if you're doing construction, I would not choose to make a bedroom 7' in one direction.

Message edited 4/19/2018 12:13:32 PM.

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Message edited 4/19/2018 12:17:52 PM.

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I would use the narrow room as an office. 7' is very narrow. I would use tape on the floor to mock up the actually dimension so you can get a feel for what 7 feet feels like. I'm sure it will be fine, but if i had a choice, that would be my office not a bedroom.

Renovation advice

I think it will work for your daughter. One of the bedrooms in my house is similarly sized, 7 1/2 X 10 1/2 with a bumpout for the door. My daughter had that room til she went to college. It was not particularly spacious, but it worked. At one point, she even had a loft bed with a futon, a desk and a dresser in the room.

Renovation advice

7 is small. is there a way to reconfigure the bathroom/closet, use that space for the hallway and the hallway to widen the room, and put the shower past the toilet and the closet somewhere else. and if needed expand the master a little further. When we did our dormer, we ended up making the kids rooms smaller than ideal and having the doors cut into the room and we regret it.
It seems like you're making the kids room situation worse in the reno and its not like they had loads of room prior. I'd work to figure out how to fix it.

I'm really not sure i understand all the comments OK for a boy, or too small for a girl. Kids have toys and they take up space...

Message edited 4/20/2018 9:24:40 AM.

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The rooms look fine to me. DS is 15 and DD is 13. Neither one of them plays in their room. They'll spend time in there reading or something, but the only thing they do with their extra floor space is load it with crap... If they had a smaller room, maybe it would be neater...

With the layout you posted, it doesn't seem like a long, narrow hallway of a room. The closet makes it look a lot more squarish.

The only thing I would think about doing differently, is putting the closet in Emme's room against the new MB wall. With her bed right up against your wall, you have NO privacy in your room. The closet against that wall will provide a buffer.

If you will have a playroom for DC in the basement, they can play with their toys in there. IMO, a bedroom should be mainly for relaxing, sleeping, reading, etc. You don't need much room for that. For either gender.

Re: Renovation advice

Posted by GoldenRod

The rooms look fine to me. DS is 15 and DD is 13. Neither one of them plays in their room. They'll spend time in there reading or something, but the only thing they do with their extra floor space is load it with crap... If they had a smaller room, maybe it would be neater...

With the layout you posted, it doesn't seem like a long, narrow hallway of a room. The closet makes it look a lot more squarish.

The only thing I would think about doing differently, is putting the closet in Emme's room against the new MB wall. With her bed right up against your wall, you have NO privacy in your room. The closet against that wall will provide a buffer.

If you will have a playroom for DC in the basement, they can play with their toys in there. IMO, a bedroom should be mainly for relaxing, sleeping, reading, etc. You don't need much room for that. For either gender.