MASTER BEDROOM DESIGN
If there is such a thing, then the typical home addition project is a two story rear addition. First floor gets the new kitchen and living space. Second floor gets the new master bedroom you’ve always wanted. Then the rest of the existing spaces get reconfigured to be home offices, additional kids’ bedrooms and whatever.
This post should give you some good ideas for planning your own master bedroom addition and will cover a few of the design concepts I try to incorporate when helping my clients with their master bedrooms.
I prefer the term Owner Suite, but it’s the same thing and Master Suite is probably better for SEO so I’ll use both terms synonymously.
I’ll cover Master Bedroom size and some other concepts I like, such as creating a bedroom oasis, limiting doors, axes (not access, though that is important too), circulation zones, ceiling height and more. If you're just looking for some code minimum, check out my other post on bedroom size requirements.
Master Bedroom Size
This is not the website for short answers, but all the designs on this page are between 360 sf and 430 sf and are probably on the small side when considering the country as a whole. The real answer, as always, is that Master bedroom size depends on your personal taste, how you’ll use the space, where you are in the country and a bunch of other stuff.
Speaking of just the bedroom portion, some designers will insist on one dimension (either width or length) being at least 16 feet. If you’re in a production home or new housing development, the bedroom portion alone may start at 320sf, before you add the walk-in closet. And if you’re in Texas I assume everything is doubled.
Being in an area with an older housing stock, I often try to influence clients to build less than what they initially think, especially if they come in with a generic square footage goal they saw on Houzz. My personal bedroom in my own new construction home is 14’ x 12’ with the total suite being an even 400sf.
Instead of trying to get to a certain square footage, think about how you’ll actually use the bedroom, and then work with an architect to create the space you actually need. Will it double as your Peloton space and yoga studio? Will you have your morning kahlua coffee in your bedroom? Or is it just going to be a place for a bed and whatever you do with a bed, like sleeping or taking naps. I forgot the most controversial question…will you have a TV in your bedroom?!
One way to reduce the size of the owner suite, and make a more efficient use of space, is what I like to think of as the Bedroom Oasis.
EXAMPLE: TRESCOTT
See more of this project at the Trescott Rebuild page or download the Project Book.
A smallish 14 x 12 bedroom with a very large walk-in closet and ensuite. Note the nice path/axis from bedroom through closet and into the bathroom, visually terminating in a window.
Bedroom Oasis and Limiting Doors
I like to create a slightly rectilinear room that has JUST the bed. If we can outsource all the clothes storage and other nonsense to a separate room, we can reduce the size of the bedroom and make it feel more secluded. Isn't it nice to be in bed and see (almost) nothing but clean walls and windows?
The second part to the Oasis/Seclusion is that I like to reduce the number of doors you see. This is true everywhere in houses I design, and even more so in a bedroom. Two common ways to do this are to (1) enter the owner bathroom through the owner closet, reducing at least one door and not providing a direct line of sight to the bathroom, or even better (2) create an anteroom that separates the sleeping portion of the suite from the suite entrance and other suite amenities. See Springfield project for an awesome anteroom. Well, it's ok. It's pretty good.
EXAMPLE: SPRINGFIELD
See more of this project on my Home Additions page.
Total size of this suite is 430 sf. When you're in this bedroom all you see is walls, cathedral ceiling, windows and one cased opening, leading to the anteroom through which you can then enter the walk-in closet or the bathroom. This is also a good example of circulation and axes, as there is one well-defined path through the anteroom to the owner bedroom, visually ending in a giant window. This creates a faux hallway within the room, while the bed itself is off to the side, more or less centered on the remaining space.
There is also a nice axis connecting the anteroom, walk-in closet and retreat, which is a smaller reading nook hidden behind the closet.
Circulation and Axes
This one is probably architect nerd-speak, but with all spaces, consider your entry, path and arrival. How do you begin the bedroom entrance sequence, what path do you follow through the space and what do you find when you arrive there? If the room is large enough the bedroom itself can be set to the side, offering a more defined path into and out of the room and between the different owner suite rooms.
Then consider the axes (not access). A well-defined path needs an appropriate visual reward at the end. Usually that’s a window. See how that was incorporated in Trescott, Central and Springfield.
EXAMPLE: central
See more of this project on my Home Additions page or at the Central Ave Addition project page.
Total size of this suite is 360 sf. Early schematic concepts had a slightly larger owner suite, but we also had to fit in two other bedrooms, an office, a bathroom and a laundry in 1,000 sf. On the other hand, look how much you can get in under 400 square feet!
A lot of repeat concepts between this project, Trescott and Springfield, but that's kind of the point of concepts! Here we have a visually defined circulation zone at the left of the bedroom (as you enter) and a beautiful path through the walk-in closet. Entering the bathroom through the closet saves one door in the owner bedroom area. We were able to add the cathedral ceiling as well, with a peak of just over 10 feet, compared to 8 foot ceilings elsewhere on the second floor.
Ceiling Height
Second floor ceiling height is usually 8 feet, sometimes 9. Again, depends on a million factors. And while this is not official or even good structural engineering advice, it is usually easy (or at least possible) to create a cathedral or tray ceiling in an owner suite on the second floor. Depends on the roof shape, how it's framed, what's happening in the attic and all kinds of stuff, but more often than not I've been able to work in a cathedral ceiling. Three of the four projects in this page have a cathedral ceiling and the fourth, my house, doesn't have one just because I didn't care that much.
Anyway, extra head height will make a room feel bigger and more grand and let you get away with a smaller footprint for a similar “big” feeling.
EXAMPLE: WHEATLEY
See more of this project at the Wheatley Addition project page.
Total size of this suite is 415 sf, not including a sitting/flex room accessed through the owner suite and a hallway. I think it's a decent use of the anteroom, which provides a buffer between the loud hallway and the owner bedroom oasis. We couldn't connect the bathroom and the closet through the anteroom, but you do see a nice strong axis/circulation path from the anteroom to the closet, with the bedroom again centered on the remaining space. The design of the roof on this project allowed a ceiling of more than 14 feet, which is really tall.
closets and bathrooms
They probably deserve their own posts, but the closet and bathroom within the owner suite are important spaces too. General size requirements for a closet is a minimum of 5 feet wide for a single loaded closet (only one wall has hanging space) or 7 feet for double loaded. You can get away with narrower spaces, and I have, but it's nice to start with those values.
A standard American bathroom is 5 x 8, which gets you a standard 30″ x 60″ shower, a 36″ wide vanity and a toilet. This is perfectly fine for most couples, especially if you aren't also sharing it with the kids. Even going up to 6 x 8 or 6 x 9 will feel luxurious, and if you have extra width available, a water closet (separate room for the toilet) is usually desirable as most people will feel more comfortable sharing the bathroom at the same time.
YOUR TURN!
Got thoughts on your own dream Owner Suite and need some help turning it into reality? Send me an email, book a free consult or check out my design process to see how we might work together.