Renovation Solutions: Understanding the master bedroom madness

Adding sitting areas to a master suite is a great way to create a personal retreat.

Annie Schwemmer, Renovation Design Group

Home design is where art meets science, function meets beauty and a house becomes home. While the average homeowner can recognize a room that looks and feels good in real life, they can rarely feel what the architect has designed on paper. However, there is a method to the madness.

Part of the method of design is to understand how the homeowner will use a room. Take the master bedroom for example. Determining the size and elements of this room depends on how it will be used and how the residents will live in the space.

Do you need a big bedroom?

Big, spacious master bedrooms are good for people who plan to use their bedroom as a private getaway. When you have or create a large master bedroom, it is important to not waste the extra space. Create a mini living room with a seating area and a TV and/or fireplace. If relaxation is not your main goal, you can use the space to express your creativity with activities such as crafts, painting or practicing an instrument. The key is to individualize the space to offer a place to wind down after a long day. Large bedrooms such as these pair well with a bathroom and a closet to create the luxurious master suite. A typical master suite requires about 400 to 800 square feet and will cost about $150 per square foot for a remodel and about $220 per square foot for an addition.

The downside to a large master suite is the potential for clutter buildup. Make sure you stay organized by having a place to keep everything. A disorganized master suite will never qualify as a personal retreat.

Do you need a small bedroom?

Even though we design plenty of beautiful, spacious master suites, we still stand by our motto: Bigger isnt always better. Sometimes a small bedroom can be more restful and relaxing than a large master suite. The master suite can seem frivolous and wasteful to someone who doesnt plan to do anything but sleep there. A bedroom designed as a cozy sleeping nook really only needs space for a bed and a nightstand. A small but well-designed, bedroom can actually turn out to be more restful than a bigger bedroom and will stay cleaner.

Another plus to creating a smaller bedroom is that the square footage could be used in a different part of the house. If the bedroom isnt your priority, then you could create a design that steals a few feet from the bedroom to make a bigger living room.

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Renovation Solutions: Understanding the master bedroom madness