This is about the same size we are planning. We are still in the planning stage. We are planning a master and guest bedroom on the first floor and 2 bedrooms up.

I think before anyone can give you a recommendation we may need to know how many bedrooms you are planning and what other rooms will be using the 4500 sq ft?

housebuilder, For a kind bed a 15 * 14 should be plenty of space. Our master bed room is 17 * 14 and it will be plenty of space for king bed and a couple of chairs. Anything aover 14* 14 should be good.

In regards to the children's bedrooms with a full size bed anything larger than 12 * 12 will be good that is what I feel but the houses around here are much smaller so may be the bigger houses have bigger size bedrooms.

Thanks akshars_mom.
Its funny because I found that a lot of the new construction, even though the houses are large, the bedrooms are on the small size, so they can fit 5 bedrooms, plus en suites plus closets, etc. We don't need that many bedrooms so I'd like the kids have a nice sized space they can call their own.

housebuilder-I agree with akshars. 15x14 will definitely work for a king size bed but it depends on your expectations and what else you want in there. Our last house ours was I think just under 14x14 and we fit bed plus 2 night stands. No extra width but yet it didn't really look/feel crowded. This house we are building 15'6 x 14. It will be fine for what we will have in there.

For kids rooms - we are doing 12x12. We hope to have their closets outfitted with drawers so no dresser necessary in the bedroom.

I just wanted to add that right now we are in a rental with a rectangular bedroom upstairs and I am really enjoying how it works. There is plenty of room for the bed (they have twin sized right now) plus the extra space feels more than the same sq footage in a square. I think it would be easier to lay out the room with bed/sleeping space and then play or study space. Just food for thought. I would have never given a thought to a rectangular bedroom prior to having this experience (and of course we are too far along with the build to make a change anyhow).

Yes - I like rectangular bedrooms too! - although not sure if that works for the king size bed. I think there is some formula for the perfect sized room.
For the room my parents will be staying in, I will also need a television (my mother is a tv addict) but I think if its mounted on wall then side tables should be enough for the room.

We are building a "largeish" house though not as big as yours. Bedrooms are ~11'x16' except master is ~14'x16'. We are planning for one of the smaller bedrooms to have a Cal king.

thanks oaktown. i guess what i had in my original post should work. i have such a hard time visualizing rooms, even with furniture layouts.

This post was edited by housebuilder14 on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 15:46

We are in an admittedly smaller home than yours (just "upsized" to 2000sq ft.)
Our master is 12x13ish (+6inches or so on one or both of those dimensions). That size room accommodates a queen bed fine, with room to "play" if there isn't a full wall of closet doors that need to open/close and if there aren't any dressers. (Our room has a walk in closet where all the clothes are stored).

to me, 12x15 would be PLENTY for a kid. And, also, to me, I'd try to keep at least one dimension within the 12' carpet roll width... I just like to be able to have carpet installed without having to have it pieced in.

I think 15 x 14 is plenty big for a king sized guest bedroom. If it's a guest room meant for occasional use it probably doesn't need a large closet but maybe do a nice bath.

My old house was a one and one half story (2500 sq ft). One of my dds bedrooms was 12 x 15 and had a queen size bedroom suite. I remember that bedroom seeming quite large to me. Especially for a child's room.

May I bring up a point? In that same house, my mother stayed with us for 9 weeks and took care of my family and I while I was on bed rest for a twin pregnancy. We only had the master on the first floor. She slept in a second floor bedroom. She was an energetic 75. Fast forward 10 years. She can't maneuver stairs any longer and after a bad fall, stayed with me for 3 mo. I was so grateful for a first floor guest room.

Are you sure you don't want a bedroom on the first floor?

I think windows can make a kids room feel much bigger than it actually is. I've seen large rooms with only 1 small window and I felt cramped in them... while small cozy rooms with more windows and views felt wonderfully open. If you haven't designed the upstairs yet, maybe you can position most of the bedrooms in the corners with more than 1 window? We are building a house about the same size but with different requirements. Our 3 kids rooms seem awfully small at 11 x 12 each, but plenty big for what they need and I can fit a double bed in each room no problem. You might want to plan for an additional homework station apart from the kitchen table though. As they get older, the homework seems to last well past dinner and it is much easier to leave it open and out rather than having to clean up the table to serve a meal, especially in a house this size. Just a thought... you may have all that buttoned up already.

red love - i have thought about a bedroom on the first floor. we decided that we can always convert the office to a bedroom if/when my parents can no longer walk the stairs. we don't have a shower on the first floor but we might try to change that. hopefully it wont add too much expense if that is the way we go.

redheadeddaughter - i will have to think about homework space. i will have a kitchen table and a large island so maybe they can do their work on the island. i will also have a large dining room table in the formal dining room that might work. hmm...

By the time our sons were in middle school, they were doing homework in their rooms, rather than the kitchen table. They each had a small desk in the bedroom, which worked just fine (and continues to work, now that they are in college).

I know it's hard to look past immediate needs, but kids change so quickly!

We're going with 13x13 for our kids rooms. (with closets 'outside' that plane of measurement, not bumped into that box) [Actually, two 13x13 and one 14x12, but the math works out the same] We looked at a ton of existing homes before deciding to go down the build path. It really helped to zero in on exactly what we wanted.

I'd suggest slipping into a few open houses in your area just to look at various room sizes. Sometimes you're just not going to know unless you see it in real life, right?

We realized that smaller than that seemed too cramped. Larger felt like too much space for a kid. Our view is that a bedroom is for sleep or quiet time. A bed, dresser, a desk. Keep it simple. Social activities like toys & electronics are elsewhere in the house.

We saw one house a few months back, in the low 4000 sq ft range. Master was a 14x17 room with ~10x9 bath and a single 6x9 closet. Well below what we were expecting in that size/price house. But the kids rooms were multi-room suites! Each (teen) kid had a 15x15 "lounge" room with sofas and entertainment centers, off of which was a 15x15 bedroom, an 8x8 walk-in closet and their own bath. I mean, I like my kids, but in no scenario are they getting more square footage than me!

Start with the dimensions of a queen bed (assuming you expect your kids to be 5'10" or more) and go from there, adding room for walking around the bed, placing dressers and closets.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the placement of the beds makes sense ... build the room around the beds and good placement for them and good traffic to baths and closets.

Then figure out where windows and doors n eed to go.

we are building a 2400 sq ft ranch with full walkout and two bonus bedrooms over the garage. BR sizes are as follows:
MBR: 14'8" by 17
Guest BR: 14by 13
Guest BR 14 by 11
Oldest Child's BR 12'8 by 17
Youngest Child's BR 14 by 12
Flex room (Den or in our case bedroom for our special needs child near the MBR) 12'6" by 13

none of these dimensions include closets....all have either wide reach in closets or walk in closets that does not intrude on the dimensions I listed above.

If you are at all concerned about resale value, or what could happen to you or your parents or anyone else in your family, I'd really work in a shower on the first floor. With 4500 sq ft., its unbelievable that a house wouldn't have a shower on the first floor. Someone in your family could break a leg, etc... In the long run, what's another $1-2K for a shower added to the powder room?

I think 14 x 14 or 14 x 15 will look and feel nicely sized for your kids. Pay attention to windows, closet doors, and entry doors so that you have a place for the furniture. That sometimes throws things off (especially windows and bed placement).

thanks everyone. i am kicking myself now because the original specs had a shower on the first floor and i took out thinking i would never use it. ugh! i am hoping adding it back in won't be too much of an issue.