What size bedrooms do teenagers *need*?

[GottaGetUp]

We have two dds, 10 and 8. They are currently in medium to small sized bedrooms. We are pondering an extension, which would give them both really quite big, equal sized rooms (one is bigger than the other at the moment, but not hugely so).

We are considering it on the basis that ‘teenagers need space’, but not having teenagers yet, I don’t know if that’s true.

I remember feeling fairly hard done by as a teenager in a box room, but then got a nice big room when my sister went to university, maybe without that contrast I would have been fine?

We have a lot of downstairs space, so they’ll have room for friends to hang out downstairs away from us.

Their current rooms are 2.9x2.5m and 2.9x2.2m (9’6”x8’4” and 9’6”x7’3”).

Obviously lucky to have their own rooms already etc., but if we can give them more, should we?

Are you us? I think the rooms are fine (though small). DH thinks they could be bigger. It's a lot of expenditure and upheaval...

When mine reached teens I put a desk in their rooms and they did all their school work in there. They also had double beds and space for a chair.
I am of the view that there is no such thing as too much space if you have it and can afford it. That doesn't mean they need it.

I’ve been keen up until now, but faced with taking the first step with architects etc, I’m getting cold feet...

Both mine have box rooms!

I think if anything teenagers need less space than young children!

DSS is only interested in xbox, phone etc. Hes 14.

He does his homework downstairs so we know its getting done, so no need for a desk.

I actually think that teenagers need less space than small children. Kids have lots of toys and play in their rooms. Teenagers sit in their beds with their mobile phones.

That’s a point flamingo, I spent a lot of time in my room “doing my homework”...

DB spent all his time in his bedroom.

I only went into mine to sleep, get dressed and do some homework.

So, it depends on the person.

I will say however that they need a decent desk to work on, space for their books and a quiet place to study. My friend had to either sit on her bed and work, or work at the dining table downstairs surrounded by parents, siblings and the dog...not ideal at all.

It’s not really about their need,
They’ll cope with whatever they have because that’s life.

However if an extension would turn your house into a three double bed (I’m assuming it’s a three bed) with plenty downstairs space.
Instead of what sounds like a bottom heavy three bed AND the cost would still keep the house within the ceiling price of sales in your area I would go for it.

How many bathrooms do you have? With 2 teen DDs you’ll need more than one!

It’s definitely bottom heavy at the moment, almost twice as much space downstairs as upstairs.

Bathrooms is the other issue, current one is tiny and the extension was to help with that too, but I’ve been wondering if we could take a bit of space from the master bedroom to make it bigger.

My daughter lives in a tiny boxroom at college. Just enough space for a bed, wardrobe, small desk and a few shelves.

I find the bigger the space the more mess they make.

I think the cost / benefit unlikely to stack up really. Think about whether that money would be best spent elsewhere, e.g . Help with uni, house deposits etc.

I don't think it sounds worth it to be honest.

Teenagers are fine with smallish bedrooms provided they've got space to do homework.

Encouraging them to be downstairs is a good thing IMO. Helps stop that Kevin the Teenager thing where they disappear to their room and only emerge for food. It's nicer having them somewhere you can keep more of an eye.

We’re you planning another bathroom too?

If not where is the current bathroom situated, could it be turned into a en-suite to your bedroom and a bathroom added for the girls to share?
Or could you put an internal shower room between the extended bathrooms for the girls to have as a shared en-suite? You could borrow a bit of space from each bedroom and it doesn’t have to be huge

*extended bedrooms

I had a huge bedroom from 9-14. Then after the divorce I was in a teeny box room and stayed there until a year after Uni.

I managed all my GCSE and A Level coursework in a 2.3m x 1.8m

Do the extension if it will add value and you really want to do it - but they don't need more space.

Not sure exactly on the sizing but our teenager is in the box room! He seems to need less space than the younger two, no toys etc. to store.

The original plans included a nice big bathroom, with separate bath and walk in shower. Neither me nor DH take baths, and the dds on very occasionally. If we didn’t do the extension, would it be a very bad idea to redo the bathroom with only a shower and have no bath in the house?

We’re planning on being in this house for many years so reselling isn’t a high priority right now.

My aunt and uncle just redid their bathroom and took out the bath, replacing it with a wonderful walk in shower. I like a bath but it wouldn't put me off buying a house if it didn't have one.

Oh and my children have small rooms and will have until they leave home. So far they don't seem to mind at all.

If you have plenty of space downstairs then why not create a study/ sitting room for them?
Although they had large bedrooms and we put desks in there when they were 13ish we decided later to change things. We had a second sitting room that we moved two desks into with a sofa and they had exclusive use of that.

This house is too big / we have too much space.
Said no-one ever.
A house is a home. Do what makes your quality of life better, never mind whether it's an investment or not.

From experience with 2, more floor space will just serve as a bigger 'floordrobe' for everything they can't be bothered to hang up/put away/shove in the laundry basket.

Dh often said that if we ever moved, he wouldn't bother with wardrobes or chests of drawers for them. Bed, desk and bookshelves only.

I had a massive bedroom as a child/teen. Just meant I had more space to make a mess tbh. I bloody missed it when I moved into a shared box room at uni though.

My eldest has the smallest room and is quite happy with it, he likes the security of a smaller space (he’s 12). He has a single bed, drawers, wardrobe, billy bookcase and kallax squished in. He doesn’t have ‘toys’ anymore so my younger ones (5 & 7) have bigger rooms to fit theirs in.