Mark, that's the challenge -- the crystal ball! Just trying to find a balance.

My girls grew up in 12x12 rooms with 6' reach-in closets. It was "just right". If I were building new, I'd lean towards giving them larger closets /eliminating dressers in the room. I'd be willing to downsize the rooms a bit -- no more than 10x12 -- to enlarge the closets.

I would want the bedrooms to be big enough that at least a queen-sized bed could fit in the room so that when they come home as adults (with spouses), they can sleep comfortably.

If they have good-sized private bedrooms, they don't really need a playroom -- it becomes rather a decadence; however, since you said "another child or two", the playroom could become a fourth child's bedroom.

If you have three children, I'd go with one bathroom accessible from the hall -- three can easily share one simple, three-piece bathroom. However, if you have a fourth, a second bathroom would be reasonable. Since you don't really know that #3 will ever become a reality, I'd lean towards building one nice bathroom for the two boys you have ... and leave a bath-sized closet /roughed in pluming that you could finish in the future if /when more children appear.

My son's room is approx 14' x 14'. He has an attached bathroom and walk in closet. IMO it is the perfect size, neither too big nor too small. This has been his only room since he was born, he is now 12. It was just the right size for a nursery, toddler, elementary and tween. He has a full sized bed, two night stands, a chest, a desk and a bookcase and he still has room for two friends two sleepover.

We have 3 kids rooms. They are all roughly 13x13 with small walk in closets that are about 6x4. The boys rooms each have a full size bed with room to pull out the twin trundle, adult sized furniture - 1 nightstand, desk and dresser. My daughters room has adult sized furniture- 1 nightstand, queen bed with storage drawer, desk and dresser.

We had to work really hard to downsize elsewhere to get 10x12 bedrooms for each of my daughters. We also are making 8ft closets with the hopes of eliminating a dresser... In our neighborhood 10X10 is pretty common, sometimes even smaller - but we wanted some futureproofing. They will also have to share a bathroom, but I think that is totally reasonable, since I grew up with a family of 5 sharing 1 bathroom!

For one-kid-per-room situations, I like 10x12 (with a bed on the 12' wall, flanked by windows), and a 26"-28" deep reach-in closet along an entire 10' wall.

That said, I like to double/triple up kiddos in the same room (so, naturally, I'd need something more like 12x14 or 14x16). Furniture is kept to a minimum. I like a ton of useful closet space, and prefer to keep the walk-in ones as a special luxury for the master.

I love, love, LOVE playrooms. But we use bedrooms for only sleeping/reading, so we need a place for toys and activities/entertainment. I also have 6 children (including the one in-utero), so maybe my preferences for home/room composition are driven by large-family efficiencies, lol.

As one other has said, it should be big enough for a queen bed down the road, or for twin beds now (sleepovers). If you can afford built in cupboards, go for them - they leave more floor space.

we had a basement playroom where most of the toys lived, but my children (and later my grands) always liked to keep some toys in their room. Our rule was if it lives in the room, it must be picked up before bed; basement had a big pickup every 7-10 days.

I like children sharing rooms. My son and daughter shared until son was 9 and daughter kicked him out. DD's sons, 15 and 17, still share a room and she has a 4 BR house. Fifteen yr old us dreading losing his roommate in a yr when elder goes to college.

To me 12x12 is great for a guest room, kids room, or office. I would agree that anything smaller than 11x11 or 12x10 would start to feel tight. Also consider the spaces in relation to the other rooms in your house. We looked at a house that had probably 11x9 guest / kid bedrooms but a massive master bedroom and the smaller bedrooms felt so tiny and out of proportion because of it.

12 x 12 should be a good size. However I'd ditch the J and J bathroom since someone always forgets to unlock the door on the other side. Make the bathroom open to the hallway between the two rooms.

I also agree one bathroom is plenty for 3 kids. My 2 siblings and I managed fine with one bathroom. Just make sure it's large enough for lots of storage for each child. One vanity is better than two but have extra storage.

We went with 12x14 with 8' reach in closets that also house a built in dresser stack for 2 of the kids rooms. There is a shared bath accessed from hall. Then, our oldest has a larger room with walk in closet and ensuite. Gives more options for us down the road as our family dynamics change.

I like that J&J bath... The only changes I would make would be to eliminate the linen closet (since there is a door conflict with a bathroom door); center the toilet in the new, much-easier-to-clean space; and reduce the double sinks to a single, to increase the storage space stolen from kicking out the linen closet. :-)

Oh, and put a frosted glass door on the shower/toilet room.

Our kids (girl 16 & boy 14) bedrooms will be 11'x12' and they will have a J&J bathroom but the only thing they will share is the shower. My biggest fear is the size of their bedroom. I really wanted them to be 12' x 14' but we had to cut square footage and their rooms took the hit.

Here's what ours look like.

Sabrina, how close to done is your house?

Cp Not even started yet (sigh)! We're waiting for our house to sell before we start building. It took us a bit to get our house ready to list but we finally did it. We've already chose our builder and have started working on getting rid of the allowances before we sign a contract. One day I'll finally be posting in the monthly thread!

Sabrina, care to message me? I have a thought but don't want to hijack the thread.

sure thing

Jack and jill- if there's room, consider two separate toilet closets, on either side. When kids are small, won't make a big difference. As they grow- big difference.

In my latest build, we have what our architect called a "room and a half". Bigger than most. Perfect size for two children, built in desk/shelves (storage to the sides, in a nook), and a reach in closet, built out a bit with drawers/shelves and good divided hanging space.

We're empty nesters, but we have a lot of family. You never know when this space could become meaningful for an older person, who would find a nice space with good natural light as a calm place to be, when solitude is needed.

Play rooms? I love them. These are the spaces that can contain toddler "mess" and fun, fund to build forts in, as they get a bit older, transition into study areas or even great space for teenage "hang-out". Much better than having them all go into a bedroom or two. Flex space is very valuable, if you ever decide to sell.

In our current house, our DD's bedrooms are 13x12. And they each have a small walk-in closet...about 6x4. I think this is the perfect size to not feel too small, but not too grand either. They each have room for a double bed, dresser, and desk with room for a sleepover guest or two.

In our new build, their bedrooms will be ~14x13 with an additional nook. They definitely feel much bigger and probably overkill on size. But it's just what worked out with the rest of the layout of the home and fits with the scale of the other rooms.

If they have a playroom, 12x12 is more than big enough. I suggest a 6' reach in closet, as well.

I think beds larger than a (long, if needed) twin are absurd. A king sized bed is 2 twins! Kids need more floor, not more bed.

I am a huge believer in playrooms.

Don't eliminate the linen closet above! Flip the door.