Are you on septic or city sewer? That also has a bearing on how many bedrooms you are allowed to have, not just the legal square footage, head height, egress, and arc fault circuits needed for a bedroom. That's an especially important consideration o a lake, where there are Federal issues in dealing with wetlands that you need to comply with.

If you run into issues: Put in walls and no closets and it's not a bedroom per the Feds/state. Do put in egress windows, though.

The kitchen is going to be a lot harder legally than bedrooms because it makes it a separate unit.

Thanks for your input. We are in the middle of nowhere. We have few requirements in this rural area. Not in city limits either. We are on septic. We can have an aerobic system or regular septic tank. The garage has been there since the 80s so nothing new will be added to the exterior. Electrician has already done all electric to code and has said it would be easy to add what we need for new walls. No Federal issues with wetlands. I have already looked at the regulations. I don't believe in just believing everything a contractor tells me. I do my homework. Plus I have a great contractor. Closets are not required to make a room a bedroom either, but we will have closets. Separate units are no problem either. Many people do that here at the lake. The main house has been here since the 1960s when the reservoir was put in.

Maybe I wasn't clear with my question in my first post. My fault.

All I need help with is drawing the shape of the bedrooms. I don't know whether to have angles in the walls or put a closet in the angled part of the rooms. Thanks.

You need an architect. And a good dose of reality as to costs, and the fact that you ARE covered by state adopted building codes that will bite you sooner or later despite your intention to scorn them. Your septic WILL need to be upgraded to a larger unit for more bedrooms or you are going to have immediate visits from the health department. This isn’t a $1.98 Project. And it doesn’t need to be hacked by a scofflaw.

There seems to be enough space to add divider walls, you would need a hallway and common space in front of the bathroom. Have you consulted with real estate professionals in the area to see what kind of market there would be for the changes you are considering? Despite being "in the middle of nowhere," you still have an ethical obligation to ensure a safe structure with your modifications. You would be adding loads to the garage ceiling with what you are thinking about doing. At least consult with a design professional, be it engineer or architect to guide you in the right direction. They could show you where the walls could be, taking into consideration the construction of the floor below.

I'd leave it. You will probably never recoup the remodel cost.

Sophie Wheeler, yes, it will be more than $1.98. According to the plumbers and my contractor, the septic is oversized so it will be fine. I will get another opinion though. I am not sure exactly what size it is. I have asked about building codes, and I am not scorning them.

Zsmith, the real estate agents I talked to told me one giant room would not sell as well as having more bedrooms would. They also mentioned that since waterfront lots are scarce, people are adding on to their homes or building separate "cabins" for rentals. One of the agents sold a home like this very quickly in 2016. The main home had 1,050 sf and the garage apartment was even smaller. I looked it up and it sold for $276,000. It had never been updated and only had 1/3 of an acre which was waterfront, but with a steep drop to the water. The other agent said that people are adding cabins and A frames on their properties. We have no intention of renting to anyone. Insurance would be prohibitive.

My contractor had to put a 35 ft beam in my living room five years ago. I don't know if he talked to an architect, but he did talk to an engineer. They also cut out some sheetrock in the garage ceiling and found a 12 inch support beam there. He said he would add another one if we add the bedrooms, but I don't know where he will put it. I am sure I drive him crazy with all the questions I ask and all the research I do. He will be replacing the vinyl siding with Smart Board in a few weeks. I researched it for days then I started asking him questions to see if he knew the requirements for installation/warranty. He did. Before anyone says anything about me not treating him like a professional, I have learned to ask questions because there are a lot of "contractors" where I live that are self taught. We ask for and check their licenses and insurance; even the company that cut down 17 pine trees had to be insured before we hired him. We went through about 7 or 8 electricians before we found one that actually knew what he was doing and had a license. We spent a couple of months searching for a certified roofer. He was located almost 2 hours away.

We are very careful with codes and safety, and we don't take short cuts.

The contractor hasn't given me a diagram of the upstairs bedrooms yet, but I wanted some idea of what homeowners would think about weird angles and small bedrooms. We might not even put bedrooms upstairs. After the siding, our next project is removing that awful popcorn ceiling in the bedrooms and upstairs. We already had it checked when we sent off samples. No problems removing it thank goodness!

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts about the proposed bedrooms with angled walls please let me know. I tend to think things to death before I decide what to do. You can tell that by the 20 different paint splotches on my living room walls. Just can't decide on a color.

5 Bedrooms - how many people these days have 4 kids?

That is true! But this is a lake home so sometimes we have packed it to the rafters! We have 1 double bed, 1 king, and 1 queen upstairs with no walls! People still come back even with no privacy.

Psyohe, good information! You have obviously done alot of homework already. I worked on this earlier but had to abandon it to tend to other things...

Zsmith, thanks. I like that there wouldn't be any wasted space. Nice job. I didn't think about making the short hallway. The windows will be replaced since they are picture windows and have no egress. I was thinking about putting a new window exactly where you suggested...the big closet. My contractor told me any new wall would have to be where the dotted line is since that is where the beam is. I figured the section on the left would be about 12 x 16 on one side and 12 x 20 on the other side. I just don't know what to do with that 4 ft angle. Put built in shelves there or another closet? A window seat?

Ahh, I missed that part about the picture windows. Regarding the 4' angled space, perhaps enlarge the big closet?

That would work. I thought about building built in bunk beds where the angle is.

You don't need an architect for interior partition walls. What do you people think they'll do? Explode?

I'd get an engineer to sign off since it is a second floor. This really isn't an architect job, though.

I would talk to several real estate agents about which option would result in the highest return. If we were talking 3 bedrooms vs 2, definitely another bedroom. But 4 vs. 5....

Additional bedrooms are often used as playrooms and offices.

When a property is appraised, HUD rules are followed. No closet, no bedroom for comps. (Basement bedrooms also aren't counted even if they have French doors to grade on that side of the house!) Closet, and it can be a bedroom...even if it really isn't. The den in my house was deliberately listed asa bedroom when I bought the house because it has a closet and they wanted the comps to look better. That made it 5 bedrooms, too! Five bedrooms appraised better than four and a den. The original owners only used 3--even #4 was always used as a study.

(We didn't pay close to they wanted, anyway, though.)

Yes, that is what I understood too. Engineer's opinion is important in this job, not an architect's. We tried to get local architects to call us back, but they never returned our calls. Not their area of expertize I guess, or a waste of their time.

Thanks for the information about HUD. Currently, we have 1 oversized master bedroom and a 12' x 12' bedroom on the lower level. The room upstairs gives us 3 bedrooms technically, but I wouldn't call it a bedroom myself. It is too large. If we turn the upstairs room into 2 bedrooms and a sitting area, that would give us a four bedroom home.