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Remodeling Design Dilemma Bedroom

How will dividing a large bedroom impact resale?

last year

I have two large bedrooms on the second floor of my house (about 16x12). i am considering splitting one of the rooms into 2 so that my 2 kids can each have their own bedroom. One room would be 8x8 and the other 8x11. One would technically be an ”office.” We live in a small cape-style house. Would rooms this small negatively impact the resale value of my house? Thanks!

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Comments (12)

acm
last year
last modified: last year
you would need to know your local market to answer. those are quite small, but is the market hungry for 3BR and tired for 2BR? if you admit one is an office (I presume because no closet), does the other really qualify as a bedroom sufficient to be one of two? will the kid with 8x8 really be happy? can you build a loft to make more usable space in one or both?
kandrewspa
last year
In some areas a bedroom has to have a closet to be considered a bedroom in a real estate listing. Are you in a cape - do you have bedrooms on the first floor as well?
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Comments (11)
OK, well, I didn't read all the posts, cuz I could tell it was getting ugly.... but here is my answer to the initial post: I would do it. We bought our 1950's 2 br house intending to put an addition on it. We realized it was going to be too expensive to do so, but we really needed a 3rd bedroom. The master bedroom wing was a previous addition and the bedroom measured 14.2" x ~25' long (not including massive closets on each end!) It was a weird long, skinny space, where it was difficult to arrange furniture to utilize the space well. We put up walls to create a hall and small 3rd bedroom/office. The new master bedroom is now 13.2' x 14.3' (plenty big in a small home!) and the office is a small 10' x 9+' with a big walk in closet. it suits OUR needs but I was a little worried about resale. Last summer we had 3 realtors look at the house. All three talked about what a big improvement it was. It increased the value of the home more than I thought. I'm so glad we did it. It cost us a few hundred dollars in 2 x4s, drywall, and a new door... and is SO much better! In your case, the master will still be big at 19 x 13, and the two new kids rooms will be plenty large at 9 x 14. If your resale market is similar older homes or a mixed selection of older and newer, I'd do it. If it's all new homes with huge rooms, maybe not.
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Comments (9)
In the two places I've lived with such an arrangement, some investigation into the original floorplan has revealed that there's been either an addition or some remodeling going on. And people just took the easy way out and slapped a new room on right next to an existing room, without bothering to add a hallway or the like. In my grandparents' house, you had to go through their bedroom to get to the upstairs bathroom, which was, for a time, the only bathroom in the house, other than a toilet in the basement. The house was built in 1865 and the bathroom was originally a closet. It was the only space for a bathroom. That is, until my grandparents had 7 kids and took the smallest bedroom and made it into a bathroom. They also made a pantry off the kitchen into a powder room, to get a downstairs bathroom. My brother and SIL have a child with disabilities. They needed to either buy a wheelchair accessible house or modify the one they owned. They looked at many houses that had been remodeled for handicap access--SIL was appalled, really, at some of the remodeling. She said it was clear they just added a ramp where it was easiest and threw on extra rooms where it was easiest to expand the house, without any consideration of the flow of traffic through the house or how the rooms would open up to each other, or even trying to match the style/ finishes of the original home with what was going on in the addition. She mentioned bedrooms opening directly off the kitchen, or off the master bedroom, or just a section of the family room walled off to create a room. In one house, they punched through the dining room wall and added a bedroom/bath right off the dining room. And another where they enclosed a porch off the kitchen to make the accessible bedroom, so everyone entering the house walked through the accessible room into the kitchen, unless they used the front door. Which no one does in farm country. They ended up hiring an architect to add on a wing to their house--you can't tell where the old house ends and the new wing begins. They did end up with a dining room with no windows, but it has two sets of french doors opening into rooms with tons of windows and sunlight and you really don't notice. They paid extra to get the addition done right, but I think in the long run they have a house that doesn't *look* handicapped accessible and hasn't lost any resale value.
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Comments (48)
Gardenwebber, that is SUCH a good point about "entertaining in their rooms". Here's a thought about your floorplan: have the kids take the back two bedrooms. Move your son to the smaller bedroom, the girls in the room with the closet. Take that wall that you guys put up and turn it into the bunk beds in separate rooms. This will give you a lot more useable floor space. Swing your youngest daughter's bed against the far wall and you will maximize the floor space there. Your son can have the lower bunk bed in his own room next door. That leaves the bedroom directly across from yours as a playroom. That also makes your own bedroom further away from the kids beds. The bunk beds are just drywalled with the mattress only on them. We have always had a rule that our kids cannot have a computer, video games or tv in their bedroom until they are 18. I do not want that stuff cluttering my downstairs living room. An upstairs space for this is the best solution. We built our current home knowing that we were going to have teens in them someday and to give them space separate from ours. Think about this solution. My husband would be happy to talk you and your husband thru the details if it is something you would be interested in. P.S. my 17y.o.'s boyfriend is coming for christmas for 17 days and there is no way in hell that she will be "entertaining" him in her bedroom!!!!!!!!!!!! Sherry
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Comments (24)
Multiple thoughts, not all in line with the majority: - Five bedrooms is a huge house. The potential field of buyers who want the space and upkeep of a house that large (and who can afford it) is relatively small. More plainly, You're looking to build a house that only a small percentage of buyers can afford to buy. Wanting a thing and being able to afford a thing aren't the same. Your pool of resale buyers will be small, so selling could take a long time, or you might be forced to take less than you want. - Yes, people will like the idea of a "master up and a master down": live-in space for mom, space for a live-in nanny or elder care-giver. Plenty of reasons people would like the space. But the real question is, Will your resale buyer be willing to pay what it will cost you to build it? Personally, I think you'll attract plenty of interest, but you may not attract the necessary dollars at resale to make this worthwhile. - How old are these small children? By the time you finish building this house, they'll probably be at least a year older -- how long will you want to have bedrooms close by? - I'm a highly practical person: you're talking about a short time when kids are small. To save money, could you sleep in a "non-master" upstairs for this short time, then move downstairs? - How "master" do you see your "masters"? That is, when you say "master bedroom", are you envisioning a slightly larger room with a modest walk-in closet and a private 3-piece bath ... or does "master" to you mean a spacious room with a seating area, a massive closet and a luxury bath? The question isn't just, "Should I have two masters?" It's, "Just how much will I put into a master?" Your own vision of "how much" can make a world of difference in this question. - Don't overbuild for your neighborhood. Remember that the biggest, most expensive house in the neighborhood is "drawn down" by the more modest houses that surround it. - Summary: Don't be caught up in just whether this is a desirable idea -- it is. Consider first and foremost whether it is an economically viable idea.
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User
last year
last modified: last year
That is far too small to do anything but DETRACT from the value. Kids can share. 16x12 isn’t that “large” to begin with.
Denise Marchand
last year
Requests for own bedroom is a real dilemma. I think a 3 bedroom is more desirable especially for office/extra bedroom. Think Orient Express bunkbed against one wall with built-ins all around.
palimpsest
last year
last modified: last year
8x8 would not be a legal bedroom in my location. We don't need a closet but it needs to be 80 square feet or 8x10. It has to be at least 8 ft in one dimension.

In the 1950s -60s they would do rooms with an accordian wall down the middle. This might work to divide the room into two some of the time, and it would be easily removable for resale.

https://woodfold.com/accordion/residential/
eld6161
last year
Yes, by dividing that room, you are left with very small spaces.

That said, I’m on the same page as Pal. Google temporary walls. Lots if idea on how to divide the space for as long as you live there.
partim
last year
Is there any way that a part of the hallway, or part of the other bedroom, can be used to enlarge the bedrooms or provide closet space? A floor plan might help us give you ideas.
decoenthusiaste
last year
last modified: last year
How old and what gender are your kids? Some ideas will surface if we have more info. Is the office a necessity or just a thought you had? Can we see a floor plan?
partim
last year
A local real estate agent is really the only person who can answer the question about whether this will negatively impact resale value.

As far as whether your kids would prefer 2 small rooms to one large shared one, I think you wouldn't be posting this question if they didn't want it.
ci_lantro
last year
Walls take up space so your 8' is going to shrink down to +/- 7'9". Bedrooms have to have a window. Would both rooms each have a window? Don't forget the space that gets killed by the door swing. And the closet.

8' x 8' is the size of 2 sheets of plywood; prison cells are usually 6' x 8'. 8' x 8' could be called a deluxe prison cell.
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Sabrina Alfin Interiors
last year
last modified: last year
Where we are, a bedroom has to be at least 80 sf and there needs to be an egress window. Check your local building codes before attempting this. You could, instead, simply hang a privacy curtain down from the ceiling.
Helen
last year
Those are extremely small rooms.

I wouldn't permanently divide the rooms but would look into the kind of semi-permanent room dividers that are used in New York City where a portion of a living room is "walled" off to turn into a small bedroom.

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