The only time a 5th bedroom suite would make sense would be:

(A) An au pair/nanny bedroom

(B) An in-law suite

(C) If you have a very large immediate family

(D) You need a home office

If none of the above really applies, then I would leave the plan as is.

Agree with Sabrina. One of the reasons we bought our current home ( among other reasons of course ) is because of the his/her closets. We love them.

these would each be 7'9 x 14'. Not excessive?

You can never have too much closet space, IMO. Even if you don't use it all for everyday clothing, storing seasonal items is a good use of space if you don't want to clutter up the entry hall closet.

Yes, bigger is better. In addition to clothing I keep an extra hard surface vacuum in mine for quick cleanups of bath floors.

Consider finding someone that can work with you to determine you needs and wants and design an addition and remodeling that can meet those needs and wants. Any one that comes up with a house remodeling that has a long single loaded narrow hallway with double doors leading to a master bedroom at the end scares me.

It currently has a long narrow hallway, and there is no way around. This plan was developed by an architect and I spoke to other architects that did not have many other ideas. I will post before and after plans but there really are not great options. Though I understand that you think the plan is not good, I do not know that there are many ways to make it perfect without tearing the house down.

Are you sure you used a licensed architect and not a designer? This plan still looks like something my draftsman/designer would have come up with. Sorry to be so blunt. The spaces make no sense. Some are too large and some are too small.

Are you saying it is impossible to create a good plan from what exists?

How much will you pay to achieve the impossible?

@Mark Bischak, Architect I am not saying it is impossible. What I am saying is the suggestions I have received of are impossible. I do not think that these are make or break issues. Currently, do I love the hallways no but does it make the house horrible no. This house has some features that are amazing and some not so amazing. I am just trying to mitigate the not amazing features and maximize the amazing features. The new master would have diminished privacy but incredible views. There is no perfect house but I am trying to make this one as best as possible within a reasonable budget and was hoping to get some opinions to help me achieve that.

As an analogy, I feel like I asked, which puppy is best and the responses are I would not get any of these puppies they are ugly, find a kitten.

On your other thread (it is incredibly confusing to start two threads on pretty much the same topic, btw, but it happens), you indicated I think that the house sits above the road (steep climb up from garage/ front yard, and you want a side entrance) plus that there are city views from the back? of the house? Does this mean that your house sits kind of on the top of a ridge?

Things like how the house sits in relation to the road and where the views are are really important in design.

I've probably got all this completely backward, but if you could clarify the setting of the house, you'd get more useful help.

- and lol at the kitten/puppy analogy, that's pretty accurate. But it happens, especially when we don't know the amazing features of the puppies.

@D N You are correct. The house sits in a mountain area so the neighbor to the west is below and allows views to the city. The front slopes up and then the lot becomes flat so everything is flat however the garage is lower. I would say sitting on a ridge is more or less accurate. The back of the house has mountain views, the west has city (from the proposed master) and current kitchen, and the front has ocean views.

Sounds spectacular!! I can see why you want to make this house work for you.

I definitely understand the side entrance. That 3' wide tunnel hall is not very appetizing. I don't know if any space can be robbed from an adjoining room to make it less claustrophobic.

Do you have kids in these secondary bedrooms? How many, and how old?

@D N I did not want to rob too much because I was worried about making the bedrooms too small, I could rob some from the "his closet" I also plan to shrink the bathroom and laundry room as they seem bigger than I need. I did not want to make it too wide because I wondered if using sqft on a hallway was silly but I can make it 4ft and will change that.

Currently baby in one bedroom next to master, but I would like to make the house possible for multiple children though 3 unlikely but is why I asked initially about a 5th bedroom.

My other dilemmas are how much closet to sacrifice for bedroom size of the second bedroom, currently at 11x14 I think it is too small as I already am stuck with the 10x12 room that can not be enlarged due to garage adjacent placement.

Hey Eric, I posted some thoughts on your other thread.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5774382/help-with-remodel

The closets look great and they can be used for a lot of storage is planned properly. Ours is 12X10 and I love it!!

Your master bath does not have a linen closet. Where will you put your extra toilet paper, towels, pads, etc.????

Mark is right. The hall way is too narrow. If you ever need to have ortho surgery and use a walker, how will you move??

@Kathi SteeleThese closets will each be 8x14 so if together 16x14 which is why I was concerned. Linen closet is actually a good point when I get the bathroom designer I was going to add that but potentially I could even take closet space for it or instead of a toilet room i can move the toilet room to somewhere else. I’m going to send the request to enlarge the hallway to the architect!

Eric, I agree with you that having the side entrance is important especially if you have elderly or disabled visitors. I would however make sure that hallway is wider than you have it now. If an elder is visiting you and needs assistance walking, there is no way that someone could walk side by side with that person and I would think it would be especially difficult for someone with a walker or a wheelchair as well. Your idea is very sound, just need a little more thought into the functionality.

If it were me, I would reduce the closet. I know that I am in the minority on this, but I feel that having that much space for storage only encourages you to store things that you may not need. I have storage spots in my house that I just went through and got rid of a bunch of stuff that we don't need and I cannot believe how much space was taken up by junk. If it were me, I would rather utilize the space for a wider hallway so it does not feel claustrophobic.

Not sure that I would reduce the laundry area, as that is a space that gets used daily, especially with kids around. Have you thought to have the side entrance open into a laundry/mud room area? That way the side entrance can be useful for when the kids are filthy and you don't want them traipsing through a clean house. It can also serve as storage for things like shoes and backpacks when they are in school without cluttering up the house. As a mom of two school aged boys, they have a lot of stuff to deal with on a daily basis and I would love to have a spot that is not right by the front door to store all of it. Just something to think about! Good luck!

I would reduce the closet to enlarge the hallway but that is a load wall and the closet is past where we would need to reduce. I would have to reduce that bedroom but it is not huge. How would a mudroom work? Is it a laundry room you enter into that would be larger and then become more narrow to enter the house?

HU-2117907 I don't know where you live, but in the US, you cannot have a bedroom without an egress window so while your idea is absolutely better in terms of function to some degree, it won't work as you have it designed. :)

I do like your kitchen better and like the opening at the top.

cpartist, you are right. I did not think about the egress window. I really just wanted to give Eric an alternate view so that he could think a little more creatively about the space and how it could function better for his family. If it were my house, I would have things arranged is a different way altogether, but you are absolutely right that this would not meet code.