There is a very interesting feature on the UCLA Newsroom site. It's called 'Seven Common Challenges Facing Middle-Class Families at Home' and I think it may have been here on Houzz that I first came across it but I can't find that connection.

"Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors" a new book by UCLA's Center on Everyday Lives of Families, gives an unprecedented look into the middle-class American home. A team of archaeologists, anthropologists and other social scientists studied the home life of 32 two-income, middle-class families in Los Angeles.

One segment of the feature is what they call the "Lure of the 'Refuge'". I ask the question "Is the master suite really necessary" because I've been browsing the bedroom photos here on Houzz. I get the strong impression that the majority of bedrooms are incredibly large (I know that's relative) and seem to be almost a separate apartment, what with sofas, chairs, tables, television/internet etc and sometimes tea & coffee making facilites AND of course that attached bathroom.

Why?

We don't live in the bedroom. As the site comments, these master suites are 'often designed and decorated to evoke upscale hotels'. Why do we need upscale hotel rooms in our own houses? This reminds me of people who have houses where there's a bathroom for every bedroom. I personally think that's a waster of space and resources, as is, in my opinion, a huge bedroom suite.

Upgrading the master bedroom — often with the addition of an adjoining bathroom — was the single most common remodeling project among the families. At the time of the study, the cost of expanding a master bedroom or constructing a suite of modest proportions was a little more than $80,000. The amount approached or exceeded the combined annual salaries for many of the families.

Often designed and decorated to evoke upscale hotels, these private spaces were envisioned as refuges from the hustle and bustle of family life. Yet, the suites were rarely used, except for sleeping, the researchers found. Meanwhile, vexing pinch-points in families' daily routines, such as crowded kitchens, were rarely fixed.

The site states 'the suites were rarely used' - so why build them?

This is the link.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/celf-lure-of-the-refuge.aspx

(Apologies, I don't know how to create a link if that's possible).