What rooms would you deem necessary for a house, and how necessary are they?
I know for basic living for one single person and no pets, a bathroom, and kitchen+living room+bedroom are the bare essentials. So basically a studio.
What I'm looking for is some opinions on what separated rooms are needed/wanted for a house, and also how needed/wanted are they? I'd say the bathroom and "studio" room would rank as #1 and #2, unless you plan on having the "studio" area separate. In that case, these are ranked as:
Bathroom -1
Kitchen - 2
Bedroom - 3
Living room - 4
Maybe add in closets here and there, and a laundry room?
Bthrm closet - 5
Laundry - 6
Bdr closet - 7
Pantry - 8
Lvgrm closet - 9
But I know nothing of what rooms are necessary (or lesser known possible rooms/areas) for living, or even how big they should be. I know in my state, NC, the bare minimum is 720 sq ft, so shooting for slightly over that would be ideal for me. I don't want to have a huge house to clean, and I love cozy, small spaces. If I want to see some larger space, I'll look out a window or go outside.
So what would be your numbered list for priority rooms in a house?
For a single person, it is somewhat simple, especially if you presume that you'll never, ever want 1 or more other people to stay with you. Which is a fine assumption if you're building something like a cabin in the woods, but is less-fine if you ever intend to move out of said space and not severely restrict who might want it.
My rule of thumb is something like that: 500 sqft + 200 sqft per person, at a minimum. So for a couple, 900sqft is fine. For a family of four, 1300 is more reasonable. Quality of square footage is a big problem too. You can have a 200 sqft bedroom, but if it's an L-shaped hallway it's a hellscape and not a luxury.
The thing is, even for people whom love each other, there is a necessity to have space apart. It's also nice to have separate spaces for separate activities. Yes, I could work and play and eat and sleep in a 100sqft cell....but having those all share the same space blurs the separation of those activities and it'll cause work and play to intermingle in unhealthy ways, and will interfere with your sleep.
So given that, even a space I designed for myself would still have enough separation that 2 people could comfortably use it. This is especially important for COVID-lockdown type situations where even being alone could drive you stir-crazy if you can't have any change of scenery other than your bathroom and your "room".
So even in a studio-like situation, I'd want some level of partitions, if not full walls to separate activities.
Given that, here's my ranking with required features (if I was designing a hypothetical divorcee space where my kids never visit/stay). I'm too lazy to bust out the tape measure to figure out actual sqft for what is required, sorry.
I'm not certain I'd be able to reconcile that all within 700-800 sq ft, but I think that list of spaces would provide me everything I need to properly segment parts of my life I like to keep separate.
After I had finished initial post, I realized that if I were single I probably wouldn't even buy a TV anymore. Would probably just switch all gaming to the Steam Deck and isolate video watching to a 2-in-1 laptop.
Looks like all of the responses here so far are talking about conventional houses, but your question seems adjacent to the "tiny home" movement. Are you familiar with that? I've seen some fantastically creative configurations that are both comfortable and space-efficient.
It's not for me personally (I have a family with kids, and I go stir-crazy if cooped up too long in a small space, even a comfortable one) but you might be a better fit for it. Something to think about.
That's originally what I'd been looking at, but in NC you have to have it put on a foundation to live in it year round. So I may as well build one custom. Plus, I'll have a cat business to run out of my home, so it really needs to be attached to another house-like area. But yes, if I had my way, I'd be in a tinyhome for sure.
Obviously this all depends on your personal needs, but here's me reasoning...
1-3 would be on the same level for me. You can't have one without the others. I prefer open spaces, so I abandoned drawers/dressers when I moved out on my own. I put either hang all my clothes or put them on the closet shelf.
4-5 would also be on the same level. I need to a space for food storage/cooking as well as doing my own laundry. I'm not going waste money on eating out or going to a laundromat regularly.
6 is necessary for additional storage. I have one hallway closet and use it for towels/utilities. It's great having a space for tools and spare cables and the like.
Living Room is nice just so to have a separate space from your sleeping area to game or watch TV or excersize. Also good for hosting people.
After living without a Dining table/area, I've learned to appreciate it. Eating on the living room coffee table or counter gets old.
9 is necessary if you have guests. I used to live in an apartment where the master bathroom was the only one. Having guest was inconvenient as they'd have to enter my bedroom to get to the bathroom.
10-12 are just nice to have. I work remote full time and having a dedicated room for that is great. It separates the spaces. So I'm not working in the same space I relax or eat dinner. A dpare bedroom and shower is great for having the occasional overnight guest. Doesn't happen often for me, but when I do it's nice.
I would love a walk in closet! I would consider a dresser in that space. For now, I have a bed with drawers in case I need the additional storage.
I live in a pretty small apartment. Must be less than 1000 sq ft. It’s divided into two rooms. One room is the bedroom and the other room has the front entrance, a kitchenette and the bathroom. I don’t have everything set up how I want it, but here’s my plans and stuff I’d like to do.
My bedroom is really more of a multipurpose room. I think more people should consider doing something like this if they wish they had more rooms in their house. There’s lots of ways you can make do with small amounts of space. I recently purchased a folding mattress and collapsing bed frame. I can literally put my bed away in the morning and then quickly and easily convert my bedroom into a little calisthenics/dumbbell fitness studio and get limbered up for the day. I think having an “area” for fitness is absolutely essential. The other half of the apartment where the kitchenette is, the kitchen area only really takes up the far end. The other side where the door to my bedroom is has a couch on it right now. I’d really like to make it kind of like my bedroom, a multipurpose area. I’m currently investigating ways to easily convert it between like a little parlor area and a dining area.
As for the kitchen, since I’m on all this space efficiency stuff, if you’re in a small apartment combo appliances are your dearest friend. I bought a combo convection oven/microwave on Craigslist and it’s actually amazing and let me free up so much counter space. It can even air fry and microwave AT THE SAME TIME.
You have just changed my life, and I thank you. It never even occurred to me to look for a microwave/air fryer.
That said, I disagree with your philosophy of making your bedroom a multipurpose area. I have struggled with sleep issues many times, and using the bedroom for anything other than sleeping is a quick way to really exacerbate them. If I'm gonna do that, the Kitchen/Living Room is a much more likely target for myself.
I honestly don't think that a home should be as divided as they tend to be. I'd much rather have a big common area rather than a seperate kitchen, dining room, living room, den, etc. If I wanted to partition space to have more visual variety, I'd probably want to have movable walls so I could reconfigure the spaces without needing construction.
The biggest problem I have with overly partitioned spaces is that they tend to encourage clutter. Closets are the worst: they become storage centers where clutter and junk goes. On the other hand, if you reclaimed the space and put something like a chest of drawers there you'll be less likely to collect junk because it tends to make people more mindful about where they put things and what they're for. I'd rather have a dedicated storage room than closets throughout a house.
So with that in mind, the rooms that make sense are the ones where you'll want privacy or soundproofing. That means bedrooms, bathrooms, and offices, mainly. A dedicated room for the washer and dryer could be reasonable, if a bit extravagant.
Honestly I'm kind of interested in the idea of living in a yurt right now. :P
I mostly grew up without a basement (in Florida -- the terrain doesn't allow for them) but based on what I've seen out of state, I think they're a great catch-all place you can use or ignore as needed. You can have your laundry area down there, use it for storage of linens and out-of-season clothing and whatever else, keep tools and outdoor appliances in there if you don't have a garage or shed (and a workbench if you're handy). And if it's unfinished it doesn't really require regular cleaning. No one will look askance at dust and a few cobwebs down there. I wish I could have a basement.
I don't really have a ranked list, but personally I'd love it if I could knock some of the necessary nooks like laundry room, linen closet, pantry, etc. down into a basement.
It sounds as though you’re trying to find an essential formula from which you can derive your domestic philosophy and maybe even housing plans.
I encourage you to study how it’s done in Japan. Nearly every house and apartment has the same floor plan: a galley kitchen, a wet room bathroom with a drain in the floor, and a single large room with ample storage through sliding doors in each wall.
Throughout each day, that room serves every function, with furniture pulled out for each use. Very simple. Very minimal. After visiting Japan for a month it fundamentally changed how I think about these things. My wife and I sleep on a futon in our dining room. Our master bedroom has been re-purposed as a study. It’s been a good system for the last 10 years. Our favorite so far.
Visitors often wander through our house, asking where the beds are.
Oh I absolutely love the concept of pocket doors. Honestly idk why we don't use them more often. It saves so much space! And thanks, I'll look into japanese layouts. :)
Instead of doing somekind of list ranking the rooms I will describe our house and say what I'm missing. i'm not native Englih speaker, bear with ne, please.
The habitable part of house is very much ok, we are pleased with dispositions of the rooms and live cmfortably.
The technical part is the problem. I can fit car, scooter (the motorcycle type), motorcycle, lawmower, weedeater, one kid bike and kid quadbike there, but there is no room for adult bikes there. Technical room and storage are dirty rooms because of the coal. So I lack two rooms or one bigger room. I really miss kind of workshop - room where I can have basic tools and work on small things. And some kind of storage room for bikes, lawnmower etc. would be great too. If it was one bigger room, it could fit all in one. This is the one room that could be whatever you want or need - there can be sound studio, racing simulator, zen garden, ... For me it is workshop. Once we get rid of coal and use heat pump, there will be one such room available. And once we are there, I would consider that we have all the basic rooms that should a house have.
After spending my 20s in minimal apartments and a shoestring budget, now living in a bigger space. My requirements have increased substantially. It may seem extraneous but I am not interested in a place with any less than the following
1.A Kitchen: lots of cabinet space, I strongly dislike having things on the counter
1.B Living Room: doesn't need to be massive, can be "open concept" with kitchen and dining area for hosting
1.C Dining area: simple enough, seating for 4 by default with ability to seat 6.
1.D Half bath for company: So much nicer to have a bathroom maintained for company, easily accessible from living room.
1.E Coat Closet
2.A Master Bedroom: Needs to fit king bed and my partner's make up vanity
2.B Master full bath and walk-in closet: No bathtub necessary, I like the small separate potty rooms (taking a morning shit in peace while my partner is doing her routine is wonderful), walk in closet should be large enough for two person's worth of clothing and 1-2 dressers. The ability to prep for the day without leaving our private space is wonderful when we have company.
3.A 1-2 Guest/extra bedroom: Prefer a guest room (We have house guests regularly), extra bed room would be used when we have multiple families visit. Room for a child in the future.
3.B Guest/extra bed closet
3.C Full guest bathroom: Guests and future children should have a bathroom of their own. Bathtub necessary for kids/dogs.
4.A Office: Room for gaming PC, WFH, and studying.
4.B Office closet: Need somewhere to store spare electronics, overflow board and console games.
5. Laundry room and hallway storage: I appreciate a separate laundry room, could also be in the basement. Prefer on the same level as the sleeping quarters.
6. Basement for storage and workout equipment: Love having a basement. Currently it is storing my partner's stuff from her condo as well as holiday decorations and camping stuff. Also need enough room for a stationary bike, squat rack, and some deadlift pads.
7. Garage 2 car minimum, 3 preferred. We have four cars and a motorcycle. Two cars are required to be garaged so our daily vehicles park outside. I would like my partner to have a garage space. Should also have storage space for yard equipment and vehicle maintenance equipment.
I think it's worth pointing out that the existence of ANY closets is optional. I know they're basically all over houses and apartments in the US, but here in Germany I've never lived in an apartment with a real closet. You're generally expected to set up standalone furniture to store your clothes (and other stuff) here. My current apartment has a "closet" in our bedroom, but even that's just a nook in one half of a large bedroom with no built-in furniture that's just well-suited to setting up closet furniture; I could've turned it into a teeny home office instead if I'd wanted.
The hill I'm willing to die on: I absolutely despise the modern trend of kitchen in the living room.
Kitchen should be a separate space.
Why is that? I think a socialization space is great to have in a space adjacent to the kitchen. When we have company someone is always the chef and it allows the chef to be be engaged with the rest of the group. Not to mention many of us enjoy cooking and the technique and decisions of the chef are always a topic of conversation.
Now I'm not against a separate living room with the kitchen sharing space with a dining room or other "hanging out space" But the living room/dining room/kitchen space is efficient.
I strongly prefer a separate kitchen because kitchens are often messy. Or at least mine is: I cook three times a day, seven days a week, and sometimes my cooking is a complex and multi-day process (weekly sourdough bread, washing and preserving large numbers of dirt-covered vegetables from the garden, bulk meal prep, etc.).
Even when my kitchen is completely clean, it's not pretty: it's a utilitarian workroom.
I live in a studio, and it makes me feel kind of frantic sometimes having the kitchen so easily visible to the living room. I admittedly do like how open it is when I have guests over and we do cooking together (I make sure my kitchen is pristine before they come). But for me, having a large kitchen (enough for several people to fit comfortably) in a separate room that branches directly off the living room—ideally with a large enough opening that two people can pass each other, but small enough that most of the kitchen is hidden from the living room—would be the perfect compromise. When I've visited people or stayed in places that have this setup, I've greatly enjoyed it.
I agree. I'd like my kitchen to be hidden. It just doesn't vibe with the theme I'd have going on for my living room, which is "warm and cozy." Not "tiles, water and appliances."
I think a lot of it depends on what type of person you are. Some people like having things visible or they find comfort in clutter and wouldn't much mind not having closets and storerooms; other people find it very distracting. Some people like minimal possessions, others like a lot of variety and comfort. Some people need lots of space, some don't; some are happy and safe outdoors; others have issues (asthma, bad neighborhoods). You need to define the things that are important to you.
Myself, I mostly find a place within my price range and within a half hour or so of work, then work with what I have. If there's no closet, I might get a clothes rack or chifferobe or over-the-door hooks to hang the clothes I need to hang. If it's too cluttered-looking for my taste, I can put up a decorative screen in front of whatever is annoying my most; that kind of thing.
I will say that the one thing that's important to me is sound. Lots of constant sound puts my nerves on edge. I need either a quiet neighborhood (or where the noise mostly happens on a regular basis, like the couple hours after school lets out), or good soundproofing. And yeah, I can wear noise-cancelling headphones and white noise machines, but that gets really tedious. So sound is actually the third thing I look at.
I also find that, if I have two floors in a place, I tend to spend my time mostly on one floor, with the other floor existing mostly for either cooking or sleeping. It's nice to have everything on one floor.
The number of rooms also depends on whether you live alone or with other people, whether you plan to have company over, and how neat you are (or how embarrassed you are when you're not neat). If you live alone, don't expect company and aren't bothered if there's a mess, then one room is fine. If you have company over and aren't neat/are embarrassed, it's nice to have a bedroom where you can be messy (or shove messes into) and just close the door when company comes over.
Rooms? Start with one room, no barriers, everything is there in the open. What do you want to segregate off? First is probably the bathroom, for hygiene and vulnerability reasons.
Second is probably the utility room. Now, things like the washer and dryer could easily be located in the bathroom, but you also have things like the hot water heater, and the main electrical panel and whatever HVAC arrangement you have, which are traditionally hidden off in a closet somewhere. You can easily make the utility room where you store the household cleaning supplies, somewhat dangerous chemicals that you want to keep separate, and a small set of tools - a vacuum cleaner or broom, household bug killer, drain cleaner, bleach, etc.
The third and fourth areas to segregate are probably the kitchen and bedroom, though the order that occurs in will depend on the person. Some people hate having an open kitchen, others love it; some people love having a separate 'bedroom' area; others are perfectly content with daybeds or Murphy beds. But if you're designing or building from scratch, you can also achieve visual separation with architectural elements - a half-wall or island to separate the kitchen from the living room, for example, or making a small loft area for a bedroom.
When we were househunting, our list was as follows:
We got all that and more! What we did not get was a dining room, but our kitchen is large enough that we eat in there. We clearly have our priorities, lol.
Ontologically, I don't think any rooms are necessary for a house. A house containing a single large space with no defined purpose is still a house.
Of course I'm a human, so I would say a dedicated bathroom and dedicated cooking area are musts. Apart from that, I could live in a totally minimalist setup–I see no reason to distinguish between the living room, dining room, and bedroom. My closet is nice because I have a lot of nonsense, junk, and things, but I could do with just under bed storage and a clothing rack in the corner of my room.
Of course, that denies any possibility of having guests over, so if the possibility of hosting guests ranks high on your list of priorities, your list would definitely be different from mine.
I'm starting to house shop. Accessibility throws everything out the window. I need fewer walls and no halls and everything is just like, in the way. All the time. Doors are bad. Counters are both the wrong height and the wrong depth and yeah.
I'm never gonna figure it out.