Mine are not quite teenagers but what we need in the future is bedrooms big enough that they can have a desk in there, and a closed off living area for their friends and the noisy game console. I also want a powder room for visitors which includes the teenagers. It’s my preference to not have “their” living area near their bedrooms nor mine so I’d never have an upstairs design with an upstairs living/rumpus. I have 5 nieces/nephews who were highly food driven (not unusual) so room in the kitchen for them to perch and snack and talk was essential.

PS outdoors living is great for teenagers, especially if you add a bbq for sausage sizzles or a pizza oven for snacks.

Whether having double storey or single, from my experience with two children, who are now 22 and 25. Good size bedrooms with good size BIR, not WIR. Allow for a desk, and floor space for friends. Noting that the children may want to have their own room for friends and not always share a living room with their siblings friends. However still have A separate living area for them with a tv for movies and games. And a small dining setting. Not a dedicated theatre room. This living area to be close to the kitchen. If you put their living area upstairs, if double storey, from my experience it would hardly get used, two reasons, the teenagers seemed to prefer to be in their bedroom area with friends. And are always in the kitchen. A good size kitchen with 1300mm between benches so everyone can have room when meals are made at all times of the day and night. A separate living area for yourselves away from the noisy kitchen and outdoor area.
We moved into our home when my children were 15 and 17, so this is my experience, but, as said each family is different.

Hi there. Every family is different so it’s great to see different perspectives here. My husband and I built a house when our two children ( boy & girl) were almost teenagers. We built 2 storey with our master, ensuite, walk in robe and parent retreat upstairs. Everything else downstairs. This gave us a quiet space to ‘escape’ to. The retreat was used by both of us at different times for a study. Downstairs we had their bedrooms towards the back of the house away from the lounge with a fourth bedroom made bigger without robes for a ‘kids lounge’ next to their bedrooms. Later this turned into pretty much a gaming room for our son while our daughter was at uni. As a teacher and a mum I would say that some teens are great at studying in their rooms but many find the distraction of social media, toys etc hard to ignore. Our son studied at the dining table adjacent to the kitchen with his computer facing into the kitchen while I prepared dinner. I could help keep him on track and also provide bribes…err snacks to keep him motivate. The main bathroom had a separate toilet/powder room so I only had to make sure the powder was clean and tidy for guests rather than the whole kids bathroom- I could just close the door on that. That was super handy. The house worked well for us and changed as their needs changed. In summary, a private space for you and your partner to relax, separate entertaining spaces for the kids and somewhere to be all together in the middle is a good starting point. Good luck with your build.

Thank you all. Soubds like decent bedrooms are a must and a focus on the kitchen area, which we already wanted. @dreamer (sorry not sure how to tag names) can I ask why you recommend a BIR over a WIR?

Hi Sharon, a built in robe gives good floor to ceiling storage with no floor space waste. The “walk in” space, in a walk in robe can become a space to just leave things on the floor. It will depend on how tidy your children are. And the BIR takes up less square metres on your floor plan.

We recently built a new home and the main thing we wanted was large bedrooms to fit queen size beds. Our spare room fits a queen bed and cot. The walk in robe holds all the baby gear. We also have a study that’s the size of a large bedroom so it can be used as a bedroom too. We have 4 kids - 25 (married with baby), 23 (married), 19 (uni student at home) and 10. Our house is split level and the 3 kids bedrooms plus rumpus area are downstairs, study and media room are mid level and master bedroom, kitchen, dining, family are upstairs. We love this floor plan.

Having teenagers myself, I would suggest having the kitchen well away from the bedrooms, or at least from the master bedroom. Teenagers can be hungry at all hours of the day and night and you don't want to be disturbed by someone clanging round the kitchen making themselves a sandwich at midnight!! :)

best things we did for our growing teenagers, young adults and visiting adult children and grandchildren was a three way compartmented bathroom with double sinks, bedrooms with a small built in study desk (also ideal for placing luggage) no TV in the family and dining room, a separate TV room and a very generous covered outdoor areas with barbq and plenty of seating and in cold weather we also used the garage for an extra rumpus room with a ping pong table and some old furniture for crowd of visiting teenagers

@dreamer thank you for the tips about the BIR vs WIR. Having 2 boys, they don't seem to understand the word 'tidy', mind you my daughter is not much different :).

@StaceyandScott we are currently looking at a split level home too because we have a downward slope. Your design sounds like a Montgomery design. Problem with our block is it is only 15.1m wide and we have to reduce the room sizes, not happy about that :(.

Thank you everyone for your responses, much appreciated

Yes, it’s a Montgomery - the Carolina.

Regarding BIR versus WIR, as well as the wasted floorspace there can be awkward corner space, on paper it's storage but in practice it's that hard to reach area where things disappear to be forgotten.

Thank you @rocksfam, really great advise. We have considered the bathroom area and do prefer to have a separate toilet with a washbasin. It just makes it easier when one is in the shower and the other needs the toilet.

What do you all consider as decent bedroom sizes for teenage kids?

A decent bedroom size for all occupants, whether teenagers, adults or elderly is 16sqm, in any configuration. Plus wardrobe space.
We built our home, with all bedrooms 4000mm x 4000mm plus BIR.

Definitely a generous powder room. We have a 750 semi recessed vanity in ours. Often called upon when all getting ready at same time.

Our original bedrooms were the standard (90’s) 3.2 x 3.4, which is adequate to fit a double bed and desk but pretty tight. We extended our house and made the new bedrooms 4.2 x 3.4 and they are much better rooms with a bit of floorspace.

4 X 3 plus biw minimum for minor bedrooms where there is a second living area