Not since the Victorian age of starched sheets and starchy manners, builders and architects say, have there been so many orders for separate bedrooms. Or separate sleeping nooks. Or his-and-her wings. In interviews, couples and sociologists say that often it has nothing to do with sex. More likely, it has to do with snoring. Or with children crying. Or with getting up and heading for the gym at 5:30 in the morning. Or with sending e-mail until well after midnight.In a survey in February by the National Association of Home Builders, builders and architects predicted that more than 60 per cent of custom houses would have dual master bedrooms by 2015, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president of research at the builders association. Some builders say more than a quarter of their new projects already do.According to the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, 75 per cent of adults frequently either wake up in the night or snore—and many of them have taken to separate beds just for those reasons. The move to separate sleeping spaces is yet another manifestation of changing marital patterns. “Couples today are writing their own script, rewriting how to have a marriage,” said Pamela J Smock, a University of Michigan sociologist. “The growing need for separate bedrooms also represents the speed-up of family life— women’s roles have changed—and the need for extra space eases the strain on the relationship. ”Nevertheless, Professor Smock said husbands were less willing to change familiar patterns. “Men are supposed to be one, dominant, and two, sexual,” she said. “Their wives might be thrilled to have their own bedroom, and see it as a romantic thing—going back to their romance, going back to dating, to intimacy, but the husband might not see it that way. No matter what the reasons, architects and builders say they know enough not to call them “master” bedrooms anymore.“Women are buying more homes, and women are sensitive to that terminology of the ‘master suite,’ and they’re opting for the term ‘owners’ suite,’ “said Barbara Slavkin, an interior designer in St Louis. St Louis couple the Peppers agree: separate bedrooms have added spice to their relationship. “It’s more exciting,” Mrs Pepper said, “when you can say: ‘Your room or mine?’-TRACIE ROZHON
