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View Full Version : What sorts of rooms would you find in a mansion?



Templarkommando
2012-03-29, 01:02 AM
So here's the problem that I have. A realistic mansion is likely to have bedroom after bedroom, and while that's great for actual mansions, I need some variety for this dungeon that I'm looking at building. Let me give a few examples of room types.

1. Entry hall
2. Parlor
3. Dining Room
4. Kitchen
5. Game room
6. Conservatory
7. Library
8. Study
9. Smoking Room
10. Observatory
11. Janitorial Closet

etc.

So what I'm looking for is more rooms of this sort. If you'd like, I welcome description ideas.

Jeff the Green
2012-03-29, 01:37 AM
Try looking at the components of Roman villas:

Atrium (sort of living room *** entryway)
Taberna (shop/business area)
Peristylium (colonnaded garden)
Therma (bathroom, as in the place where you take a bath)


Some others:

Servants' quarters
Dog kennel
Stables
Wine cellar
Root cellar
Meat locker
Torture chamber

Grinner
2012-03-29, 01:39 AM
*Runs to find his Clue board*

You are missing the:

Ballroom
Cellar
Billiard Room
Lounge

Lord Tyger
2012-03-29, 01:47 AM
You'd probably have a kitchen, as you mentioned, and you can get a lot out of that. The kitchen itself, a pantry, perhaps a separate coldbox (good place to find corpses or undead), dumbwaiter, passageways for serving staff to discretely travel between kitchen and dining room, seperate storage for wine or brandy (possibly several levels, kept at different temperatures/humidity, people get really intense about their wine sometimes).

Also, a ballroom.

Outside of the mansion itself, you might find elaborate gardens. There was also a tendency for a while to build "follies," or smaller buildings intended largely for ornamental rather than functional use- in England and France, these were often in the form of Greek and Roman temples. Hedge mazes can also be fun for vexing your adventurers.

crazyhedgewizrd
2012-03-29, 01:49 AM
sewing room / craft room


outside maybe a hermits hut

DaragosKitsune
2012-03-29, 01:53 AM
Also consider:

Gallery (for showing off items of rarity or great value)
Dungeon (for holding those who wrong the master of the house)
Vault(s) (Because what noble trusts all of their fortune in the hands of another, not to mention family heirlooms)
Multiple secret passages (In case the home is attacked)
A Panic Room (See above)
Studio (Nobles have time for such passions as the arts)

Funkyodor
2012-03-29, 02:03 AM
Personal Shrine / Prayer room, maybe several depending on the owners faiths?

Ashtagon
2012-03-29, 02:15 AM
Take a quick look at those websites where you can buy custom house plans. Search for the most ostentatious house you can find, and you'll see all sorts of weird stuff in there you never knew someone might need a room for.

One had a bunker. Another, a herbarium. More mundane rooms include music rooms, drawing rooms, hearth rooms, and sewing rooms.

Coidzor
2012-03-29, 02:39 AM
What flavor were you thinking?

English Manor House?

Tuscan Villa?

Versailles?

Something more Ottoman?

Maybe take a page from what's known of the Forbidden City?

Elemental
2012-03-29, 04:19 AM
Depends on how palatial you want the place...

Ignoring service rooms for a moment because of time constraints...
-Drawing Room
-Fainting Room
-Long Galleries (different to a gallery)
-Various Parlours
-If the place is large enough, a Grand Dining Hall
-Morning Room
-Solar (not like a solarium)
-Sun Room
-Plus various large spaces that serve the purpose of showing off to guests.

The service rooms are, of course, based off the requirements of the residents.

Cespenar
2012-03-29, 04:24 AM
Also, there should be that one room you should never, ever, enter.

Elemental
2012-03-29, 07:00 AM
Obviously.

DigoDragon
2012-03-29, 07:06 AM
When I design mansions for my RPGs, I always like to include some sort of hobby room. Like a room that's a giant scale model trainset or wall-to-wall plush animal collection.

"Why are rich people so eccentric?"
"Because they can afford to be so."

Elemental
2012-03-29, 07:09 AM
Like an Auditorium so they can bring in people to play music for them or watch plays.
I can't believe I neglected to put that on my list of possible additions earlier even after I reminded myself to...

Silverscale
2012-03-29, 07:44 AM
I don't think anyone has mentioned any sort of personal gym. Depending on the time period and scale thins can be:
a more modern room full of weight training equipment.
a 2-3 story high rock climbing wall.
a fencing/sparing room.
a martial arts Dojo.
a pool. either indoor, outdoor, or both.
even a meditation room.

Megaduck
2012-03-29, 08:09 AM
A Harem (Doesn't have to be occupied)
The Baths. A large room with multiple tubs of hot and cold water.
Wine Cellar
Cold Storage
Ice Storage
Stable
Carriage house
Herb Garden
Laundry Room
Children's Play room

Elemental
2012-03-29, 08:38 AM
Okay, now for a variety of archaic and mostly obsolete service rooms found in castles and great houses throughout Europe:

--Still Room (not just for making alcohol, they also used the place to make medicines, perfumes and anything else requiring chemical processes)

--Spicery (The room for storing spices, obviously. Damn that annoying Captain! Anyway, important when spices were really valuable and stored separate from the rest of the food to prevent theft. Oh, and possibly to keep them dry)

--Scullery (The room for washing dishes, utensils, linen and clothing. You may decide to go with a separate laundry for washing fabric)

--Saucery (Room for making sauces. Wow, some of these are really obsolete...)

--Root Cellar (obvious, but also for other stuff)

--Servant's Hall (basically, the communal area for the servants and where they ate their meals)

--Lumber Room (used for the storage of wooden furniture that is not currently in use)

--Larder (a specialised food storage room before the invention of the refrigerator)

--Cloak Room (a must in a large household where formal affairs are often held, people have to put their sable somewhere while they dance)

--Buttery (shockingly, a place for the dispensing of beer and candles, not butter)

There are a couple more, but they're really obscure.
But they're mostly just specialised food preparation and storage rooms. As well as other utility rooms, storage areas and workshops.
Basically, if the owners of the mansion needed, they'd have it.

Eric Tolle
2012-03-29, 11:24 AM
The Poison Room. No joke: a securely locked room where poisons for vermin or weeds or the like can be stored. I never thought of such a room until I helped with a wedding at a ranch house that had one of those rooms right off the kitchen.

Templarkommando
2012-03-29, 01:15 PM
I'm liking a lot of the ideas that I'm seeing. Let me give you a bit of background on what I'm trying to do.

My party has started finding lots of combat to be extremely tedious. Personally, I'm a big fan of combat, but I want to accomodate my players' tastes. My plan presently is to draw a lot of elements from the adventure game genre - so like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island etc.

I need a setting that lends itself to few if any fights where my PCs can interact with NPCs and solve a few puzzles.

lotusblossom13
2012-03-29, 01:29 PM
Using Versailles as an inspiration you could also include a

Hall of mirrors
Grand rolling gardens with fountains, a grand canal, statues, groves etc.
Portrait hall/Gallery
Why have only a small prayer room when you can have an entire church in the home?

Wardog
2012-03-29, 06:16 PM
Servants' quarters. Elemental mentioned their dining area, but the house servants would typically have their own rooms/dormatories as well. (Outdoor staff like gardeners and gamekeepers may well have their accomodation in the grounds rather than in the house).

A nursery, where the children would be looked after, and maybe sleep as well.

In many stately homes, individual rooms for all adult family members (including the master and his wife), often with an adjacent study/washroom/prayer room.

Slipperychicken
2012-03-29, 10:30 PM
If you're going to have a music hall, you need at least two soundproofed practice rooms, and an instrument storage room (kept at optimum temperature and humidity, of course. Don't want your instruments going out of tune, or cracking/warping. Add things like spare top-quality rosin, reeds, strings, metronomes, tuners, replacement instruments and bows of all kinds). And, naturally, pianos, one for each practice room, and another for the performance hall. The back of the performance hall stage has a door to a back corridor containing the practice rooms and locker, where performers warm up before entering.

A (mini)-bar, if that hasn't been selected already.

Boiler/engine (whether magical or mundane) rooms. Gotta keep the water running, the gas flowing, and the heat going. If magical, one suggestion is to have some bound elementals there, treated basically like slaves or work-animals.

Vault. To store all the money and valuables, if its not in bank accounts or other investments.

Templarkommando
2012-03-30, 01:54 AM
If you're going to have a music hall, you need at least two soundproofed practice rooms, and an instrument storage room (kept at optimum temperature and humidity, of course. Don't want your instruments going out of tune, or cracking/warping. Add things like spare top-quality rosin, reeds, strings, metronomes, tuners, replacement instruments and bows of all kinds). And, naturally, pianos, one for each practice room, and another for the performance hall. The back of the performance hall stage has a door to a back corridor containing the practice rooms and locker, where performers warm up before entering.

A (mini)-bar, if that hasn't been selected already.

Boiler/engine (whether magical or mundane) rooms. Gotta keep the water running, the gas flowing, and the heat going. If magical, one suggestion is to have some bound elementals there, treated basically like slaves or work-animals.

Vault. To store all the money and valuables, if its not in bank accounts or other investments.


Are metronomes period? If they are, how do they differ from modern ones?

I'm also thinking the big tuner before the big electronic ones that we get in band rooms is going to be a tuning fork.

Strangely, Pianos are not generally considered period at all in a medieval setting as they date from around the death of J.S. Bach who died in A.D. 1750 if I remember correctly. If there is any keyboard instrument in a house it will likely be a harpsichord, or an organ - though there are a few other candidates.

While I wouldn't have a hard time believing in medieval instrumental practice rooms, soundproofing seems a little anachronistic. Maybe it can be explained with magic though.

Elemental
2012-03-30, 02:35 AM
I think this would be a bit easier if we knew what era of house you were interested in...

Oh, and you can soundproof a room with thick walls, drapes and carpeting.
And, there's nothing that says the practice rooms need to be near the performance area?

hewhosaysfish
2012-03-30, 07:18 AM
Some sort of laboratory or observatory; a lot of major scientific discoveries were made by nobles of clergymen who would be classed as "amateurs" or "hobbyists" by today's standards.

Family crypt. Most likely in the grounds but could be under the buildings. Quite likely to be found with the chapel.

Armoury. Probably the first thing the PCs will think of (either this or the vault/strongroom).

Grey Watcher
2012-03-30, 08:39 AM
I'm liking a lot of the ideas that I'm seeing. Let me give you a bit of background on what I'm trying to do.

My party has started finding lots of combat to be extremely tedious. Personally, I'm a big fan of combat, but I want to accomodate my players' tastes. My plan presently is to draw a lot of elements from the adventure game genre - so like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island etc.

I need a setting that lends itself to few if any fights where my PCs can interact with NPCs and solve a few puzzles.

This mansion... does it happen to belong to an eccentric toymaker?

Lhurgyof
2012-03-30, 12:35 PM
I'm pretty sure there was an AD&D handbook just for large buildings, I'm blanking on it right now, though.

Coidzor
2012-03-30, 02:09 PM
This mansion... does it happen to belong to an eccentric toymaker?

The kind with a whole mess of gnomish servants?

Grey Watcher
2012-03-30, 03:16 PM
The kind with a whole mess of gnomish servants?

Nope. But he took some pretty cool invocations with those Warlock levels.

Beleriphon
2012-03-30, 04:57 PM
What period are you aiming at? And what culture do you draw inspiration from? Is it a dwarven mansion, elven, orcish, Bretonian, Nord, or perhaps Cyrodillic?

I as because a "masion" in Imperial Rome is going to be a massive house, and its surround grounds and farm. A pastoral English country house might be a mansion as well, but its going to be quite different than a Roman one. A Byzantine mansion will be different again, or a Japanese lord's house is different from all of the above. Many will have rooms that often serve the same function, kitchens and such, but each has their own distinct rooms. You're unlikely to find a harem room in an English Duke's country home, but you would probably find one in a noble of the Ottoman Eempire.

I also wouldn't look at Versaille as a "mansion". Its more like a giant French vaction resort for the King and his guests, it's less a house and more Disney World.

If you want a good mansion to look at that actually a reasonable size, and has some nifty stuff the orignal layout of the White House is probably a good place to start. Its' big, it was originally designed as just a house for the US President, and it was meant to impress foreign dignitaries.

Silverscale
2012-03-30, 10:33 PM
How about this place....yes that is in fact a person's house and not a hotel.
http://i1.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens8118651module69715171photo_1258700531she ikh-zayed-bin-sultan-al-nahyan-mansion-luxury-house2.jpg

--Lime--
2012-03-30, 11:08 PM
Outbuildings would include:
- A brew room (many rich people would have had access to orchards for cider or perry, or take a tithe of grain to make beer, or had access to vinyards to make wine)
- A coach-house: You don't keep coaches in the stable, and you don't keep carts with the coaches. So an additional lean-to for carts would be fine.
- A gatehouse: Even if the house isn't surrounded by fortified walls, a gatehouse is usually a leftover relic from earlier, more lawless times, and is a good place to greet and screen those entering the mansion grounds
- A scullery: this can be attached to the house, but its main purpose is for the washing of clothes and crockery. It would be more of a dead-end than something to pass through
- A groundskeeper's shack. This might be far away from the house, out in the grounds, or it could be attached to the stables. Perhaps bows and/or crossbows are kept here instead of in the main armoury.
- Don't forget the hayloft in the stables, and the door high up for loading.
- A summer house. This is probably covered if you include Follies, but since those can be anything from obelisks to mini Greek temples, I felt it worth mentioning.
- Eel pool, and if it's a very large estate, perhaps even a small watermill. The eel pool would be in the sluices for the watermill.
- A walled garden for vegetables (with herbs, flowers, and medicinal plants planted as borders) was common. Some English ones even had hollow walls that were heated by fire at one end, much like a hypocaust. This meant that even in the coldest winter these exotic plants did not die.

Other things:
- Strange statues can give instant mystery. Is this statue of the mansion's owner? The owner's ancestor? A god? Or just by a famous sculptor? Is the pedastal engraved with a strange language? Is the statue kept hidden and out of sight, or prominently on display inside or out in the gardens?
- Depending on the history of the area, a priest hole equivalent might be there
- If the mansion has a fortified tower, or crenallations, you might find a spiral staircase with a trip step - a step slightly higher which, if you don't know about it (like if you're attacking up the staircase) you are likely to trip on and injure yourself rolling down the stone stairs. Also make sure that the spiral goes the right way: going up the centre of the spiral should be on your right (because that makes it harder to swing a sword at those on higher steps, likely the defenders)
- Balconies (and to a lesser extent, colonnaded landings) allow the use of levels, and having some outside walls covered in ivy can give PCs another way to travel between floors.

Inside the house, pretty much everything I can think of has been mentioned. What I will say is don't forget the details. Embroidery, wood inlay, or intricate lacquerwork brings a room or an object of furniture to life. The inclusion of otherwise useless knick-knacks, like firescreens, for stopping the heat from large fires melting ladies' makeup, curios brought back from travel in foreign lands (earthquake detector in the shape of a pagoda, many bells hanging off it as a real example). And books are wonderful objects to add flavour (or plot hooks, if you like). Binding stamps, notes in the margin, missing pages, personal Commonplaces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book) and especially inscriptions:

Inscriptions in books are full of anecdote and human interest, and the study of provenance brings us closer to people and their history. Behold Anne of Cleves' gentle inscription to her future husband, "when ye loke on thys remember me", in sharp contrast to Henry's VIII's pronouncement, "Thys Boke Is Myne Prynce Henry". Somehow we know more about these human beings by the way they wrote in their books.
You have to make it feel like someone's home, and round out who they are/were that live/d there.
Theme-ing of rooms was also popular: sure, there might be three rooms to sit and read in, but one might have a giant tapestry, one might have the best furniture, and the other might have wallpaper with hand-painted birds on it. These might get different light at different times of day, or be for entertaining different types of guest, or simply be different sizes depending on the number of people being entertained, and how "cosy" things could get.
Bedrooms could be colour themed (as they often were) or themed after places visited on oversea travel (e.g. The Japanese Bedroom, The French Bedroom, etc) which was also very common. These were more common in Victorian times, but were done before that though.

My AD&D2e DMG has no hints on building mansions or castles.

A lot of the things mentioned in this thread are more 16th Century than Mediaeval, but since it's fantasy you can have a fair amount of handwaving.

deuxhero
2012-03-30, 11:46 PM
An empty room. No traps, no hidden doors, just empty. To screw with PCs.

--Lime--
2012-03-31, 12:37 AM
^ That's an excellent idea!

On a sidenote, abandoned nurseries can be really creepy, especially if you include strange music boxes, grotesque dolls, and ghostly disembodied lullabies floating through the air.

Ravens_cry
2012-03-31, 05:15 AM
A library, especially if you have established that printing presses don't exist or are very rare in this universe.
Nothing says ultimate opulence like having an entire, large, room dedicated to works of art and treasures of knowledge that likely literally took years, each, to craft by hand; the smell of parchment, leather and candle wax filling the air with a sweet yet acrid aroma.

Cespenar
2012-03-31, 05:46 AM
An empty room. No traps, no hidden doors, just empty. To screw with PCs.

So... do we put the best lock ever made on its door, or do we let the door wide open, to maximize trolling?

Elemental
2012-03-31, 07:05 AM
The lock. Definitely the lock.
And remember to include perfectly ordinary curtains so the players can pull them aside dramatically and find even more nothing.

Ravens_cry
2012-03-31, 07:14 AM
Yeah . . . my question is why?
Why, from an in-world perspective, does this exist?
Out of game meta-trolling just breaks immersion.
It's one thing to play with expectations, it's another to go "Ooh, you thought it was going to be something, but it's not, aren't I so clever?"

Elemental
2012-03-31, 07:24 AM
In any large building, there is the off chance that the owners decided that the small room that can only be reached by going through the library had no conceivable purpose, so they just left it empty and locked the door.

It would be an odd place for a bedroom, and if it's an unusual shape it can be hard to find a purpose for it.
Years pass, and everyone kind of forgets about it. One day, a descendant of the original owner puts a book case over where the door was and makes it into a secret room, known of only by him and the carpenter who assisted in modifying the door ad the furniture maker who made the shelves.
The person who commissioned the work tragically falls down the stairs one morning and dies instantly from a head injury. No one knows what he did with the room, or even remembers it was there. As such, it sits empty behind a bookshelf containing rarely read books on obscure philosophy and out of date histories.
The catch is never found, the room is never opened, and no one notices the extra window along the side of the house.

A case from literature that comes to mind is the room in Professor Kirk's house in 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. There was nothing in the room except for a large wardrobe that they obviously didn't have any need for that contained fur coats no one ever wore. The only difference in that case is it wasn't locked for story reasons.

Silverscale
2012-03-31, 07:27 AM
Yeah . . . my question is why?
Why, from an in-world perspective, does this exist?
Out of game meta-trolling just breaks immersion.
It's one thing to play with expectations, it's another to go "Ooh, you thought it was going to be something, but it's not, aren't I so clever?"

Why is there an empty room with a really nice lock on it; perhaps it was an old vault room but has since been abandoned in favor of a newer even more secure room, perhaps whatever was in here has been stolen, perhaps a long dead master of the house kept it as his/her personal "dungeon" and since they didn't want to be disturbed while they were in there they put a really good lock on it, or perhaps that same master instead kept it as a laboratory of some sort and didn't want their experiments escaping.

--Lime--
2012-03-31, 07:27 AM
Plenty of reasons. Maybe they cleared out the furniture to redecorate, and the curtains were last? Perhaps a child died in that room so they cleared it out and locked it up. It could have woodworm or a roof that leaks when it rains, or just be one room too many to fill. The owners could have recently moved in (before abandoning the place for reasons of plot hook?) and never got round to putting things in there. The owners thought the room was haunted. The light was bad. It was drafty. The drains smell outside that window on a hot summer's day. It's part of their religion: an interpretation of being humble is not stocking your house chock full of gilt sofas but leaving one room bare symbolically. Someone's broken in before the party, and, thinking they have all the time in the world, are robbing the place completely and systematically, room by room.

There is no problem fluff can't solve, even if the reasons given are sometimes a little tenuous.

And by the by, that last one without the empty room would make quite a good encounter. The party is doing whatever it's doing in the house, and they run into an unrelated group in the middle of burgling the mansion.

Elemental
2012-03-31, 07:30 AM
Or, alternatively, the room was used to store pieces of furniture that were rarely used, and the family who owned the place fell on slight financial issues.
So they had to sell the lot of it. Fine furniture can fetch a good price occasionally.
Or they just gave all the furniture away as gifts... Rich people sometimes do that with faithful servants.

Ravens_cry
2012-03-31, 07:37 AM
Well, as long as there is a reason, I am happy, rather then simply a "gotcha!" to the players.

Elemental
2012-03-31, 07:40 AM
I agree. If you're going to make some kind of anticlimactic surprise practical trick on the players, you should at least justify it in the game world.
Prime example being the already robbed tomb. (Any reasonable DM would give them experience for going into the tomb though, but that's not the point of this thread, so I'm not going into it further)

Coidzor
2012-03-31, 12:50 PM
I agree. If you're going to make some kind of anticlimactic surprise practical trick on the players, you should at least justify it in the game world.

And still be prepared to get punched in the snout if even half as obvious about it.

DigoDragon
2012-04-02, 07:17 AM
An empty room. No traps, no hidden doors, just empty. To screw with PCs.

Bonus points: I made similar room, but it had a disconnected pressure plate on the floor (tiled floor, was difficult to see). When my party steps on something that goes "Click", they often go into panic mode looking for the trap that's coming.

And it never does. But I won't tell them that. :smallbiggrin:

Grey Watcher
2012-04-02, 08:10 AM
Bonus points: I made similar room, but it had a disconnected pressure plate on the floor (tiled floor, was difficult to see). When my party steps on something that goes "Click", they often go into panic mode looking for the trap that's coming.

And it never does. But I won't tell them that. :smallbiggrin:

Better yet, it's not even a proper pressure plate. Just a loose tile on a slightly uneven patch of floor that happens to make a clicking noise when stepped on.

Templarkommando
2012-04-02, 01:39 PM
As far as setting goes, I'm looking at late middle ages early renaissance. There is a bit of give though. For example, there's a little bit of clockwork type technology and magic helps get past a few technological hurdles.

Shadowknight12
2012-04-02, 02:45 PM
Since everyone is giving more mundane recommendations (of which I'm taking notes, of course), I'm going to give some recommendations for rooms in a more magical world.


Darkness Room (think of those fancy high-class restaurants where people eat in the dark to enhance their other senses, now replace it with magical darkness).
Programmed Illusions Room (sort of like a movie theatre, only you get to watch a series of pre-programmed illusions telling a rivetting story).
Spontaneous Illusion Room (basically virtual reality, only this one has to be controlled by someone to make the illusions react appropriately).
Indoor Forest (or other implausible terrain. Particularly good for mansions in inhospitable locations or whose denizens fear going outside, this brings all the benefits of the outdoors with none of the risks. A proper name for this could be Arboretum).
Training Room (exactly what it says on the tin, this room is basically meant for mages, archers, soldiers and the like to train safely inside. May be comprised of illusions, enslaved creatures/people, conjured foes or traps. May have different training rooms for each specialty, such as Mage Training Room, Rogue Training Room, Archer Training Room, Knight Training Room and so on).
Mirror Labyrinth (much like an ordinary mirror room, only enhanced with magic to make it more confusing and challenging).
Arms And Armour Room (basically an armoury, though this could easily contain scrolls, wands, staves and the like for the more magically inclined).
Fire Room (not a Hearth Room, but a room where everything is literally on (magical) fire. Could be entirely illusory and meant to evoke an exotic ambience as there is no limit to the colour of the fires).
Ice Room (much like that bar entirely made of ice in Scandinavia, this wouldn't require freezing temperatures at all,as it could all be an illusion or under a permanent Endure Elements effect, meaning it can be any other kind of room out there, only made entirely of ice).
Force Room (much like the ice room, this would be an entire room where everything (even the floor, ceiling and walls) is made of transparent force. Makes for a dizzying but unique view if it's a room high up in a tower).
Invisibility Room (more of a gimmick room than anything else, everything in this room is invisible, even those who enter it. Makes for fun party games at any rate).
Orgy Room (because why not).
Specific Libraries (instead of having a boring old Library, have the mansion divide its libraries by theme. There could be one (heavily guarded) library that exclusively contains rare texts, another (equally guarded) library for magical books, and then a bunch of ordinary libraries divided according to the owner's taste. Some may wish to divide each library according to genre/topic, others might be more satisfied with a Fiction/Historical/Sciences/Arts division).
Remembrance Room (this would be a very private, seldom-visited room where the mansion's owners placed small niches dedicated to their lost loved ones, filled with mementos and permanent illusions of the departed, a place where they go to remember their deceased).
Statue Room (dedicated to immortalise the most important members of the family, this room is a gallery with exquisitely carved statues depicting notable family members with tall marble plaques detailing their accomplishments).
Lunar Room (much like a Solarium during the day, this room is probably a glassy dome on one of the highest points of the building, enchanted with a spell to magnify moonlight. Possible decorations include silver/alabaster objects that look fairly dull during the day but attain a startling beauty under the moonlight. As for its use, the room can be used for anything from moonbathing to rituals).
Fountain Room (also a Water Room, this would basically be a place full of immensely beautiful fountains, waterfalls and other enchanted waterworks. It's not meant for people to swim in, but to sit around and enjoy the tranquil murmur of the waters. Enormous windows optional).
Blood Room (for vampires, haemoturgy specialists, blood mages or other similarly inclined people, this is much like the fountain room above (or perhaps a fountain room combined with a Swimming Room) where blood flows freely for any to use at their leisure. It can be magical for the more ethical-minded, or it can connect to the dungeons where it's pumped from the drains of the Sacrificial Room).
Neverending Hallway (more of a prank than an actual room, this is a room enchanted with illusions, teleporting magic or the like, meant to act as a good-natured prank on any unwitting guests who are told to just "head for the door at the end of the hallway" when they seek to use the restroom).
Levitation Room (or gravity-free room, meant to be more of an amusing entertainment than a truly useful room, this is but a short-lived gimmicky laugh for newcomers).
Spinning Room (could be a trap or a dizzying sort of amusing pasttime, it's basically a room that never stops spinning).
Upside Down Room (another gimmicky room).
Whispers Room (more unsettling than useful, this room would be dimly lit, shadowy, breezy, cold and full of constant, strangely intimate whispers. Could be intended to be a prank, merely a deterrent from exploring an area of the house or simply a place to store ghosts and other spirits).
Trap Room (a room that seems normal at first, but that is enchanted to self-destruct (via immolation, acid submersion, disintegration, implosion, plane shift, etc) when the order is given. After destruction, conjuration magic cleans up the mess and reconstructs the ordinary furniture).
Construct Room (designed to look like an ordinary Statue Room, this is in fact a room full of automatons that can come to life when a condition is triggered or the master of the house gives the order).
Undead Room (best paired with an Embalming Room, this room is designed to resemble a catacomb where the family's dead are laid to rest in varying degrees of preservation, but is in fact a room full of undead creatures in stasis that, much like the Construct Room, may come to life when the proper condition is fulfilled).
Light Room (also known as a bedazzling room, this is a room full of magical lights meant to be pretty much a nightclub, if music is included, or a strobe room, if it isn't).
Wind Room (when merely creating a room full of glass-less windows is not enough (or risky), a room with magical wind can be a real boon to aerial beings not used to spending all their time cooped up inside).
Earth Room (sometimes the outdoors aren't an option, and earthen creatures have needs too).
Star Room (for settings where stargazing is impossible, an enormous magical room that simulates the starry night sky with breath-taking accuracy might be a good addition).


All right, I think my creativity is tapped for now.