...or to avoid killing the wall, but to let light in, the builder places those small square windows high on the wall where the bed is supposed to go. I've yet to see a window treatment that looks good on those.

...or windows in closets. I know that was a feature in homes before central air conditioning and dry cleaning became prevalent to allow air circulation in closets, but in today's homes, it's mostly a pain because of sun fading on clothing. I had one closet like that with cheap mini-blinds on the window. One arm of all of my suit coats ended up with a vertical stripe of faded fabric.

I have seen the window in closet issue mostly when Option 1 is a double height entry with window and option two is a large closet in that area. Most people don't want to invest$$ on a good blackout shade. in a closet ..

The windows in closets that I have been seeing have been in master bedrooms of new builds in the southern U.S. Because I'm seeing them on television and not on floor plans, I can't tell if the window is there because it works with the house's facade design or if someone really thinks it's a good idea to add natural light to a closet.

It is especially hard if a desk and TV stand is needed along with electronics and storage. There are not many options except doing a bed with drawers underneath and putting a tall narrow bachelors type chest in the closet.

I've been getting the feeling lately that many people don't want a lot of furniture in their bedrooms. Not sure if it qualifies as a trend, but a lot of homes seem to have a huge walk-in closet for the master bedroom, outfitted in such a way that no dressers are necessary in the bedroom itself.

So all you'd need in those rooms is the bed and nightstands. Other furniture would be optional.

And then the rest of the bedrooms in the house are small, with all the problems that Pal mentions.

camlan, good point about the huge MB and the tiny others.

I know that we remodeled to add walk in closets, and now I keep all my clothes in there. I have an elfa drawer stack for undies and socks, and shelves for folded clothes that would have gone into drawers in another scenario.

Yet I have an empty dresser and mirror in the room, since I need the surface for my jewelry box. And the room would look too empty without it.

I do think that larger closets have changed what furniture is used for clothes storage. But I think bedrooms for adults have become more like student bedrooms with office/computer areas in them.

I would be all for bedrooms having a bed, two nightstands, a bench or chair to sit down on and that's it, but then the rooms actually need to be smaller, or they look half furnished.

I have seen huge master suites that still have no decent way to place furniture unless it goes in front of windows. Very few people are into floating a bed, island like, in the middle of a room.

I dislike the bed in front of the window, but honestly that is sometimes the only place to put it. It seems homes are being designed without any thought given to the placement of furniture -- no room for a bed in the bedroom, no room for the sofa in the living room because the traffic pattern goes right through what should be the seating area, no room to pull out chairs in the dining room. And yes, that window in the closet bugs me, too; a friend also lost her entire wardrobe due to that. More thought is given to wowing with fripperies than to the practicalities of living in a home.

Another major problem with the low windows in new construction is the possibility of kids falling out of their second story bedroom windows. My kids' homes have those windows, and in both cases they have installed devices that prevent the windows from being raised more than three inches, which means the air conditioning must be on even at 68� or 70�! And since they aren't double hung like mine, they can't pull down the upper window, either. Neither of my sons had kids when they bought and didn't think about it. Ridiculous.