I did just what you describe and I'm tickled pink with it. In my case it WAS a load-bearing wall, but that just meant I had to header off the opening. I created about a four-foot archway between the two sections of the (now one)room - making one section the bed area and one the sitting/dressing area. I can't tell you what it costs since I did it myself, but I really don't think it would be that bad, depending on what needs to be done. I had to move a electrical box and add another (to stay up to code) but it was mostly a framing/drywall job. I would say the most important thing is visualizing the feel/scale of the new room as well as new traffic patterns and usage patterns to come up with a good design. In may case I created a couple of new walk-in closets to keep the scale of the resulting room comfortable. I know I've been in several "de-partition" rooms that feel just like that - two rooms with a wall knocked down.

Ah, but you only *think* this will be less expensive. These projects not only always cost more than you estimate, you have to live in dirt for what seems forever -- costly in terms of peace and sanity. I was somewhat OK with your plans for the second story. When you got into completely rearranging the first floor rooms, you lost my support. (Like you care! LOL) DH and I lived for 30 years in a house about the size of yours (only one child though). After DS moved out we combined two BRs to have a larger master BR. Didn't hurt our sales prospects; still had a total of three BRs, three baths. The new house we live in now was bought to be a "remodel". I am so grateful we did a teardown instead! All New is always better than Partly New unless you have a historic home. My advice would be to spare yourselves a lot of money that you will NOT recoup and months/years of living in a construction site.

I like my first idea best as far as use of space. I know people say not to put toilets on an outside wall. We had one in our last house in Iowa, but we had 2X6 construction. I don't know how high your window is, but I'm guessing the toilet would fit under there. The shower would be 5 feet long or shorter if you want a wider space to get to the toilet. (kind of tight the way I have drawn). You could do a 5 and half foot long shower and do an angled door at the left end to allow room between the shower and toilet. The vanity would be about 7 feet long, unless you do a 60 inch vanity with a linen cabinet at the door. I would reverse entry door swing if you do that.. The second top right could work and you would still have a small closet. The bottom left plan would require waterproofing your front window. Hopefully someone will give you other ideas. The bottom right plan is bigger, but no closet. Each square equals 1 foot.

regarding W/D in the home gym.... If you do that, then you have forever relegated that room to a laundry room. It becomes a very large laundry that is used as a gym. IMHO, I don't think a very large laundry will be a selling point. I would rather have a multipurpose room that can used for many different things. If you keep the home gym as a multipurpose generic room, then it can be used as a guest bedroom, kids playroom etc etc as your life changes. However, if you are willing to give up the bedroom, it solves the issue of your powder room where the guest is not walking through the laundry area. In general, it is nice to be able to direct the guests to the powder room which is NOT a personal bathroom. If you direct the guests to the hall bath, that is in the private area. My guess is that you want a useful/nicer powder room for the guests to use. When you remodel, you think you solved one problem, you notice another problem! I would work the floor plan more so that you have a really nice inviting 1/2 bath with better doors in that hallway. You are already doing an enormous amount of work. This will not add that much to the work. At this point, it is just your time....