When I was growing up, all except for one house (we lived in several), the bedrooms were all together. That was, and is, my preference, now that I have my own little family.

For me, it's not just about being close to young ones, it's about having clearly separated private and public wings of the home. It's just how I like to organize my life, lol, having all of the food storage/meal prep in one area, all of the eating in another, all of the movie watching in yet another, and all of the sleeping away from the hustle and bustle of everything else. :-)

As far as playrooms are concerned (I'm a huuuuuge fan, because then all of the toys are together, away from sleeping/reading areas), once the kiddos are older, I would keep it a dedicated "kid" space. Depending on how many children you have, and their ages, that room could store toys, musical instruments, art/craft/hobby supplies, an extra bed (Murphy style!), couches, books, etc.

Our first two houses had all the bedrooms upstairs together. I liked that when My kids were babies. Now we are building a master down and the kids' bedrooms upstairs. My youngest will be almost 5 when we move. If I still had babies and wanted my master down, I would probably put a master and a nursery on the first floor (that could later be used as a guest bedroom or office) and put the kids' permanent bedrooms upstairs.

Our old playroom on the first floor in our current house is now a little sitting room (it was called a morning room by the builder) that also houses my china cabinet because when my youngest came along we had to change the bedroom we were using as an office into a bedroom and the formal dining became the office.

Beyond about 6-10 years in the future, every house winds up being in some sort of conflict with the life style and family size beyond that point. My best advice is to not worry about planning beyond 10 years, since no one can foresee beyond that. Sometimes life changes rapidly and hard in less than 10 years.

Figure out your priorities now and for the next 10 years. Go with that.

When our children were 3 and under I wanted to be on the same floor. After that I would have been fine with them on a different floor. Those years go by quickly. Based on your other thread indicating you plan to build a 5000-6000 sq ft. house, I would definitely consider a 2 story with a master on each level. A secondary, and perhaps smaller master could be included on the second floor and a nicer master on the main level that could be moved into as you are ready. As for the playroom, it was always in the walkout basement. When our daughter was older she preferred that space for her bedroom. Her original bedroom was used as computer room for our children.

I currently have a downstairs master and upstairs kid rooms. The baby (2) is in a downstairs bedroom, the big three are upstairs. The baby is moving upstairs in a couple of weeks.

I have no issues having the kids on a separate level and no reservations about moving the baby (except that she is moving to a big girl bed...no crib to keep her contained!) We moved here when the oldest were 2 & 4 and they have always slept upstairs with us downstairs. It has never been an issue.

This house is a little different, though, in that it's a split foyer so the kid rooms are on the living level with the kitchen and the master is in the downstairs.

We're in the very early stages of designing a new home and are leaning towards a first floor master with four kid rooms upstairs so I'll be following this thread closely. Whatever we end up with I cannot wait until the kids' bath is not a public bathroom! Guests get to enjoy a plethora of toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and all my teen's beauty products.

The only bedroom I like on the 1st floor is a guest room. That can be nice for privacy for all concerned. I must prefer all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor. As bpathome said, it's a good thing to be nearby to see what is going on. No if I were into bondage or other kinky stuff, I might feel differently!

I've always wanted a 1 story with all beds on main but as I've come to better understand my priorities in a home and site they've been shifting upstairs. I would still love a MBR downstairs but who knows where I'll end up when it comes time to build. I still have young ones as well but I know it will be a couple years before the build plus another year or so for construction so by then my youngest will be 4. To me, if MBR and beds are on different levels, the relationship of MBR to the bottom of the stairs is very important - whether it's to listen to tip toes on Christmas morning or sneaky teenager toes at 1am.