When I bought tile recently I asked the saleswoman if there was a rule of thumb on what height looked best and she said there really isn't. Midcentury, when bathrooms pretty much all had 4" tile half way up then wallpaper to the ceiling, 48" was the rule of thumb, but today it's whatever you think looks best. I would take into account things like wi-sailorgirl's issues (where do you want it to be in relation to the vanity or other objects in the room?) and also the size of the tiles. For instance, people generally feel that, if possible, it looks better if you don't cut tiles. So if you're doing 12 x 12 tiles set horizontally (rather than diagonally) and you'd want to do 3 or 4 complete tiles and then you'd end up with whatever height you end up with, taking into account whatever you might be doing with trim and/or accents. I keep reading 15% for "fluff" but it makes sense to me that you'd need more for diagonals settings. I've also been told to go higher if you're buying from some place like Home Depot where you're likely to get a larger number of poorer quality tiles, that one of the ways their suppliers respond to the pressure to keep prices down is by not being quite so fussy about the quality of things like the glaze on pieces that leave the factory, so you end up tossing more pieces. 5% seems generally really, really risky.

If acoustics are your prime concern, you may want to consider adding sound attenuating insulation to the two room walls flanking the stair and hall, making sure that the walls are well sealed top and bottom, that any outlets are sealed around, and that the doors are well fit. A wall next to the stairs, especially without insulation by itself isn't going to do a ton to stop noise transmission as the stair is still open on the ends. Does this stair have an open rail at either side of the main floor, and on which sides (same side as the playroom or the hallway). That will figure into how sound will travel. As with Virgil, I see that there doesn't seem to be any accommodation for a wall in the plan. Was the floor framed so that there is enough thickness to align a wall with the linen closet? And if so, does that make your stairs narrower than they are drawn? From an aesthetic standpoint I would rather have a half wall or open rail. Both hall and stair will seem very closed in and dark without some sense of openess. For that same reason I would seriously consider having a window at the top of the stairs to light the hall and stairs during the day. Otherwise you are going to need to be turning on the stair and hall light every time you pass through there for safety.

We are lucky to have the vault overhead, but I honestly don’t feel that loss of height anymore. It was noticeable at first, but we adjusted quickly. Is the ceiling the same level as your kitchen? If so, I think once you have the continuous floor level, lose the wall and maybe the beams, it would eventually feel normal too. I think I would feel more of that in your kitchen with those lighting soffits. As for your fireplace, yes you have a bit more demo, but I bet you could pull that cabinetry and rebuild it again - or leave it out. I demo’d the brick on our old FP. We were both recovering from catching 🇨🇳🦠 and I was getting out frustration. Our whole first floor was draped in plastic because they’d scraped the old acoustic texture off ceiling, but it was in a dirty, dusty limbo because we were sick 🤬. I still had some pneumonia, so I should have had a dust mask, but I didn’t really care. Swinging the sledge was cathartic. Hubs & friend pulled the firebox. That was a bigger job, but we agree that in the end it was one of the better improvements we made. No regrets at all! The flooring is a long story, but briefly it was a special order board of 3/4” engineered white oak with black fill. They are 8’ T&G boards. The color is nearly natural they call Shalke (think chalk. It’s a slight whitish tint, but still quite transparent) prices may have gone up - like everything, but we got it for well under $10 sf.! Check out https://www.heidelbergflooring.com. They’ll work very closely with you. Ps, thanks! It’s been a journey. We love it all too 😊

Thank you. It would look similar to this style, but 42" high, and instead of base cabs on the opposing side, seating (same as the shown side in this photo). I understand that bar height vs. counter height is an opinion that many contest, but most people agree that split counter heights (the typical way this is done) are not as good as a single surface. My guess is that many people opt for counter height based on the fact that they can set the counter on their base cabinets- versus figure out how to deal with raising the height of their cabinet, regardless of their preference in seating height. I'm assuming this is why I can't find any examples of this. Or when posed with this scenario, just buy a table! I would like this to be a permanent fixture that flows with the rest of the cabinets and counters.