I like how #2 creates the little nook, and lets the space at the foot of the beds be a passageway to the bathroom. If you do two closets, can you leave the dividing wall out, and make it one long closet? More storage space! Yeah, I know, the stuff in the middle will be harder to get to, but I picture it for the less-worn dress clothes, winter-specific stuff, or the "DS#1 outgrew it but DS#2 isn't ready for it yet" clothes.

Could you do option 2 so the bedroom gets the corner with more windows, but rearrange the bathroom so it could have a window in it also? I don't think it would matter where the door is on the wall for the bathroom

I think if I do option 2, I will put a window in the shower. There is a tall hedge between our house and the neighbors so there is privacy. I want to put twin beds on the window wall so I like the bathroom door in the current placement.

Option 2 and standard height doors everywhere. To me the proportions where you do have an 8 ft ceiling would be off and look funny. Windows do not need to line up with the height of doors.

Yes I am now thinking 6'8" doors throughout. I am thinking 6'8" windows in front of house and on side in BR2 nook. Then I am thinking 7.5' high windows on north wall of house (other than one in BR 2 nook). All doors and windows along back will be 8' (bc we have 10' ceilings in great room). So in BR 2, the doors and nook windows would be 6'8" but the larger window on the north wall (where ceiling is 9') would be set higher at 7'6". Thoughts?

Same height on the windows in the same rooms. Also consider the elevation if you'll see it from more than one angle.

I'm reposting this from the OP's original thread as another option.

The OP sent me the plans and I played around with them a bit more. I understood that she couldn't really change the exterior except for the bump out where her bathroom was. I got rid of that and moved it in so the width is the same but without the bump out in the upper right corner.

She has some real concerns about this version and isn't sure she wants to give up some things as she'll comment later.

However here are the changes I made:

I made the hall a straight run from the foyer. No more maneuvering around a jog.

Bedroom 1 is the same size but now the bathroom for bedroom 1 is next to it as opposed to having to walk across the hallway. I didn't put it in, but there could also be a pocket door from bedroom one into the bathroom so the au pair wouldn't even have to go into the hallway. However now at least it's right next to the bedroom. Also now there's a window in the room.

I moved the laundry to the other side of the au pair's bedroom. This room now has a window and also now has a much shorter run for the dryer. In the laundry the cabinets opposite the washer/dryer can be used not only for additional storage but also as a broom closet and linen closet.

I flipped the master bedroom to be on the living room wall. The master is now a foot shorter (but still deep enough for a king sized bed and a dresser on the opposite wall). My thinking was the living room has cabinets that would help block any noise and now the master bathroom and the master closet will act as noise blockers between the boys bedroom and the master.

The master toilet room became a bit narrower but is still about 37-38" wide. If the OP doesn't get a 6' tub they can make the shower a bit longer.

The boy's bedroom is the same size as before and while I don't love the idea of a bathroom taking up a corner, I couldn't figure out how to put it between the boy's bedroom and the playroom without losing too much space.

The playroom now becomes a separate sanctuary where the boys enter their bedroom from the playroom. The problem lies in that now the playroom is smaller.

I'll let the OP add her thoughts.

bardzil, had suggested to me concerns about turning the plan into a four bedroom house instead.

Here is my suggestion for if she ever wanted to turn it into a 4 bedroom house. However the smaller playroom is still an issue but then again living where she does, I'm guessing the boys will spend lots of time outdoors?

(In this version, I didn't add in the window changes.)

And here is a link to the original thread.

I think it's a trade off. We really want 4 bedrooms and we wanted at least 3 of them to be pretty good size bedrooms (large enough for kids to share and or use as a multifunctional playroom/media room/guest room. Since we don't have a family room and just have the great room, we really wanted the playroom to be large enough for the kids to hang out in and watch movies and play. We also need to put a large pullout sofa in there to use it as a guest room on occasion. That was the whole reason we originall turned the hallway (to avoid losing space in the playroom). The other challenges are we can't push the house out further on the right do to the required setback. And we also can't increase the sq ft anymore (also a city requirement). Lastly, we were trying not to tear down the front of the house because then we would be a tear down vs a remodel and we wanted to avoid all the added costs required in our city for new construction (i.e. Fire sprinklers, design review, site improvements, etc).

So we are giving up light in the hall bath and laundry and the first part of the hallway. But we were thinking we could put a skylight in the laundry. And just do our best to make hall bath look nice without natural light.

Also the majority of homes in our area (including ours) do not have a laundry room (laundry is out in the garage). It would be nice to have a beautiful, large laundry with a window, but we would still be getting a major upgrade by having an actual indoor laundry room near our bedrooms. We've been doing laundry in the garage for the last 10 years. I think that is why we weren't that worried about the laundry room. I am sure in other areas where people actually have laundry rooms, this tiny interior laundry would be a bigger negative.

Here's a half-baked idea - don't have time to finish it, but maybe it will spark some ideas for others. I'd do the master suite on the whole left side and keep the bedrooms and baths before that. I think a rectangular master works better than a square as a square wastes a lot of space as you can't really have furniture in all the areas.

Lyfia, I really like that idea! What do you think bardzil? The disadvantage is that you'll lose the sliders out to the back patio. You'll need to decide how often you'll actually use the sliders to the patio though.

Definitely some positives. However, the master isn't as nice - not only do you lose the sliders, but that room on the end is less than 12' deep (setback issue) and is less private (front windows in nook would face the street). Where is master closet? I think maybe it could be in the nook area, but then we are back to the original issue with one of the "best" corners being taken up by a windowless closet. Also there is still one bathroom with no window (same as original plan). It seems like we are trading a better laundry room (with light) and getting a hall bath with light and more light in the hallway but giving up a nicer master suite and light in the third bathroom. I think I will be spending a fair amount of time in the master suite (when I need to escape!) so I definitely wanted that room to be a nice size.

Like I said half-baked so closets etc. was left out. I don't have more time to spend on it, but wanted to share it in case it sparked ideas . There are lots of different ways to re-arrange that space and still have access to the backyard.