Which girl do you dislike that you're willing to put her next to the HVAC closet?

I thought there was a walkout from the basement? Will the windows be regular height or up high?

Why is there one tiny window in the boy's room? Why is there one tiny window in girl's room?

How can you have a guest room with no windows and have it next to HVAC?

I bet you don't have many guests for the guest room...! I'd rearrange the stair run so that the stair land in the basement on the other (right side) flight. It will look better upstairs too.

Boy's bathroom? Guest bathroom?

I'd try for as many windows as possible in the bedrooms (put them all in the top half of the space) and other spaces (exercise, guest, bathrooms) in the bottom half. Combine exercise and guest rooms, and sitting and family rooms, so that the bedrooms can have more windows.

CP-Yes, the back wall is a full walkout, left and right walls are partial walkout. Windows are not decided yet. I’m thinking one girl will have a huge window, and the other may have 2windows (1 at desk and 1 next to the desk). My son will have the lessor window, but still a regular height with no well. He will likely keep it closed with blackout curtains as his hobbies include making YouTube videos of Xbox tutorials. He gets plenty of Vitamin D hunting and playing outside.

Virgil-Thanks. I am still debating this. I do kind of prefer the visual look of the continuos rail versus the rail on the left, stair opening, new rail. Do most people prefer the opening between the rails?

The grandparents are my only overnight guests. The guest room is mainly for my mother...my father has had a lot of input/help in my plan, and he is happy with the room location with no window. He thinks I gain more from a nice exercise room. As I mentioned in another post, my mom will not do a Murphy or pull out bed. We also have a Fantastic cabin on our property with a range and wood fireplace and huge deck. Having my mom use a kids room is not an option due to her sleeping until 10:30.

Josie-Thanks! I’m playing around with an option like this.

Chicagoans-I just went back to a basic bubble diagram as I’m rethinking the family room location. I didn’t want to overly complicate it with actual bathroom locations. Also, windows will be done nicely, just not determined yet with room locations unknown. My mom won’t be happy sharing the excercise room, so I’m kind of stuck with a dedicated guest room...although she doesn’t care about a window

"...The grandparents are my only overnight guests. The guest room is mainly for my mother...my father has had a lot of input/help in my plan, and he is happy with the room location with no window..."

I've forgotten where you are located but in the U.S. bedrooms must have a emergency egress window of certain dimensions. Also, in many jurisdictions, for a room to be considered a bedroom it must have a closet in the room.

As to stair openings and railings, everyone has their own preference. My suggestion was simply to diminish the apparent opening size and reduce the cost of handrails.

Thanks Virgil. Yes, it must have a window in my jurisdiction to be called a bedroom. We will be labeling it something else.

I see your reasoning on the stairs. Originally, I didn't want the basement stairs in my entryway. When that became the best location for them, I scoured houzz for inspiration photos. I was also lucky enough to find a new build with the same staircase, and visited it just to see the stairs..lol. I know from the entry, I want to keep them very open. That may be more due to hearing the kids! My dad thinks I should put a door at the bottom of the stairs, but he is noise sensitive :)

And you're assuming your parents will always be able to negotiate the stairs and that it's safe for them to be in a windowless room? There is a reason bedrooms have egress windows.

My dad has literally spent his whole life consumed with eating perfectly. No soda, few seasonings, organic, etc. I see nothing health wise happening to them in the next 10-12 years. At that point, my oldest will be done with college and the current guest room will be used for something else. Again, if they don’t like the room (after they have given input prior to the build, we have an amazing cabin with a 16 foot tall vaulted ceiling they could choose instead. I see no sense in worrying about a window for 5-6 nights a year, given that they are both fine with no window.

Chicagoans-Thanks. It is a really neat Cabin. We have a partial loft in it with a mattress for a kid or 2 to sleep there. DH loves to just go out to cabin to sleep. It has a tin roof, so anytime there is rain, he will be out there. The dog goes crazy when he knows that someone is staying at the cabin, he loves it too!

Bedrooms don’t have egress windows for natural light or to let in a breeze. Much of what is in Code is because of some unfortunate lessons. A neighbour of mine has a daughter who in her early 20s rented a basement bedroom with a non-egress window. She had been in there less than a month when an electrical fire started ONE night and her only escape was a door that went into a hallway now blocked by a fire. She barely survived the fire, and suffered 70% burns all over her body and was hospitalized for almost a year with incredibly painful treatments. I remember how scared my neighbours were that entire year she was going to die. She survived in large part because she was so young (there are prediction calculators out there based on burn % and age). But she is painfully scarred for life. Your parents may only use the bedroom 4-5 times a year but a fire doesn’t care what day it is or care if someone is theoretically “fine without a window”.

I am not as opposed to stairs for aging persons as much as some (I know plenty of spritely 90-year olds who happily go up and stairs and you can’t plan for every possible thing that might happen as you age - which may have nothing to do with difficulty with stairs) but it is a bit naive to imply or assume illness or disability only happens to those who don’t “eat perfectly”, or “eating perfectly” will ward it off. Certainly better than eating junk food as a staple, but it is hardly that straightforward. Things can change in a literal heartbeat. Though at least unlike the issues that can arise with the windowless “bedroom”, with the stairs you’d have some amount of notice - even if small - your parents could not use them anymore and make other plans.