In my area, the overwhelming majority of two storey houses have masters upstairs. Personally, I prefer the masters up for the reasons many have already posted -- private vs public separation, closer to my kids... But more and more custom homes are building with in-law/guest suites on the main floor. When we started planning our build we were torn about what to do. Anyway, we're in the process of building and we're at the "finishes" stage and so far I'm happy with what we decided. We decided to design our home-based business office on the main floor so that it could easily be converted to a master bedroom if the need arises. The office has a complete bathroom and a large closet. For an office, it's convenient to have a washroom in close proximity and the closet will act as storage space for our office supplies and files. It also has french doors that lead directly to our deck. Our architectural designer suggested an elevator as more custom homes are adding them. He said we could build a large closet space stacked on both floors so that it could be converted into an elevator shaft if we ever changed our minds. But it seemed like an over-the-top luxury to me. I have been to two houses with an elevator installed and it's discreet. It just looks like a closet door. But you should have a back-up generator in the event that there is a power outage. To me, that adds up to more unnecessary expense. Musings -- I don't think you mentioned your personal prefernce here -- master up or down -- but if you prefer your master upstairs, have you considered adding a main floor office that could be converted to a master bedroom complete with closet and ensuite?

My inclination would be to paint the walls bright white and let the rest of the accents be the color players. White is the backdrop I've often seen, or been drawn to, when I look up bohemian pictures. I'd also put a really large area rug in the room that only left a few inches of bare floor around the perimeter of the room. This way, no matter which way the room is arranged, the rug is always the right size. If your daughter is anything like I was, the room will be rearranged many times during her teen years! : ) You could still layer her little rug over the large rug for her reading nook. You might like to plug the room into homestyler.com for working on the layout. Your kitties might be disappointed, but muscles with thank you. : ) If you save a snapshot of the homestyler layout to your computer, you can upload it onto here using the photo link. That would allow us to see the plan overview, and will make it easier for us to help with the arrangement.

Thank you to everyone for their ideas and comments. We are currently working with a designer with engineering experience. There will be another ensuite room downstairs which could function as a 2nd master for resale concerns. @new-beginning - You got the idea for why I don't want all three kids upstairs - thank you! When my sons are in HS, my daughter (and her friends) will be 4-11. My boys are VERY respectful, but I think we all know how *some* boys talk and what they talk about in HS. My boys WILL have friends over and if they're all upstairs having a sleepover or just hanging out, watching a movie or whatever, I really don't want my daughter (and her friends) hearing conversations, etc. that are not age-appropriate for her/them. @Beth H and bossyvossy - I am most definitely NOT letting my kids decide anything about this house! They actually don't want to leave our current house at all :) They won't have any say on anything in their room or the house set up or anything! This is all for how we believe the flow will work best for our family. @chocolatesnap - You may be right, but right now, we cherish our time after the kids go to sleep. That's the only time we have to watch a movie together or enjoy a glass of wine or whatever. I am sure that we would still be able to isolate ourselves on the same floor with the kids though. Thanks again, everyone. I think while the upstairs retreat still sounds amazing to me...the costs involved with adding a second floor probably outweigh the benefits.

The ceiling height is 7 ft 3 inches from carpet to ceiling. As shown in the photos, the bottom of the joists are at nearly the same level as the ceiling. I suspect these boards to be similar to, or extend in a similar fashion, to the beam extending through the middle of the ceiling as seen in the next photo. I wouldn't mind another identical beam (extending below ceiling height) in some way to help support the roof if this wall were removed and extended out. Also, to Claire's question- That is not a pergola, it's literally part of the flat roof. If you get up on a ladder and look at the top of the roof, you can't tell where the wall is from below. It's all roofed over as shown on the last photo. I'm assuming that on the inside of the house there is insulation between the joists and that the same could be replicated if the wall was moved out.