Thanks for the feedback - we did look at the kitchen where bedroom 1 is, but felt like a worse compromise because of the view from that external wall to the neighbor's house. Keeping it at the front gives a significantly better view from the windows.

Agreed on the 2 bathrooms connecting to the main living area. The half bath will be moved and connected to the relocated bedroom so that now becomes a private bath.

Our plan for the dining/den was to eliminate 1 of those spaces. The den area is really an area rug with toy storage for the kids right now rather than and alternative reception area with seating for guests. We were going to disperse the toys into their respective rooms and move the dining table there in favor of keeping the peninsula, but you're not the first person to question that decision so we'll definitely have another think about that.

Appreciate the input!

That den area is a great location for a dining room, with or without the peninusula. Was asking because it's somewhat common on Houzz to see people eliminating dining tables entirely in favor of peninsula/island eating only. Glad to hear you will keep a good table space. If you eliminated that peninsula, would you have enough width in the dining room that you could put a wing wall at the "north" side to give a little privacy to that other bathroom entrance?

That's a really poor plan (the entire house).

I'd think about a much larger project placing all the bedrooms along the left, and opening up the right for the public spaces.

No one wants private spaces -- bedrooms and bathrooms opening into public spaces, and your proposed plan, what's now the den will have no windows.

I cannot imagine buying the house with it's current plan, and you are just compounding the existing problems with your proposal.

What does the exterior look like? On a slab or crawlspace?

The notion of private spaces entering directly onto public spaces never even crossed my mind to be honest, but seeing it in that context it makes sense. The privacy need hasn't been very apparent given that we have two kids under 5 and rarely have guests that stay overnight.

The den area currently doesn't get much of any natural light as is right now with only the small kitchen window and window in the dining area. Figured by adding the 3 windows in the kitchen we'd get much more light there than we do currently.

We're on a slab foundation and would like to avoid moving the front door if we can as there is a covered porch out front which ties into our roof. The short kitchen wall has the gas supply for the stove so if that could stay put it would help budget on a larger project.

I'd need to see if I can make a bedroom door work with those constraints.

First pass looks pretty clunky... when trying to move the fewest number of walls.

I'm following along to see what you end up doing. What door do you mainly use (front door)? Aside from wanting a larger kitchen and a pantry, is the house working for you (e.g. storage, bathrooms, mudroom space)? You said the front of the house had better views? Where do you park and bring in groceries? Is the current kitchen and living room area an addition (it looks like the ceiling is sloped)?

This appears to be a one-bedroom house with a small office/den/spare room. I think what you are planning to do will just make this house weird and at a high cost. I'd live with the house until the children are little older and want their own bedrooms, and move to a bigger house.

I am picturing a southern CA house. I follow the same cue that if you are willing to add a small addition, then that means you are open to instead of that, keeping the same footprint but relocate some plumbing. The middle of your house is dead space, if it even meets natural light requirements, so it should have a less-used function in the heirarchy of spaces. And the rooms sizes themselves are not proportional in heirarchy to their functions.

There is no info on your site or structure or if you live uniquely, but I would think about allowing a plan that has some connection to outdoor living, spaces sized proportionally, and separation of public vs private spaces.

What is the age of the house?

Do you have some pics of the rest of the spaces?

No having bedrooms open to public spaces is not good and will get worse as the kids get older.

I think the idea of waiting for bit until you can get a bigger house this one really needs a total gut and start over so move on IMO