Could the 'back' room could serve as bedroom, with 'forward' room as study and sitting area?

Why just depend on one contractor's say so? If you can afford even one hour of an architect or reputable interior designer (not 'decorator') I bet someone could come up with a plan. Maybe he just had no imagination or ability to get past practical stuff.

What about making the whole top floor the master suite? You would have a bedroom, bath and sitting/dressing area all to yourself. Maybe you could enclose a space in the front area as a closet.

My neighbor has this layout. She uses this little room as a very fancy library...study...office area. It really makes a statement!!!

I'm with Vamp. She took the words right out of my mouth. Or should I say right away from my fingers.

If you don't like that idea, share the plans. Maybe someone here can see something your contractor couldn't.

Could the contractor add closets to the back room so that it could be the master bedroom? As a guest, I would feel very odd about going through my hosts' bedroom to get to my room. And once there, a guest will be "trapped" until the hosts get up in the morning.

Can a doorway be made in the back room leading to the hallway?

What about reconfiguring the bathroom that connects the two rooms? Can you create a doorway to the hall? Then close up the doorway into the front room. You would still need to go through the bathroom to get to the back room, but the need to go through the other bedroom will be gone.

If nothing else works, I'd go with vampiressrn and make the whole floor a master suite.

Post the current layout ... the contractor might have overlooked something.

Another thought. If you use the back room as a guest room then any guests will have access to the bathroom and you'll have access to your office and the bathroom without disturbing the guests if you have to. If I were the guest walking through your home office wouldn't bother me as long as I had privacy at night and when using the bathroom. If there aren't doors on both side of the bathroom I'd find a way to install them. Usually our guests only use the bedroom at night so all you need is enough room for a bed/beds, a night stand/s, a place for them to set their suitcase and a chair. If you have guests that typically stay longer you could always add a closet or armoire.

Hi - yes, the idea of using the back room as the guest room and the front room as the study is how I'm inclined to go. There are two doors on the bathroom so that is good news. I'm pretty good with plans and agree with the contractor that we have really no options. The room is bathroom locked!!

Of course my son says he will take the design dilemma off our hands by just giving him both rooms - he is dreaming :-)

LOL @ your son. My son said that about the extra room on his end of the hallway too. Boys!