Larger drawings would help as it is about impossible to read.

Curious why you're doing a stacked w/d when your laundry room is the size it is?

Too bad you can't make interior changes now because I do see a number of problems. Is it because you started construction already?

1. That hallway is awkward. Better would be a straight run then having to make that jog. (See red area.)

2. There is no sound insulation between your bedroom and the boy's bedroom. Think about that one for a minute. ;) No closets to block sound or the bathroom between the walls. And no, sound insulation only works somewhat.

3. Your toilet is against the boy's bedroom wall so if one of you uses the bathroom in the middle of the night, you're potentially waking one or all of the children.

4. On the private wing, the two best spaces, (the corners) are given over to bathrooms which means both your bedroom and the kid's bedroom get windows only on one side. What that means is that you have no cross ventilation.

Your master bath has windows on 3 sides and your bedroom only on one.

5. You don't need two sinks in the boy's bathroom. With 3 boys sharing you need storage more than you need double sinks. Ditch the extra sink and go with separate storage for each child.

6. Ditch the double doors in the master because it will mean that every time you come into the room, you have to close one door just to turn on lights.

7. Not much privacy for the au pair. Every time the au pair needs to use the bathroom he/she needs to walk across the hallway in full view of the foyer and then has to share that bathroom with friends visiting you and the boys. At least flip the au pair's door to face the bathroom door so he/she has a shorter distance to the bathroom.

8. You have an eat in kitchen, an island and a dining room. Do you need all three spaces for eating?

9. The foyer is as large as the au pair's bedroom.

10. You have the room in the laundry to not do a stackable. Stackable's are more difficult if they're full sized to reach the top buttons.

11. Speaking of laundry. A dryer vent can go a maximum of 25' out. What is the distance yours will travel?

Thanks for all the comments. This is a remodel not a new build so there are limitations to what can be done. We can make minor changes but not major as we have literally tried dozens of things and this seems to be the best we can do given our lot size/shape, budget etc. We have spent a ton on design fees and definitely aren't going to scrap this and start over at this point. Also, we are planning to submit for permits next week.

The hallway was turned like that so we didn't lose space in the playroom which is an existing room. We did consider having the hallway cut through that bedroom but then the room would be very tiny.

We live in a 1600 sf house now and our bedroom shares a wall with the kids room now with no issues. I agree its not ideal. We rarely get up to use the bathroom at night and our kids are heavy sleepers.

We tried lots of different designs to try to have windows on two walls in the bedrooms. We ultimately decided a third bathroom in the kids room was more important than windows. We couldn't get the design to work any other way for the master bedroom/bath. We can't go any further to the back or to the side so we are trying to fit a lot into a small footprint. We can't do an l or u- shape house due to constraints with the lot. Master bed will go on the wall that backs to boys rooms as that is the only place in master to put the bed.

Good point on the double doors in the master. We had a designer who suggested the double doors to make the master feel "special"

Agree there is not much privacy for the au pair. We will be upfront when interviewing people and hopefully will find someone who is ok with that. We likely will only have an au pair for maybe 2-3 years. My youngest child will be 5 when the construction is finished. We'll make do. The door is located so that we can place a bed on the south wall. I assume the au pair will shower when no one is home during the day.

Dining room will double as a home office for me as I work from home about 50%. I like to spread out on a big table. I can put my work away in the closet when I'm done.

Foyer is somewhat large but that is just a function of not wanting to spend more money to move more interior walls. The au pair's room is existing. We plan to put a built in on the north wall of the foyer for backpacks/coats/etc.

We do want to consider other layouts for the laundry. Should we just put washer side by side? should we do l-shape layout with cabinets or just do one wall? Pretty sure dryer vent is less than 25'. its a one story house.

First I do understand about your lot constraints. I was in a similar situation building my house. I wasn't suggesting to change the exterior lines that you've gotten. The changes I made are all within your footprint.

One other thought. Are you ok having to walk across the bedroom every time you want something from the closet and you're in the bathroom or visa versa?

I redid the kids bedroom showing how to stack the plumbing (which will save you money) and also to give the kids a much needed extra closet. You lose the second vanity, but that was wasted space anyway.

Now the kids have windows on 2 sides. The closets also act as noise barriers from the playroom. While the kids are all young now, when they get older that noise barrier will help if one wants to sleep and the others want to play.

Additionally, now their bathroom acts more as a noise barrier and it takes the toilet off of their bedroom wall.

I reduced your bedroom door to one door.

I flipped the door from the au pair's bedroom to face the bathroom door. At least then the poor au pair isn't in the hallway half naked trying to get to the bathroom and instead has a straight shot into the bathroom.

Better to wait another couple of weeks to get it right than to live with something less than ideal for 20 years.

I am just trying to figure out how you get in the master shower with the tub sitting right in front of it! LOL

But I think you should seriously look at what cpartist has done. The changes she's made are WAY better than your original and shouldn't be a big deal to make.

One other thought. Make the kids shower a shower/tub and make the au pair's just a shower. It's only kids who usually take a bath. I'll look at the laundry later.

I love the changes to the boys room! It solves so many problems. Do you think this room works with bunk beds or should I just do 3 twin beds? With all the windows, there is no where to put bunk beds.

I am concerned with opening the shower door in the master bath. However, I was thinking if the tub was closer to the window (right up against the wall) and we get a slightly narrower tub than the 3' wide tub shown, it would work. I was thinking of doing a wall mount tub filler so that the tub could be placed right up against the wall under the window. Let me know if the shower door issue still seems like a problem.

I made the hall bath have the tub because I figured future owners of the house might prefer a tub that is accessible to all the bedrooms. the smaller two bedrooms might be used as a nursery for example and then the tub would be close by. I figured not everyone would put 3 kids in the same room like I plan to do. Plus, my boys are almost out of the bath stage. I think if I put a shower in their room, they'll graduate to showers pretty seamlessly (they will be almost 10, 7 and 5 when we complete the project). I could switch it, but I figured my boys will likely having a seemless walk in shower as they get older. I'm building for the next 10 years not just for the next 1-2 years... should I still switch it?

Next I should ask about the ceiling/door/window height issue since you are so go at this!

If keeping the boys bath the cpartist way then I would switch it to have the shower along the master wall and enter the bath along the outside wall. Easy to put a window into the bath then and not have to deal with the issues that comes with it being in the shower. It also gives you more wall space with no windows to contend with. as the bath door will be on a window wall.

If you move the boys' bath you might see if there is room to relocate the closet on the wall between the bedroom and bath. Then you would have wall space for the beds (backing up to the playroom). Maybe consider a wall of bookcases on the playroom wall for sound buffering and storage.

Were I the au pair I would prefer to have the bedroom door in the original position drawn and to get a good bathrobe.

I wish I could switch the location of the door and the shower in that bathroom, but I want to be able to put twin beds on the window wall. I don't think there would be enough space for that. I think we'll have to have a window in the shower. That window is pretty private. There is a very tall hedge that completely blocks the view of the neighbors house.

I was thinking of placing twin beds on the window wall - 2 twin beds under the larger window and then a third twin bed in the little nook. Is that the best option? Down the road if my kids decide they no longer want to share, we can turn the nook into a little reading corner with a big comfy chair.

my husband made a good point about the au pair's door. He thought if the door is right across from the bath, she loses privacy if she wants to leave her door open. People coming in and out of the bath will be able to see right into her room. She might prefer the privacy of having the door slightly further away from the bath. Its not that much further but she could hang out in her room on the bed with the door open and have a bit more privacy. Also, we could put a bed on the south wall (backing to foyer) which would not work well if we move the door right next to that wall.

• Ceiling heights – currently the house has 8' ceilings. We will still have 8' walls in the entry, dining room, hallway, bedroom 1 and playroom. We are vaulting the ceiling in the dining room and doing a tray ceiling in the entry with a beam detail. The great room ceilings are 10'. All other rooms (hall bath, laundry, master, master bath, bedroom 2, are 9'.

  The question is should we consider reducing height to 9'6" in great room and increasing master height to 9'6" so they will be the same? we are putting in 8' tall sliders and window heights along the back wall of the house. The logic would be more consistency in ceiling heights and less of a jump from the 8' hallway. Downside is my architect may shoot me for making another change (I'm not sure how much work it is to change this) and the built in cabinets and box beams in the great room (which we already designed) may look better with 10 ceilings.

  I don’t
  want to create work for no reason… but want to make right decision.

  Also, since we have multiple ceiling heights in the house, we've decided to go with 7' interior doors throughout for consistency. So we'll have 7' doors in rooms with 8', 9' and 10' ceilings. Let me know if I'm making a mistake with the door height. I realize I won't have a lot of room for crown molding but I think I can live without it. This will be an upscale but casual home.

I am thinking of some ways to play more with both the au pair's space and your master space if you're willing. Not sure I can come up with anything but I'd like to try.

I like your idea for the three twin beds.

I think your ceiling heights are fine as you have them. I think your choice of 7' doors is ideal.

Is the circled area structural and not able to be changed at all?

One more thing. I would post your kitchen plan in the kitchen forum for their advice. I think your kitchen could be better.

The circled area is not structural. However, I will caveat that with the fact that we have not yet had the plans reviewed by a structural engineer. Our architect typically waits to have the structural engineer review after we submit for permits so we can incorporate any questions/comments from the city when we get the structural review.

What are the dimensions for the au pair bedroom?

Message me and I'll send you my email so you can send me a pdf copy to work from. This is too small to see details and sizes.

If the middle room will someday be a bedroom, can you swap the bathroom and laundry? The new laundry room could have it's door facing the long hall instead of into the short hall. And the left-hand bedroom occupant doesn't have to be in as much view of the foyer when stepping to the bathroom.

bp, the problem then is that bathroom is then against the master bedroom wall.

The plumbing doesn't have to be.

I just feel bad for the au pair. I would be worried that she would feel uncomfortable and never have any privacy having to share the bathroom with all guests and having to access through a public hallway. But I dont know much about au pairs. Maybe this is not unusual.

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.

The above plan has some positives (windows in hall bath and laundry) improved privacy for au pair. However we really prefer 4 real bedrooms rather than 3 bedrooms and a playroom. Our kids may not want to share a room forever and in this plan the playroom is not a real bedroom as it's a pass through room with no closet. Also the playroom is smaller and lacks a closet for toy storage. In the original plan, I like the large playroom that has two closets and could easily be used as a bedroom. We planned to put a pullout sofa in the playroom so it could also function as a guest room. And the sofa would be opposite a tv (between two closers) so kids could watch movies and play games. I am not sure I could get all the function we need from the smaller / pass through style playroom. Also, for resale I think 4 bedrooms would be easier to sell and command a higher price (although we arent likely to sell, you never know).

I kind of think for these reasons, the original plan works better.

as for at pair privacy, we will be upfront in the hiring process about the set up. We live 30 min from San Francisco, walking distance to a vibrant small town downtown with tons of restaurants, shopping, etc, year round beautiful weather, an hour from Napa, 3 hours from Tahoe, an hour from the beach. The au pair who chooses us will have to value the location at the expense of a large private suite. If they want a large private suite, I am sure they can get that in the mid west or Texas. Just depends what they want and what they value. I am sure some au pairs would be totally fine with our set up.

Also we both work and kids are in school so the au pair can shower during the week when no one is home. My husband and I are both gone by 6:30 am and kids go to school by 8:30. Also we plan to only have an au pair for 3 years so it doesn't have to be a long term situation.

bardzil, had suggested to me all these concerns so I had suggested that changing to 4 bedrooms would only require moving a few walls. 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.)

bump