Areaway with a window? Skylight? Hallway to an exterior door or window? Transom windows?

You should be able to install transom windows in the hall and bath to allow natural light into those spaces. I'd avoid the use of glass in bedroom doors as they don't do much to attenuate sound.

Thanks for the ideas, Mark!

"Areaway with a window" is a great idea but I think it's too costly as we would need to excavate more and build another retaining wall.

"Hallway to an exterior door or window?" would not work well because we would need to make at least one bedroom narrower just to have a hallway with a window, and it's probably not worth it. In this case, I'd rather have a larger bedroom.

I was not sure what a "transom window" is, but I understand that it's a window above a door - this could be an option! Potentially a skylight but this would be more expensive I guess. I will definitely explore both of these options.

We have a tight budget so trying to find the best solution for an affordable price.

Thanks again.

You may need to install a "window well," but you should be able to get light into that area without breaking the bank, (the financial kind, that is.)

Thanks, Charles. I'll explore the window well option with our builder.

We'd need to excavate more in this case and our soil has big rocks (expensive) but I'll check with them.

I like the ideas from the pros above (not a surprise.) I'm not a pro, but I would be bothered by the toilet right in front of the door in the secondary bath. I'd see if you can rearrange that space a bit so the toilet isn't the first thing you see from the hall. Also, your 3D rendering shows a washer in the master bath (it's not shown in the floor plan.) I'd want to find a different spot for that if possible.

@chicagoans, great tip about the toilet and makes definitely sense. I'll try to rearrange this.

Thanks so much!

Wall hung toilets are great for making a bathroom more spacious and much better for cleaning.

I have pixelated glass doors all down a long hall they provide some light and just break up a whole wall of solid doors. The doors lead to bedrooms and bathrooms we have guests often and not one has ever mentioned lack of privacy . All you see is a really pixelated movement at most.

I'm not sure that polite house guests are the best source of objective feedback on design of an interior designer's home anymore than they would be of a builder's personal home.

We use solid-core wood doors for bedroom doors and we install mineral wool batts in walls between bedrooms and hallways or adjacent rooms to enhance privacy. The sound transmission class (STC) for a solid-core wood door is 30 to 35 dB. By comparison, the STC for a glass door is 15 to 21 dB. That's less than a hollow-core wood door at 21 to 25 dB and most people find those objectionable in bedrooms. The decibel scale is logarithmic, so keep in mind that a 10 dB decrease in STC is a 10-fold increase in the sound level. You can obscure the glass, but you'll need to upgrade to laminated glass if you want to approach the STC performance of a solid-core door.

You'll need a good led lighting plan. The hall can be motion activated. The area gets used after dark.

The opening for the stair has to be larger than what you show as it's currently too low. Configure the stair and open it up the full width of the room and you'll get a nice light well.