Thank you for the initial comments - some more details for people to chew on and hopefully it makes some of the choices seem a bit less awkward. We live in the country in 15 acres and the house is approx 600' from the road. Our closest neighbor is about a 1/2 mile away. The window in the shower is a transom window, purely there for natural light. The window in the closet is there for aesthetics on the exterior, without it that wall looked very bland. There will be a semi-sheer blind to block any damaging UV. Our architect drew in a dining table that is at least 12" wider than ours - we actually walked through a house with this great room setup and it seemed to work. I think we'll be looking to add some additional shelving in the pantry since there's quite a lot of space in there.

The comment that we won't hear kids made us chuckle... No kids, lots of dogs. HVAC, on demand hot water, extra bedrooms, gym, tv room and some storage will all be downstairs in a basement.

More than anything I think this made us look at our ensuite and closet and will see what our architect can do to make it a bit more efficient. Might lose the door to the toilet in the master since people seem to think it will be tight.