In what country are you building this house? 9 foot or vaulted ceilings are taller than the US builder average of only 8 feet (this is the distance from the ground to the ceiling). If you have a small room, having a higher ceiling (even only 1 foot extra) will make the room feel more open and airy. In a small house of 1500 square feet, having high ceilings would go a long way in making it feel much larger than it really is. It is especially beneficial in a hot climate because heat rises so you will spend less on cooling costs. It is not so beneficial in a cold climate. It still looks nice, though!

Hi. We have changed it to a 8 X 6 in the new plan as we felt the earlier one is too small. Yes, an enclosed shower stall would be great to keep the dry and wet area separate. However, wondering if it is too small.

Based on the dimensions you have given and the religious aspects you mention you are very restricted in what the layout can be. The best solution I see means you have to move the door towards the south by 36". I suggest you make it a pocket door retracting towards the south wall. This leaves 36" x 60" of space on the north wall for either a shower or tub. The vanity would be on the west wall ( across from the door) spaced away from the tub or shower around 12". Make sure the vanity cabinet is shallow, no more than 21" deep. The vanity should be able to be about 48" wide. The toilet will go on the South wall with the right side of it close to the East wall. Code calls for approx. 33" of width for the toilet overall. If budget allows you could continue the vanity cabinets into the corner of the south wall however keep in mind that most of that area that will be next to the toilet and not easily accessible. But it would provide extra storage or counter space. The sink will have to be centered in the 48" part of the vanity. You could also frame out the southwest corner to capture the side of the vanity instead of a longer vanity. Hope this helps.

For the living room, the focus should be the balcony area. So flipping the couch to face the wall and not the dining table will help. Kind of like this pic. Even if you already have the sectional that is in the diagram, you should be able to flip it. In fact a sectional would probably work better than the couch in this pic. I also really don't like the style of this pic, but it showed what I meant, For the girls' room: No matter which bedroom you choose, you should maximize floor space so that they have the biggest play space possible in their room (as they get older you can add desks for school work and such). To get this space, I would give them bunk beds. This configuration gives them an open feel and more storage, essential for girls. You posted two different kitchen designs. This makes it hard to give you advice. I agree with other posts that your sink should be away from the wall. This allows you to have stuff to the left of you (drying dishes in my house), while you wash vegetables on the right of the sink. You need the same space on both sides of the stove, also. At least 24 inches on both sides is good. 36 is better, though. The first design has a nice little countertop space that adds a place for your daughters a space to sit a watch/ talk to you while you're in the kitchen. When they added this to the first design, you lost cabinets on the other wall. This is bad, as the space is already storage limited. Try making the rounded countertop bump out into the living space more. If you play with the shape, you could make it work without losing the cabinets on the other side. It doesn't have to be rectangular or a perfect circle. You can see how this one isn't confined to the floor plan of the kitchen. I think this is what you would need to do to make it the most functional.