the 9' ceiling height will definitely help you with this. Here's what I would suggest (not knowing how far the side window is from the wall with the door on it: Use the wall with the door as the bed and closet/storage area. Build a closet, and put a loft bed at the top. Because it would have to be custom built, you can decide how high it is or how much storage you need. Kind of like this: [houzz=] or this: [houzz=] Can the space below the back window become a desk? And or/build a desk there with storage flanking it. Keep in mind that this isn't a very large room, and he'll probably want as much floor space as possible (at least my 8 year old does!).

First of all, I don't think that furniture is comfortable enough to sit and watch TV, so the TV should be remove from that room, the purple wall paper and the purple furniture is too much, you should consider another color for that wall and the furniture against the wall it doesn't look good. What is that room at the end is kind of dark and I cannot appreciate exactly what is the purpose of that room. I'm a firm believer in skylights, we have skylights in the laundry room, kitchen, living room and office, they make a big difference. (if you cannot have skylights (or tube lights) can lights are a great option. There are a lot of great ideas from everyone. I can't wait to see the after photos.

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.

Are you saying you will be layering a wooden false wall on top of the existing wall to hold the pocket door? If that is the case, you might want to treat the entire side of that new and existing wall ( including the area above doorway) as an accent wall using wood veneer strips. They look like actual pieces of wood plank which have adhesive backing, they come in a variety of finishes and colors...I like the old reclaimed wood look. A diagonal pattern would add extra visual interest, but would be more intense to cut and install. That will camouflage the additional layer and create a beautiful accent wall.