Wife and I (no kids) live in a four level house, that follows up the line of a hill. Front door entry is on the bottom floor and is where the living room kitchen and dining rooms are. Half a flight up is the garage entry with 1st bathroom. 180 deg turn and half a flight up again is the 2nd bathroom and 1st bedroom. Another 180 deg turn and another half a flight up one more time gets you to the master. The master windows are a full 15 feet off the ground.
The way we figure it, someone entering at night to steal something is going to rummage around down below us. So we keep a loaded but not chambered HD shotgun under and at the foot of the bed. Idea here is the racking of it, preceded by a "Listen up MFer'" followed by a "GTFO" is probably going to be enough to scare away the baddies.
If not, and/or if they're set on violence, the wife takes the shotgun and I've got a loaded and chambered 1911 with a Surefire in my nightstand. I turned one of the lower drawers over, creating a sort of shelf that the gun sits on and stays. Easy to reach without moving something out of the way, but also protected from the half awake grab for water off the nightstand.
We plan to add another handgun in the future for her; something she chooses and likes to shoot with. We'll do the same shelf/drawer turn over when that time comes.
Not sure if this is the best way to do things, and I hope we never need to find out. But we took our time, experimented and so far this setup seems to make both of us feel comfortable, and rest well.