thanks to all who have posted so far, especially Eric. We can probably save/budget down the road for a kitchen redo, or do part of it ourselves. Additions would be a little harder for us except finish work (floors, tile, etc. Can do drywall even but would need to find time to do it). What that kitchen has is a U shaped layout, not too bad except there are overhanging cabinets between a small dining/family space and the kitchen. It's a counter/pass through kind of setup where someone can sit at stools and talk with the person in the kitchen....except the cabinets hang down so the person in the kitchen has to look under them. We would likely tear those out and relocate the stovetop to the perimeter wall and make that pass through an island. Then that entire space could become kitchen/dining. It is possible we could still move out a wall on that (kitchen) side of the house down the road too, we are in Hawaii so all the construction costs are much, much higher than mainland. So jealous of all the posters here who can put on a large extension for less than 50K. Plan A or Plan B will cost us about the same. We don't plan to sell and move anytime soon, but should we need to we're leaning toward sq. footage instead of just extending current bath and upgrading the kitchen. Our neighborhood is about 20 years old so people are beginning to redo those rooms as the fixtures and appliances are ageing. We redid all the appliances about three years ago with stainless finishes, new faucet/sink, and redid the countertop Corian, so the kitchen is livable - just need to clear out some clutter and make smarter usage on available storage space. We could paint or restain the cabinet doors to freshen it up. A few neighbors are creating the "big bang" kitchen now but I'm not certain a 70K upgrade will improve the value that much as a new neighborhood is planned about 5 miles away within the next couple of years. Would we love to live in a "WOW" kitchen, of course. But as with most people we have to make a decision on where it is best to spend the money for now. We could feasibly also add on a 2nd story in future years, but we prefer the single story and if we age-in-place as planned, the new bath will include wide accesses and no-curb shower.

I hadn't thought of doing it that way - in any case, I don't know what color rug/towels to use, either! I got some paint samples over the weekend and will try to post photos of the tiles and samples together.

@doc5md the builder did not make us choose the bathroom layout until now. When we signed off on the floor plan, we thought we had the bathroom planned out for that space. Turns out, we didn't know to account for certain things like that flange that sticks out from the tub insert and takes up an extra inch, or the trim on the door..and those details are causing the problem. So we didn't think there would be an issue with our vision of the bathroom, and builder probably didn't think we wanted such a large vanity in there. It would have been helpful to have the interior furniture planned before we signed the contract. But we were in a rush- we had land pending sale and needed to get a construction contract signed before it could close. Right after we started the process for the land, our original builder told us he was too busy and backed out suddenly. So we had to switch builders late in the game. Our current builder stepped up and within 3 months we had a floor plan, but in our hurry I think some of these little details were lost, with the intent to cover them as we went. He won't frame it until we have it figured out, but I have to get it figured out soon.

If I am counting the squares in your diagram correctly, you have less than two feet between the wall of the toilet room and the shower, so you cannot expand the shower to the left. I wonder at the diagram, however, because the shower is shown extending right up to the edge of the window, yet that is obviously not true in your photo, where you say the bit of green wall between the window and the shower is about 9 inches wide. That indicates that the bathroom does not match the diagram, to me. Maybe someone else can help you interpret this. I don't know why folks are not joining in this discussion. Since you do not mind losing the door to the closet, you can consider making the shower the same width it is now, but extend its length of that wall as far as you want to go. Of course, the window will have to be modified to have it in the shower, or it will need to be removed. If you don't want a 7 ft long shower, you could add a bump-out or cupboard inside your closet. It seems that no matter where you put your shower, it is going to have a window inside of it if you want it to be bigger or if you don't want to move the toilet room. Having that little room in the center of your bathroom severely limits your options. If you simply extend the shower out toward the closet door, you can have a vanity starting at the window edge where the tub is now, extending toward the shower as far as you wish to go. In front of the windows, you could put in a seat, or get a large plant on a stand. The wall between the window and closet could hold hooks for robes or towels. I would think about ending the vanity before the shower, though, and having towel hooks or a towel warmer there.