This must be a regional thing because where I live (in the San Francisco Bay Area) a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet is considered a full bath, not a 3/4 bath. My DH is a realtor and I confirmed this with him. I do think people here expect bathrooms that will be used by kids to have bathtubs, but master bathrooms are different. Adults just don't usually take baths. Maybe it's because we don't have time. I used to enjoy baths but haven't taken one in quite awhile. In an area which is prone to droughts, a large tub is wasteful. Even if water were plentiful, it also takes a lot of energy to heat the water for a bathtub. As people become more concerned about their carbon footprints and green building practices, the large tubs that were popular in the '80s and '90s may become obsolete. I had a friend who lived in a Victorian which had one bathroom on the second (bedroom) level with a lovely claw-foot tub and no shower. Her entire family bathed in a little shower off the kitchen, which was quite a trek from their bedrooms. To me, that really illustrates our society's preference for showers. So if you prefer showers to baths, skip the tub and go for that luxury shower.

I hear ya. Except that for us, I was the one who sledged the old do, not DH. You know the saying. There's nothing to it but the doing it. As faucets go, we went for polished nickel (Riobel), a 12" rainshower, and a handheld installed so it can reach down to wash the dog. No fancy schmancy water jets in the shower even if our plumber was raving about them. We had to special order these things and I was concerned this would delay the rest of our project. Knowing what we know now, I would not have worried so much. But you do need the roughs of the faucets installed before you close up the walls. Which bring me to this little piece of wisdom. You mention that this is your one and only full bathroom. This was also the case for us. Do yourself a favour and get yourself one of those little modular inexpensive showers you can rough install somewhere in your basement or garage, for you to have while you are renovating. It'll make life so much easier in the long run. Cheers!

Another vote for preformed showers not being in anyway perfect. I just ripped out a few and considered switching to tub and tile. The issue with ours is that they had foam for stabilization of the floor. Foam deteriorates and then the floor cracked. Mortar much better but just a reminder that one piece are not infallible. I have a 7 yo boy who has grown up in a tile and tub. The bathtub tile is not an issue. The grout around the toilet is a bit of one. But a big deal - no. I know things are regional but I haven't seen sheet vinyl used in a new home in a long time let alone a custom home. We built a super cheap rental house that has tile floors - but one piece showers. Vinyl rips, shrinks, burns, stains. If you have never had old vinyl, you need to look at some. Tile is pretty durable. Just to give you an idea of what this house is like - vinyl siding, vinyl windows, thermafoil cabinets, no crown etc. Interestingly, the worst cheap out we did was the showers and I wish we did better tubs and tile.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sophie, I've seen you comment on unneeded renovations so often that having your first comment be "sledgehammer" really says something. Thanks. To clarify, the shower currently spans the entire width of the room, 6'. The second shower head, hidden in the photo, is on the wall that the toilet is on. So what's to the left of the shower is...more shower. ;) I am not a DIY-er. I will pay a GC+subs. My concern is less about my out-of-pocket expense and more about the return on my remodeling dollar. I can be frugal but if it makes sense (like adding grab bars now) then I want to do it. My thought is that I might move in 2-3 years, but I've seen how life plays out. That might stretch out or....it's always possible that I'll never move. Who knows? Current thoughts on design (I'm open to feedback): --demo everything, including drywall (wall has gouges from past owners' DIY attempt to remove old foil wallpaper). GC says new drywall isn't expensive and makes it easier (and cheaper) for plumbers and electricians to work unimpeded. --keep toilet where it is but replace ---Make shower the Walk-in kind with showerhead on same wall as toilet and glass panel to replace the wall that separates the shower from the toilet. GC thinks the glass panel could be wide enough that I would not need a door to the shower; water will not splash into room. --my thought is to close up the window to the other room. It's weird. It's also a metal framed window (I replaced the other metal windows in this part of the house with clad ones, so they look better). --yes, upgrade the vanity, counter, lights, flooring etc. --yes grab bars! Good reminder, enduring. We did that when we remodeled the guest bath. That's the time to do it. My Qs: --should I move the vanity to be on the same wall as the toilet? This will require moving the door over. More significantly, I would lose the storage of the current cabinet behind the door. It's 12" deep. When I googled, I haven't found any suitable replacement. The freestanding linen cabinets tend to be 15" deep. A lot of them have glass panels on top, which is cute, but having the door open onto a glass-top cabinet sounds like a recipe for disaster, esp. in the bathroom with naked feet. Is there any way to recapture the storage? The current vanity is 4' wide, super low, and the drawers are horrible, so a better vanity will provide more storage but can't replace that large cabinet behind the door. --if I move the door, should it be a pocket door? I kind of hate them, but maybe I haven't met the right one. This is the master bath (which adjoins the master bed but does not open directly onto the master bed). I don't want to be woken up at night with my partner jiggling the pocket door or flipping on the light. But maybe there are great pocket doors? --spring for a skylight? The big kind or a sky tube? An interior designer said he recently saw one, in a bathroom, where the skylight in the roof was large but the opening over the vanity was more narrow. So the benefit of the light without a huge hole? (I didn't see pics, so I'm not 100% clear) --anything I haven't considered? Thanks for all your thoughts and comments! Maybe I'll host a toga party to celebrate demo-ing the Roman bath (or maybe they were having a toga party when thought up this idea, lol)