Well, phooey. I taped it out in the bathroom with blue tape last night and it looked like it would fit, but with too many nos, I'm back to the drawing board. Interesting thought, Vix. Right now we don't actually have a toilet room, so much as a separate toilet "area" (there's no door, and the closet takes up too much room to add a door), but it's on my agenda to create one. In our house, it's very necessary. I generally use that bathroom to try to FIND privacy, only to have 3 people (and sometimes the dog) follow me into the bathroom. I'm looking forward to having a door that locks and a fan so that I don't have two little people handing me the TP and asking whether I'm doing number 1 or 2 (oh, and the 1 year old likes to flush while I'm ON the pot; so I've got my own special cold water washlet), while DH decides that he absolutely has to shave and brush his teeth at that exact moment. Now if I take a hike to the guest bath on the other side of the house, all three just follow me AGAIN. Sometimes when I have insisted on locking the door in the guest bath (no way to do that with our LOUVERED -- why??? -- pocket door in the master), my one year old plopped down prostrate outside the door and cried until I open the door. For my W/C, I want to put in a LOUD fan; no whisper quiet for me. Maybe I'll even add a radio. :) The way I'm seeing it, I can either get rid of the long vanity altogether and live with a fairly small vanity, plus a tub and shower, I can skip the tub and live with the kids' bathroom on the third level as the only room with a tub, or we can bump out that weird corner jog, which would give us an additional 49'' X 27'' space -- enough to fit a 5X3 tub, 5X3 shower and keep the two vanities. But that sounds very expensive and will require carefully removing and replacing the siding to match the existing. DH's response to all this was "why do we need a tub?"

I've done showers that had all kinds of windows. I'm not saying it can't be done. BUT. be aware there's a risk associated with it. <a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Bill_Vincent/media/Flaherty033.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo Flaherty033.jpg"/></a> <a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Bill_Vincent/media/Allen120.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo Allen120.jpg"/></a>

The answer depends upon the details: - A prefab shower surround will probably be your cheapest option (and while they lack in looks, they're super easy to clean). - A builder-grade tub/shower combo would probably come in second lowest. - A shower-pan-flooring with tile walls would be next in line. - Then an all-tile shower (of course, that depends upon whether you go with economical tiles or not). - And most expensive would be a nicer-grade tub with a shower. And with any of the above, you get into the question of what type of shower head you're using. A simple shower head can be had for less than $100, whereas a handheld on a pole is going to be more, and if you want a rainshower head in the middle of the shower in addition to the "regular shower head", that'll be more still. So, really, it depends.

I guess I had just been looking at Lowe's and HD to see that a porcelain tub is $255 and acrylic is $250. I figured that was pretty darn cheap and don't see a reason to not go that route. I'll have to look into cast vs regular steel to see what the price difference is. If it's big I'm not sure that I'm willing to spend a big chunk but I'll have to discuss it with my wife.