Many thanks to everybody who answered, you have all been very helpful in clarifying my very muddled thoughts. Here is a hopefully clearer description of the situation: The house is a 50's ranch style, with 3 bedrooms and a hall bath (4.5x8.5 ft) clustered on one side of the house, and the kitchen, office/den and another hall bath (4x9 ft) on the other side of the house, with a great room in the middle. We plan to stay in this house as long as we can, but we are in this city for my husband's work, and if something happens (although unlikely with his kind of job), we know we'll have to move somewhere else; therefore, we'd like to make updates to the house while keeping resale in mind. Our (excellent) realtor said that for resale we should have an ensuite. After reading the comments, I have to clarify with him if he thinks a lack of ensuite will narrow down the market significantly, or if we 'simply' would not get the best price for the house. Most houses in the area are old (in the whole city actually), and we saw plenty without ensuites. We saw two of the neighbors' houses, and they did not have ensuites. This is what we considered: 1. Redo the bathrooms with the existing footprint (not that we have room to change anything inside), but we can go far into making them pretty, 2. Add a door from the master bedroom to the hall bath next to it, and close access from the hall. This I think would be a bad idea, not only because the people in the other two bedrooms will have to go across the house to the other bathroom, but also because the master bedroom will end up with windows on two walls, three closets on another, and two doors on the fourth side. Not restful. 3. Add another bathroom next to the master bedroom where the closets are, with one closet door transformed into a bathroom door. This bathroom would be 4.5x12 ft, although it could go to 5x12 if need be (but no more, because we'll hit a big window), which will have a shower but no bathtub. We talked to a professional who said it will fit fine with the caveat that the toilet will likely be the first thing you see in front of the door because of the current clearance requirements. 4. Build an addition. This again I think would be a very bad idea, since it would be blindingly expensive and the house is already on the higher side of square footage for the surrounding area. We will of course fix everything that is broken. The interior doors are the original 50s doors, hollow core dark wood look with lots of scuffs and holes, and they were cut short to fit the now non-existent carpet, so I would qualify changing them as fixing what is broken (and they bug me every time I look at them... ). The windows are a perk; we are still divided on those. I tend toward option 1, while my husband is going for option 3, although he agrees we do not need another bathroom. The reason I feel ill equipped to make this decision is that I'm originally from Europe, and even after so many years here I feel mildly perplexed about the North American love affair with bathrooms. Our previous rental was built in the last ten years and had a huge ensuite which I didn't like. I found it hard to keep as clean as I thought it should be, and it was so large I felt as if I was doing my business in public. Given the bathroom pictures on Houzz, I'm clearly in a minority. Your comments help ensure that I don't miss anything that might otherwise be obvious, so thanks again. And extra thanks to whoever makes it to the end of this post...

I'm late to this thread, but I'm so glad you're going with restoration. The tile and fixtures are fantastic. A restored-height ceiling, better light fixtures, paint, shower door and a no-frill window covering (simple roman shade? )will go a long way towards making it a sharp, current-looking retro bathroom. I've been staring at the photos trying to decide what wall color would look good. We recently redid the bathroom in our 1912 (or so) bungalow and painted it a matte black, albeit with a white shower, floor and board and batten wainscot paneling. I was worried that black would be very dark and confining, but it isn't at all. I don't know if it would work with the pink tile, but it might look cool. Is the floor tile pattern off just inside the door?

I had the exact same problem. I picked out the vanity I wanted but did not think about the fact that it wasn't made to sit flush against the wall. I spent a month looking for something else, but in the end we decided to go with something shorter and have it not be against the wall. But we were going from 72" to 60" which is probably not workable in your mom's situation. I did find a lot of vanities that did have flat sides and could work in a corner, if you are willing to have the countertop fabricated. They just need to not have any trim detail on the top or bottom like the one you picked out does. I would just look at the ones without the pre-made tops. Because the pre-made top will still leave you with a slight gap because of the countertop overhang. This is an example: Avanity Modero which is sold everywhere, not just at Lowe's. The cabinet we ended up buying is an Avanity Madison which won't work for you, but I assume it is of similar quality. We are pretty happy with it. The drawers and doors have soft close but I do feel like the glides in my Ikea kitchen drawers are better quality. It is very pretty and I wanted a stained wood so I am really happy with our choice. If I had been willing to go with a painted finish, I think we might have stuck with the 72" Modero.

Well, here's an opinion. I have a personal hatred of that kind of shower door. I'd take it out of there. Are you removing the tub, too? Do you need a tub in there? If not, I'd go with just a shower, but if the tub is a necessity, remove the sliding apparatus and just use a nice shower curtain that can be thrown in the wash and replaced inexpensively. Sure, extend the flooring in there if that is what you like. But I agree with Debbi W. that the flooring doesn't appear out of place, it's nice and neutral. The vanity looks fine to me. But if the finish is worn, I guess you can pay to refinish or paint, I don't know what that costs. Chrome fixtures are nice. Replace the mirrors. To me they look 80's-dated, and mirrors can be had inexpensively. I saw mirrors for $80 at Lowes, or Home Goods.... I'd lose the chair rail. No backsplash made of counter material, if you need a backsplash, do a nice complementary (to the countertop) large tile (not those mini-glass tiles--too much grout), I'd do a plainish tile if it were me. Backsplash made of counter material is not offensive to me, just not my preference. For lighting in a bathroom, like a long light-bar above the vanity, with maybe 6 down lights, because I like to be able to really see the mirror. I also like a flush-mount ceiling fixture, so there is some light in the shower as well. And get some chrome hardware to match the fixtures! Good luck.