You didn't mention how many bedrooms, so if you have a 2 bedroom house, 4 baths would just simply be wrong. Let's look at it from the buyer's perspective so let's say you are the one looking to buy a house. In this imaginary scenario, if you wanted to buy a 4 bedroom house, the difference between a 4 bedroom 1 1/2 bath house vs. a 4 bedroom 2 bath house likely appeal to you (and certainly to more prospective home buyers). You would see a higher selling price in most cases too so let's switch gears and now make you the seller. You could apply some changes in the "redo" to play down the bath part and have the "powder room" become the main highlight. However, in real estate, more can be more and if the "bath" looks like an after-thought, it could negatively drive down the selling price, so careful consideration should be used when contemplating the new design. So, since selling is about having interested buyers, think of the many listing services and real estate search engines today that will not show a buyer who searches for a 4/4 home any of the 4/1, 4/2, 4/3, or 4/3.5 homes - that means you aren't appearing in as many listing searches. However, listings for a smaller 4/2 would also show the 4/2.5, 4/3, 4/3.5, etc... - basically a listing shown to more prospective buyers. Another example is that it is all too common that many home owners believe they will stay in their home for decades but often don't due to some unforeseen disaster, health issue, relocation, tired of the old house, neighborhood goes down, a foul smelling or noisy business goes in up the street, etc. I know a couple, who planned to retire in their home, only to move within two years of purchase because their daughter needed help with her very sick baby. Making a room into something to be remodeled later doesn't really work because fewer buyers want to buy a "gut and remodel" home which is definitely not a selling point by highlighting what something "could be". Any issues in retirement could also limit your funds to properly remodel yet again for the purpose of selling plus remodeling will likely be more costly in the future than today. So what's the bottom line? Living in your home - you need to be happy, so do what makes you happy and don't worry about the what if's; but should having a main floor bath make you unhappy, don't do it. If your home is two bedrooms, don't do that either. For any other reason, if you don't mind the extra bath, it certainly can't hurt and will likely help should you ever decide to sell. Who knows, when your retired in-laws need to move in with you, having that extra bath may help out tremendously.

True. I do feel that some have gone overboard in expressing their feelings, to the point of perhaps being inconsiderate of the the feelings of others. I'm the one who initially pointed out that some people are "wired" to be easily perturbed by this sort of thing, but I never read that they had no choice but to get overemphatic at a rare opportunity to express their feelings. (This subject must some psychological connection with the taking-off-shoes-in-the-homes-of-others issue, another one that leads some to get a little carried away.) Note, please, also that that bathroom door is on the other side of the home's central hall--and has its own door. It's very highly unlikely to be a code violation. Energie, I think your initial question was answered, right? :) IMO, the answers on this thread definitely overstate the negatives--to you. As others who've lived with bathroom doors right in the kitchen have said, they don't feel they're a problem worth getting excited over. I agree. If I had one, I'd paper it with red and white flying pigs so people would smile when they saw it.

To weedyacres - You are correct - we just tore out the existing floor tile and the adhesive; we didn't go down as far as the shower pan/waterproofing. I had originally planned to also chip out a horizontal row of shower tile around eye level and put in a matching border (I have a neighbor that did that) to give it an additional update, but I couldn't find anything that looked right.

There seems to be some interesting ideas here. Couple of questions. What is the space between the stairs, does it have a purpose? Is it the continuation of the stairs going to the upper level? Which stairs go up and which go down - I think you said the bathroom partially shown on the right is on a landing half way down to the family room? To the right of the dining room table, are those stairs going down with sliding glass doors leading outside? Are there sliding glass doors in the next section below that, or is that just a large window? How big is the window in back of the little seating area between the kitchen and dining room? Here's my take. There is a lot of unused space that has some nice visual aspects; the question is how to use it in comprehensive design. Powder room. This floor is a lovely area of the house and it seems we are trying to cram a powder room into it. You have a perfectly functional bathroom on the landing to the family room. It would be entirely appropriate to make that the serve both the main floor and the family room. And it is be suitably located that privacy would not be an issue. I can't tell where the door is to that bathroom is but I would place it right on the landing so it would be accessible from above and below and still be entered privately. Finally, I'm not sure why if needs to be a full bath but it's okay if it is. You'll just have to keep it neat and tidy. The alternative of putting it off the mudroom is not desirable to me. You still have to go through the kitchen, a mudroom is messy by design, and is not someplace you want to send guests. Seating area. This looks tailor made to be converted into a bar with a wine and soda fridge under the counter. you might even convert the window to a wall and use that space for cabinets to hold glasses. There is plenty of light coming in even without that window. If you wanted to hide it, you could even put folding doors in front of it, but I don't think it is necessary. To maintain some symmetry along that wall you could also convert the window between the dining room and living room into a wall. Once again, there is plenty of light coming in. And it would be an interesting space to decorate. Kitchen. Without the Powder Room there is a lot of new room to use. I really liked the idea of the Pantry. So, Wiseca9's idea of moving the back kitchen wall forward made sense; it balances the empty space nicely. It provides room for a generous Pantry and a Utility/Storage Room. Storage on this level was totally missing and since this is the middle floor, I'm guessing there will be many uses for this kind of storage space. Also, curving the edge of the Island makes conversation much easier/