Sorry it took so long to get back...busy week at work and gardening all weekend :) I appreciate all your input and I know I need a visual aid, but all I have is my graph paper with my pen sketch LOL. I need to go high tech! After careful thought, I am considering swapping the porch and the laundry room. The house faces southeast, so the laundry room is currently on the southwest side and the porch is in the back, or the northwest side. Both are going to have to be rebuilt, so it's an easy swap at this stage. If I open up the room on the southwest side, I can have it open to the kitchen and get better light into both rooms. The laundry/pantry/mudroom can be on the back, with less light. This would allow me to put in a second door, from the hall bath to the laundry area, eliminating the need for the half bath (and saving some money!) :) The load bearing wall is between the two bathrooms, which means the master bath is not getting any bigger (without a lot of expense) and is staying about 6' x 10'. The hall bath is a much more flexible space. I can make this larger and have the claw foot tub and toilet on one wall (on the back) with a window over the tub. The hall door would be opposite the tub, the sink (now the counter could be 6' instead of 4') would be next to the hall door. The door to the laundry room would be on the left wall, between the sink vanity and the toilet. The shower in the master bath is more practical and although I wear make-up, it takes me all of five minutes to put it on in the morning, so no big mess in the bathroom. I work from home (and live on a farm) so a little eyeshadow, liner and mascara and I'm good to go! LOL Oh, I should mention the master bedroom is on the northeast corner of the house. As you come in the front door, the stairs are straight ahead. As you walk along the stairs, to the back of the house, the hall bathroom door is straight ahead (but all you'll see is the tub) to the right is the door to the master bedroom. You walk by the master bath, as you enter the bedroom "suite" if that's not too fancy a word for a fairly small bedroom. I am hoping to have a small screened porch off the back of the bedroom area. French doors off the back of the bedroom will lead to the porch, with just enough room for a few chairs and a small hot tub. That is the one thing my husband wants in the new house...besides dibs on the basement! Thanks again for all your help :)

I love my large, oval tub in MB and a shower. I agree with nosoccermom--those little tubs are no good for me. When I redid the guest bath, I took out the tub and put in a very large walk in shower with rain shower head, wall shower heads and a handheld. I also had the faucet mounted on opposite wall of shower heads so that it can warm up before I step in. I use that for showering rather than my master shower except when we have house guests. It is a short walk down the hall and I would not be happy without a good sized tub in MB. It would be a deal breaker for me in buying my next house

This house will all be on ONE level....and completely handicapped accessible. My DH is an architect so is drawing the plans and his former wife (before she died) was in a wheel chair...so he is making sure there are no steps at all...even to the front door. Our house is all one level and it doesn't even have a step to the front door (or the other front door) either! The main reason we bought (overpaid) this house was its accessibility. My mother cannot walk up steps (we don't know if she has Parkinson's or some other condition but basically she can't walk very well) and we bought with the thought that she may have to move in with us one day (soon). Although we're still relatively young (47 and 49), I love the one-level living. My knees are a lot happier. The only thing I discovered about having no front step is that leaves come into the house very very easily - I guess the step prevented this from happening. FWIW, the master bathroom does not have a bathtub - it only has a shower. That really was not an issue when we saw the house.

Classic Comfort, great job on post and pics! I am in the same situation with my master bath.. We need to remodel for ourselves now but also consider future sale in (5years?). We have a HUGE corner jacuzzi that has been used a total of 5 times in 13 years, 1 by me the rest by my grandchildren. We have no other tub in the house and our shower is currently really dated but a 2 person space with 1 shower head no body sprays. I plan to remove the tub and re tile that floor area but stub out the water supply and hide it and the drain but leave a diagram so it is accessible if a future owner wants to put in a tub. So a dedicated tub space that I will use for an exercise bike or lounge chair, there is a double sided gas fireplace next to the tub so it could become a reading nook. I have not decided. A future owner could easily put in a freestanding tub or a tub with a deck. We will then gut everything and rework shower access and bathroom access to be ADA approved for easy use of a wheelchair and curbless shower. My husband and I are fully mobile but I figure if I am remodeling and not sure what is in store better to be handicap accessible and not look like it! We are in the San Diego area. This is an expensive remodel but I don't think we can DIY with all the plumbing criteria.