Thanks for all your thoughts! homeybird- we did briefly consider the wetroom idea, however, we're in Maine (brrrrrr), this room has 3 exterior walls and a poorly insulated floor, AND we need to be a little more traditional for resale. igloochic- Well, right now there IS no office. That is all part of a gigantically long master bedroom. It's stupid space in my opinion. I work at home and NEED an office, so right now my desk is set up there, open to the bedroom. I HATE it. Hate the computer lights and hum, hate seeing the piles and cords. I want my bedroom to be a calm place to escape and unwind. This house is teeny, so there is NO other place for my office to go. (Plus, we think being able to claim 3BR is a plus for resale. Target market will either be a young family or retired couple. Either way it seems like 2 normal-sized bedrooms and a small nursery or home office is a desireable combo. Honestly, there's no other place in the house where a home office could go....) weedyacres- I'll play around with that but my DH is going to be mad. We're having a heck of a bad year, renovation-wise. We started the kitchen/LR/DR renovation in April and soon discovered some very major drainage problems. We'd hoped to complete the exterior renovations this fall but the money we had to spend on the stupid drainage problems has left us utterly broke. Then DH got temporarily furloughed and I am not working either, and both cars are dying. It's baaaaad. BUT we HAVE to address this bathroom this month because it is -quite literally- making me sick. There is a huge mold problem in there. It's sealed off with painters tape right now because I was so sick from it. DH is going to have to cut a hole in the exterior wall, go in there and start gutting it until he finds the source of the mold (we suspect it is in the insulation, possibly the sheathing and studs, hope not!!). ANYWAY. It is not the best scenario to start a renovation. The kitchen's still not done either. And we're out of money. So we're leery of making too many changes. Even doing it all ourselves, having to reframe and redrywall and trim out all those extra walls is sure to add at least a grand, don't you think? Plus, our Washer & dryer are currently in the north closet...... WEll, I will draw it out and play around with it...... thanks for thinking outseide the box anyway.

I understand about sticking with budgets. What kind of exhaust fan do you have? If you put one over the shower area and add an automatic humidity timer, that may help with ventilation problems. I'd go for the post at the corner to add stability to the whole thing, especially if the exhaust fan option is to go directly through the wall instead of up through the ceiling and out to the wall. With a washer and dryer in the room, ventilation is important.

Not that we adore them, but we really have no complaints. We have a Grohe Relexa Top 4 Plus handheld on a vertical sliding bar. You can use fixed wall brackets (or just one bracket) if you prefer. Ours does get moved, I'm 6'4" and my wife is 5'1". Really no complaints, it's been a good shower head. It's our primary. Been in the shower for close to 20 years and we've never had a problem with it. I do need to replace the 8' long hose that connects it to the wall outlet. We have a 12" round rain head from Aquabrass that is plumbed out of the ceiling. It provides a nice gentle "rain", it can certainly douse you. But it does not have a forceful spray. It's a true rain head. Water droplets simply 'fall' out of it. Again, no issues with it. It's a nice rain head experience when we want that rain head experience in the shower. Neither were expensive. the Top 4 was maybe $75 and the AquaBrass about $150. If either of these needed replacement, I'd have no worries replacing them with the same.

The shower footprint room in even a 36” wide tub is pretty small. Much smaller than in a 36” shower. A shower only is a much nicer experience, where you don’t brush elbows against walls, or have your bum bump a curtain or door when bending over to wash your toes. It is also less slippery, and safer. If I were the husband in this situation, I would not be happy that I was being reduced to a second class showering experience in my home. He may not know it, but that is what would be the result. It would be a second class tub experience for you as well. If you like a tub, you are probably pretty frustrated with how shallow they can be, and how little of your body gets submerged. That is the big drawback of a tub shower. It has to be shallow enough to step over to use as a shower. A genuine deep soaking tub can fix that. One with a deck surround can give you a place for your towels, books, glass of wine, etc. It improves the experience for you. Settling for less will happen enough in a build. I‘m not saying build a owner’s bath larger than your family room with his and her complete separate masters. But any owner’s bath that does not cater to each user’s preferences, is not a owner’s bath for a custom home. Even entry level new build tract homes have separate tubs and showers for the main bath. Because it is expected for the main bath.