Is this a completed home or a home under construction at the moment?

This is a completed home 5 years ago. We are bidding for resale

Do you have a first floor plan too?

It seems like both options would be a lot of construction/ $$ for little ROI. I don’t think the width of closet area for Option A would support a full bathroom, and with this or Option B you’d likely be carving into bedrooms that aren’t that big to begin with to make new closet area.

If it were me, I’d go simple. One of the kids’ vanity areas looks like it could support the installation of a double vanity— doing so would give all 3 their own sink. I’m not sure if you’re more concerned about the ability of multiple kids to simultaneously bathe or use a toilet, but assuming you want an additional bathing option (as you already have another toilet in half bath on main level for any emergencies), it looks like you could easily convert half of Bedroom 2’s walk-in closet to a shower area that would open up directly across from the existing vanity area adjacent to Bedroom 2. Then, if you had a locking pocket door separating this new shower/vanity area from the other vanity/main bathroom area, the area could act like Bedroom 2’a own little private half bath (but in this case the ‘half’ would be a shower and sink area). This could also look somewhat intentional in that you are adding a shower area to an existing full bath with tub, albeit you would still have the existing shower/tub combo so that multiple kids could shower privately. I honestly don’t think going from 2.5 to 3 baths is going to build much/any equity, so this type of plan would significantly reduce your construction/plumbing costs and result in very minor inconvenience re: toilet use. See quick phone sketch attached. Another option would be to do a more full-scale reuse of that same floor space to somehow incorporate semiprivate toilet room, shower room, and bathtub rooms (that could all be used in private simultaneously) with shared vanity space, but this would likely feel pretty chopped up.

Yes. Either of your plans are workable.

Frankly, your "walk-in closets" all appear to be rather wasteful and I wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them. The average moderate size for a kid's bedroom is 130 square feet, all of your bedrooms are large enough to meet that after you remove the existing closets and add small reach-ins.

However, baths are the second most expensive room to remodel in a home, and adding a second floor bath is likely the most expensive version of that remodel. So I am not sure I would advise buying a home that doesn't meet your needs and planning to remodel it to do so, unless the location is incredibly good.

Good luck.

Come to think of it— there are some really tiny/low-profile sinks on the market these days— if you took the above plan and put a toilet where the Bedroom 2-adjacent sink is, install a wall and low-profile sink where the door to the larger bathroom area is, kept the shower in the same place but used a shower curtain instead of a door, you could likely have a decent little micro-bathroom but I’m not sure what code implications you might run into with this route though….

@P.D. Schlitz - Why do all that?

The bathroom & closet area between bedroom 2 and 3 is 14' x 8'. Which is plenty of room to install two full baths without any type of weirdness that is going to save very little money and detract from the home's overall value. It is also plenty of room to add a hall linen closet and a bathroom closet.

Since bedroom two is 14' deep and bedroom floor space over 11.75' is wasted anyway (Full size beds are 75" + 8" for frame + 36" for walkway + 20" for large furniture) , you still have plenty of room for a reach in closet on the same wall the door is on now.

@P.D. Schlitz thank you for the detailed reply. I am worried less about ROI as we feel this could be a 15-20 year home. It has everything else we want (location, finishes, neighborhood), but as we grow our family, we know 2.5 baths will not be enough. The basement is unfinished and would likely cost 40-50k, so not an option right now, especially with very small children.. The main issue is having another toilet/tub, as again, we hope this is a longer term home and we would ideally have extra space if our parents were staying over. Yes, we could always have folks go down to the powder room if needed, but that also feels a bit disjointed. Is it safe to assume going the proposed layout you mentioned would not trigger a massive plumbing lift?

@bry911 do you feel trying to eliminate those large walk-in closets next to bedroom 3 and 4 would present a major challenge?

@bry911 for what you mentioned for the 14x8 space, do you think that could be two full bathrooms separated entirely? one bathroom entrance from bedroom 2, the other from the hallway as currently constructed?

If you dilly dally too much on these things, you'll never find a house available in this market. This one is probably already gone. Not every house will tick each box exactly, but that's the beauty of homeownership - anything can be changed with only money and creativity as limits.

But, to assuage your fears here's a quick study with the assumption of an open concept ceiling on the 1st floor:

If $40-50k on doing the basement-- which I assume will contain another bathroom-- is not currently on the table, then you don't have the budget to remodel upstairs to create another bathroom.

@Jennifer K you really think this is a 50k project?

@3onthetree here is the 1st floor. not sure what you mean by open concept?

Open concept meaning no walls to run plumbing through. But it doesn't matter to get into nuts and bolts of a scheme and just wastes time on a house you don't own. Just know you can make a large 2.5 bath house a 3.5 if you want to.

"you really think this is a 50k project?"

I live in a low cost of living area and it could very well get to $50k here without splurging on fixtures. It really depends on details we don't know.

3onthetree’s concept is the right way to go about it, and would make much more sense than trying to add plumbing and repurpose space between Beds 3&4. But others’ suggestion that it would be a negligible cost differential to demo that entire area and install two entirely new bathrooms— vs simply installing a new double vanity in an existing location and carving a shower out of a closet for a quick/ cheaper fix— is a version of reality I’d like to live in. If your concerns are truly for the long-term, then use that long-term to save up and do something really great down the line.

That's the key ^^, long-term and saving up for whatever level of project and scope you desire at that time. I have the feeling you are going to add some commenters' estimated $50K bathroom add cost to the asking price and say this house is priced out of the market. That is not the case unless there is an exact same house already having 3.5 baths at the same price. Consider that if a regular contributor named Verbo commented, it would cost $150K and should be a teardown instead.

@P.D. Schlitz said, "But others’ suggestion that it would be a negligible cost differential to demo that entire area and install two entirely new bathrooms— vs simply installing a new double vanity in an existing location and carving a shower out of a closet for a quick/ cheaper fix— is a version of reality I’d like to live in."

I am sorry, for a minute there I thought you were suggesting plopping a shower down 8' from any possible drain pipe or plumbing supply line and having the shower exit into a room that likely has carpet or hardwood flooring.

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Lo barato sale caro... Cheap things turn out expensive. In my experience shortcuts like that rarely lead to overall savings and almost never to value.

Cool. The proposed shower would open into the existing bathroom area, unless you’re interpreting the plans as Bedroom #2 having a hotel-style open air sink alcove? That sink would also assumedly would mean there’s a drain a few feet away, or there would at least be the ability to go through closet to bath drain? But I’m no plumber so will defer to your expertise, and sounds like none of this is of interest to the OP regardless. 🤷‍♂️

HGTV is fiction. You don’t rearrange houses like Tetris for pennies on the dollar. And this would be incredibly disruptive, and long to do. In addition to being over 100K. You might ought to look at what another 100-200K gets you in the home buying market.

@P.D. Schlitz Apologies if I came off as disinterested? @3onthetree diagram, to me, makes the most sense and likely how we would want to go with it. Hearing this could be an over 50k project for sure has us wondering if we should put in an offer on Saturday (when bidding starts).

@suzanne_m We are visiting the house on Saturday and can take the measurements. Thanks for the note.

I’d be more concerned that the owner’s bedroom doesn’t have any windows except for the sitting area.

As someone who's been down this road recently: assume it's impossible. Figure it out when you move in.

I recently just bought a house and during the showing, I took measurements and was sure I'd be able to steal some space from a redundant hallway and turn 1.5 baths into 2. Once I actually got into the house, I took careful measurements and plugged them in to a fairly straightforward, free floor planning software called Sweethome 3D. It lets you draw out your walls, fixtures, etc. and walk through them virtually to get a sense of what the space will feel like.

In the end , it would have been possible to get 2 full baths but the shape would have been awkward and cramped. I ended up combining the 1.5 baths to a more functional, spacious single bath. Even rearranging the plumbing for that proved to be a challenge-- I can't imagine what a pain it would have been to make everything work with two baths.

Modern cookie-cutter houses are not really modular-- they're hyper-designed to maximize space and utility down to the fraction of the inch, and as a result there's usually little tolerance for alterations.

So, once you get in there, if it will work, great, if not, well, your expectations were managed going in.