thanks to all who have posted so far, especially Eric. We can probably save/budget down the road for a kitchen redo, or do part of it ourselves. Additions would be a little harder for us except finish work (floors, tile, etc. Can do drywall even but would need to find time to do it). What that kitchen has is a U shaped layout, not too bad except there are overhanging cabinets between a small dining/family space and the kitchen. It's a counter/pass through kind of setup where someone can sit at stools and talk with the person in the kitchen....except the cabinets hang down so the person in the kitchen has to look under them. We would likely tear those out and relocate the stovetop to the perimeter wall and make that pass through an island. Then that entire space could become kitchen/dining. It is possible we could still move out a wall on that (kitchen) side of the house down the road too, we are in Hawaii so all the construction costs are much, much higher than mainland. So jealous of all the posters here who can put on a large extension for less than 50K. Plan A or Plan B will cost us about the same. We don't plan to sell and move anytime soon, but should we need to we're leaning toward sq. footage instead of just extending current bath and upgrading the kitchen. Our neighborhood is about 20 years old so people are beginning to redo those rooms as the fixtures and appliances are ageing. We redid all the appliances about three years ago with stainless finishes, new faucet/sink, and redid the countertop Corian, so the kitchen is livable - just need to clear out some clutter and make smarter usage on available storage space. We could paint or restain the cabinet doors to freshen it up. A few neighbors are creating the "big bang" kitchen now but I'm not certain a 70K upgrade will improve the value that much as a new neighborhood is planned about 5 miles away within the next couple of years. Would we love to live in a "WOW" kitchen, of course. But as with most people we have to make a decision on where it is best to spend the money for now. We could feasibly also add on a 2nd story in future years, but we prefer the single story and if we age-in-place as planned, the new bath will include wide accesses and no-curb shower.

Thanks for the response kirkhall! Here is another piece of info that's important: ***Bedroom #3 is actually big enough to be a master bedroom by my neighbourhood standards, and has back deck access. I feel weird giving this bedroom to one of my 2 kids, not only because it has the deck access, but also because it is so much larger than the other child's bedroom. (Currently, both kids are in the tiny bedroom, but this needs to change soon.) Another option would be to give one child the big master bedroom (19x11) and keep Bedroom #3 for myself, but then the issue is that one child gets a HUGE bedroom (bigger than their parents') and the other gets a tiny one. So in short: I would really like a new bedroom layout with roughly equal sized kids' bedrooms AND a bigger bathroom, if possible. I think this would be good for resale too.**** Here are my comments on your ideas: - I really like the idea of stealing room from bed #3 to make the existing bathroom bigger. I'll need to play around with that. It would be less costly, I would imagine. Bed #3 would then become a bit smaller, and would be more in line with the other child's bedroom. The back deck access is still an issue, but maybe it's ok. You can't have everything. - In the existing layout, I really like your idea of stealing space from bed#1 and giving it to bed#2 and then putting a powder room in there, maybe in between them, but HOW? - yes, ceiling downstairs is unfinished, and I have ready access to underside of main floor. Comments on my plan: - bed #2 in the new design DOES meet the code for my province. The code is 6 square metres (64 square feet) if a closet is provided, or 7 square metres (75 sf) where no closet is provided. At 77.64 (with closet), and 86.32 sf (no closet), it seems to pass. - privacy: Where the current bathroom is situated, you can peer into it from the living room. So, even though it's far away from the living space, it is still visible.

Two, but we live in a one-story house. Our new house'll be two stories and will still have two toilets. Most people are not comfortable sharing their master toilet with guests. I know I'm not. I have no problem with adults deciding that for marriage harmony they should have an extra toilet if that's what works best for them. I know I wouldn't enjoy having to use the powder room in the middle of the night and I certainly understand not sleeping as well as before kids, and mine are out of the house and 25 and 29! LOL

The tub is centered under the windows now and will stay that way. In a perfect world, I would have liked to replace the two windows for a single window over the tub. This would have allowed us to make the shower a bit wider. But there is actually a chimney that runs between those two windows so the windows will be staying where they are and we will only widen the shower by about 6 inches. pricklypearcactus - We have debated replacing the wall (or at least the top half of it) with glass. One downside of doing this is you lose a little privacy in the shower and since there is no door from the bedroom into the bathroom, I like that if I need to I can toss my big towel over the shower door while showering and have a little privacy. (My kids are teenagers now, so they no longer walk in while I am showering, but . . . ) Mayflowers - You are correct that the only place for a towel rack currently is on the rack by the tub, which is not convenient. I like the idea of putting it on the wall by the shower. I am standing in the bathroom now trying to imagine what the space would be like without the Ls and with a 42 inch space between the vanity edge and the shower. If we nixed the Ls, I think we could square off the shower entrance so it didn't have that angle. But then we would either need to change the entrance to the toilet room or that side would be left with the angled entrance. Thoughts?