So boring, I fell in the kitchen and for no reason at all. For the last year or two, i have done this too many times, so now the doctors are on another tear to have "everything"checked out. My shoulder unfortunatelly was damaged in 98-and i never had it repaired. this time, i damaged the old tear, and i have been told this morning, surgery is a must, but there is no guarantee, that anything positive will come out of it, but we must at least try. My husband suggested, that we just purchase a wing of the hospital, and move in. Sounds like a plant to me... Irene

Thanks for the kind words, Moni. For all I share this tale: In my previous old house there was no first floor bathroom, and we had an aging parent living with us. We decided to use a closet in the kitchen for a half bath. Sure, it was out of the main food prep area, but it still bugged me that there was a windowless room in the kitchen with a toilet in it (oh, we also carved out space in there for a stack W&D and possibly the tiniest sink, EVER). When we put that house up for sale (we had finished the restoration and I was bored) about 95% of the potential buyers remarked negatively about the position of the bath in the kitchen. Our options, including time, were severely limited, but we could have thought just a little more carefully about how to enter the half-bath, and flipped the door to it so you enter from the foyer, which was where the back wall of the kitchen closet was. I guess we just didnt think about that. My message is this: rather than do it fast and use whats already there, think carefully about adding a bath in a kitchen. In our case if we had been less anxious to get it done we could have been better able to sell the house faster and for a higher price.

Both powder rooms and laundry rooms add a ton of value to a home. I suggest you talk to a local realtor and see how these changes would impact your home value. My guess is that losing a bathroom will hurt your value, even in exchange for a laundry room so I would try to at least keep it as a powder room. But ask someone in your local real estate market to see.

I like the idea of separating the vanities. Even if space weren't an issue, I'd prefer one long vanity. I think one looks neater, less cluttered. Of course, that's pure opinion -- no logic behind it. Toilet. I'll keep playing to try to get 42" width for the water closet. And yes. He is showing INSIDE measurements. I'm 100% sure of the right answer here: Verify, verify, verify. How many times have we read threads on this site saying, "But I was so sure ____, and now _____!" Privacy on the toilet is something I highly desire for a variety of reasons. I wouldn't want a bunch of snickering kids waiting outside the door to the shared toilet while I, the MOM, was using it. I also don't want nosey kids trying to take a peek inside my bathroom and heaven forbid, what if you forgot to lock one of the doors....lol!! I consider my bedroom and bathroom my sanctuary/safe haven and I don't want intruders. There's room for both toilets in the OP's plan and with a new build, a separate toilet for the master bathroom is not something she should sacrifice on. You and I think completely differently. I'd label you the Idealist and me the Practical One. My thoughts on the above: - At a certain season of your life, those snickering kids are going to be waiting outside the bathroom door. Period. Whether you have a second toilet-closet door or not, they're strongly motivated to be near you (and is that bad?). Even if you don't actively hear them, your mind is always thinking, "Where are they? What are they doing?" A door may place the kids in a different spot, but the bottom line won't change. - I can see a lovely bathtub as a sanctuary: your own private spot, space for candles, music, your bath products, a place for you to relax after the kids are tucked away in bed. But a toilet? Especially a toilet in a dark closet? I see nothing but function. No safe haven, no tranquility, no restful moment away from the day -- just a 2-minute necessary function. - The real barrier to a bathroom should be politeness, not an actual lock. I mean, whether the door's locked or not, kids should be taught to knock and wait before entering. Consider, too, the "cost" of this toilet-closet sanctuary: More to build, more each week to clean, more bathrooms to which you must shuffle toilet paper and other goods. The more you build, the more you have to deal with on a daily basis; to a point, more is worthwhile, but where does more become tedious instead of helpful? All of the walls and doors and toilets take up too much space!! Agree. And those walls /doors /toilets create more-more-more to clean each week. Definitely go to a showroom and sit in a tub that is 72 and a tub 66 inches. That extra 6 inches is too much for me. I like to read and soak, so if you are just totally laying down, 72 inches would work. Yes, try out tub sizes for yourself. I'm very short, and I also like to read in the tub. I remember one tub (in a vacation condo) that was oversized, and it felt uncomfortable ... I couldn't relax, or I'd "slip down". Since I occasionally fall asleep in the tub, this wouldn't be a very good thing. You will feel tighter in an enclosed space that is 30" wide, than you currently feel with just the knee wall. You can easily accommodate a wider space, even 42" if you move the linen storage elsewhere, and if the wall jog behind the door is eliminated. Common sense!