are there bedrooms down there as well? if someone will be using the bedroom in the basement, then they will want a decent bathroom to go with it. 6 inches really isn't worth the hassle of taking down or moving a wall. A foot, maybe, 6" ? no. once you put on the wall or tile, you've got maybe 4" total. Maximize the space by choosing a good vanity w/storage, and possibly building a niche into the wall for additional storage. (use the area between the studs as a built in cabinet) using a prefab shower is fine, but pick a decent one as opposed to those flimsy acrylic pieces. you don't say want the resale value is, so i have no way of knowing how much you should invest. You say you bought mid-range, but I don't know what else you need to redo. anything under a 15% profit really isn't worth it. as for fitting it over the existing drains, usually you will need the new drain cover. if the drain needs to come up, there are extensions. I would advise your husband to do some research on how to fit those into an existing bathroom. If he's handy and can build his own slope, mortar bed and waterproof the shower, then he could prob tile it himself. Just depends on how much work you want to do and what the return is on what you choose. by the looks of what you have there currently, you may have some water damage underneath all the mess. Tear out what you can and then determine what you need to do.

I can tell you what im doing with the same size and type tile, maybe it will help. We are installing a callacutta oro tile. We layed it in a straight set ( grid) and it looks modern and beautiful. Ill add that we stacked the sides of the shower with the back wall in a herringbone to add just a bit of detail. To me, its beautiful. A marble like tile naturally can have a lot going on and i feel like the simpler laying pattern makes it seem like just a bit less going on (if that makes sense). Your bathroom will be beautiful and dont second guess your choice of wanting that tub. Its YOUR bathroom. Design it to suit your wants. Good luck.

I like the architect's and Cpartist"s plan. Your bathroom has more space in those plans. I would use a built in tub for ease of cleaning and easy entry into tub. I think your house on the exterior will look fine without windows in the closets. The windows will interfere with hanging your clothes. Can you add a window next to the bed as shown in Cpartist plan? How wide would the bedroom be if you removed the jog in the bedroom wall on the right? Or could you push the bottom right bedroom wall a couple inches into the bathroom to make the bedroom wall on the right straight?

I think you're showing the old and the new on the same drawing? As others have said, this is confusing. But the new master suite is a simple layout with a closet-bath-bedroom? Okay, if I'm reading this correctly, here are my specific thoughts: - Simple layouts are always best. Thumbs-up. - The hallway to the bedroom will make things private. But the hallway is something like 10' long and dull ... on the positive side, you'll be walking towards a door with natural light /makes for a good focal point. I'd like to see low-wattage motion-sensored lights in this hallway to make it pleasant at night ... if you place two lights midway in this hallway, the light won't spill onto the bed and disturb a sleeper. How wide is this hallway? I hope no less than 42" ... personally, I'd steal a foot from the ample bath and closet and add a set of built-in bookshelves into this hallway. I'd love to see it maybe 48" high with space above for artwork or display items. A 42" hallway with a half-high bookshelf on the left wall would feel luxuriously wide. This would give you a ton of storage and would create a more pleasant walk than an empty hallway. Imagine 10' of this: - I would definitely flip-flop the closet and the bathroom. Why? Because "as shown", you have the toilet sharing a wall with the bedroom, which can be noisy. In contrast, the closet is a quiet space. It also means when you want to use your own bathroom during the day, you're a step closer. - After making this flip-flop, keep the water items on the wall shared with the closet. This will mean more quiet for the secondary bedroom on the other side ... and if (when) you someday need service of some sort to the bathroom, a worker would be able to break through your closet wall, which means preserving your expensive tile. You could even ask for access doors to be left in the closet, which would allow you to reach the water works simply by moving the clothing out. - I'd definitely want a window in the bathroom, even if it's a small one up high over the tub. - Is that an open shower next to the tub? Eh, okay but not great. Personally, given that you have a very large closet right next door, I think I'd keep the tub at the end of the bathroom and create a shower that kinda "dips into" /steals space from the closet. I'd be willing to steal a bit from the large bedroom to make this happen. - In designing the bathroom, don't forget to plan where your towels will hang. - I don't know where you stand on closets-opening-from-bathrooms, but I think I might be tempted to close off the closet-door-from-the-hallway and open the closet from the middle of the bathroom ... meaning you'd enter the middle of the closet instead of the end. Maybe. - I note that you don't have a linen closet IN the bathroom, and that's something I really like. If you open the clothing closet into the bathroom, you'd be able to use that space for bathroom storage too. - I like the door in the master bedroom (fire safety), but I'd like to see a few more windows. The best rooms have windows on two sides to allow natural light from two different directions. - This is a fairly large bedroom, and you're showing only a bed in it. What do you plan to do with the rest of this space? My old bedroom was roughly this size (13' wide) and a king bed with two nice-sized night stands fit nicely on the short wall, but I was always a little irritated by the wasted space at the foot of the bed. - Where is your laundry? Ideally it'd be near the master bedroom as a step-saver. Your closet is large ... could you have a small stack-up unit in the closet?