<p>Their ranch-style house has 3 Bedrooms, 2 full baths and a powder room/half bath. They have a nicely finished basement with fireplace, etc. where the kids used to hang out and there is a half bath there as well. </p>
<p>For their purposes, nobody regularly uses the bathroom in question. They are empty-nesters; kids come home for holidays, etc and would use that bathroom. For their purposes, it’s not a big deal but she doesn’t want to shoot herself in the foot when it’s time to sell.</p>
<p>Go for the bigger kitchen then! Two baths on the same floor, with a third for “emergencies” in the basement sounds fine to me. We just “downsized” to a Florida single story house- went from 3 full baths to 3 1/2 counting the outside entrance pool bath and outdoor shower, 4 toilets to get dirty instead of 3, sigh (outdoor one off limits now that workmen not here- we go inside). I presume the kitchen will be more functional and a delight- better resale (the next owners won’t think about needing an unknown toilet when they view the kitchen). Especially with the 3 bedrooms an extra toilet on the same floor seems overkill. The next owner will appreciate not having the extra cleaning (the rule seems to be that if it is there it will be used, and toilets get just as dirty with few or many uses). Somehow a listing of “3 bedroom, 3 bath” sounds luxurious, regardless of where that extra bath is. One often sees 3BR/2bath. More bathrooms than bedrooms seems odd somehow.</p>
<p>Iagree more bathrooms than bedrooms seems odd. I have a friend who has an 8,000 sqft house & 8 bathrooms. Never taken the entire tour but at most I thnk there are five bedrooms.
I would rather have a garden.</p>
<p>Goodness – 8 bathrooms! I find it hard enough to keep track of how much toilet paper is in my 3 bathrooms. (I have a phobia about being without.)</p>
<p>I always shake my head at people who avoid doing what they want because of some vague fear of losing resale value “when it’s time to sell.” It sounds as though this couple has a great plan to make the house exactly the way they want it, and a bigger kitchen will be nice for when the kids (and future grandkids) come home. Anyone who wants to buy the house when they eventually sell will see how the house works for this family, and they won’t even know that there was ever a powder room in the site of the expanded kitchen. They should go for it.</p>
<p>We took out a double-sized front closet in a house in cold-climate Canada, due to a very squeezed entry foyer. It opened up a lot of floorspace and the resulting openness there was terrific for the first impression when selling the house.</p>
<p>We bought a brass circular coat-rack which held all of our necessary winter coats. If guests were visiting, we moved our coats deeper into the house beforehand for a few hours. In Spring, the coat-rack was only lightly used for jackets. Children used the lower pegs, which they could reach well, unlike a normal front closet.</p>
<p>A lot of what sits in a front hallway closet can be moved into other closets.</p>
<p>After doing inside and outside painting/new carpet/new bathroom cabinets w/ granite and tile floors,new hvac,new vinyl windows,and granite in kitchen and some new light fixtures, we sold our circa 1988 four br/2.5 bath house last year in 24 days. </p>
<p>We did a lot but couldn’t afford to do everything. We got granite countertops and tile backsplash in the kitchen but kept our vinyl floor and 25 year old oak cabinets. Got tile and granite in the bathrooms but kept original toilets/tubs. We left the popcorn on the upstairs ceilings.</p>
<p>Just like on HGTV, our reno. guys said kitchens and bathrooms make the most impact. </p>
<p>Since we sold our house, we’re renting for a couple of years before DH retires and we move on. The owners of the small rental we live in didn’t like that the house had no pantry. So they sacrificed the coat closet and turned it into a pantry. I like the pantry but really miss a coat closet. The mb is upstairs so I’m constantly going up and down to get/put away a jacket or else it gets thrown on the stairs until someone is headed up to take it to the br. DH has turned our dining table into his own coat depository. The chairs we don’t regualrly sit in are his personal coat racks…drives me nuts.</p>
<p>Since there is already a full bath downstairs, I would sacrfice the half bath and keep the coat closet.</p>
<p>
I agree with this. Keep the coat closet since the house already has 2 bathrooms in the same floor plus a half-bath in the basement. You don’t want coats, scarves, gloves, boots and shoes cluttering up the foyer.</p>
<p>We have two coat closets…one in the mudroom and one in the front all. Coats are still put on chairs!</p>
<p>Any improvements we are doing at this point are for OUR enjoyment. If the next owners don’t like them, they can change them. So…if your friend wants a larger kitchen (which would be a selling point)…I say…ditch the powder room and go for it!</p>