I'm not sure if this is similar to your set-up, but I've been in homes that had a 3/4 bath located away from the bedrooms, but near a back or side entrance to the house, and they always seemed so convenient for someone coming in and showering/cleaning up after they'd been working in the yard.

Aunt Jen has a great point, Kelly. My point was going to be if you'd ever use this room as a guest room it would be great to have the shower. But Jen's point makes even that moot. I'd go for the shower, hands down.

If you have the space I would do the shower. Jen gave a good point, another if you have pets or dogs, you can do them there and even though it is further from the bedrooms, you have the opportunity to use it if you ever need to if in a hurry and the other shower is busy.

If you have a pool, or kids with a kiddie pool (what my mom used to call "a glorified foot bath"), that bathroom shower would be nice to have!!!

My in-laws put on a family room addition, years and years ago. They took out the sliding glass door of the dining room, and added the family room on the back. While adding it, they put a small 3/4 bathroom back there, too - toilet, sink, and tub. They only had the one bathroom, which had a full tub/shower combo. It seemed like it might be in a silly location, but it ends up being a guest bathroom a lot. My MIL said that the cost to add it, for them, was negligible since it shares a wall with the other bathroom!

DonnaR/CA

Your house sounds a lot like the ranch house I grew up in. We had a 3/4 bath at the end of the house near the family room. It was nice to have the extra shower- I remember it got used a lot even though the bedrooms were on the opposite end of the house.

it's so much easier to add the shower now while your building the addition, adding it later is not nearly as easy,such as a unit not even fitting through a doorway...
so if you think it would benefit your life by having the second shower I say go for it. Plus, I can't tell you how many people I know that had wished they did something when they had the money or were in the midst of remodeling but didn't and lived to regret it.

If you have the shower you can also use the family room as a guest bedroom if you needed to.

We did the worlds most elaborate garage conversion in our last house - two bedrooms with closets, a tv room and loft and we even gave the cat a room of it's own!

I would put the shower in, although I totally understand your desire for a pretty powder room ...and until I saw the following, would have left the shower out .... a friend of mine who has a very lovely, large older home has a powder room with a shower in it that is rarely used, as all their bedrooms are upstairs. A decorator recently put the most fabulous "shower curtain" on it that is mounted all the way to the ceiling and is very full so that it is the illusion of drapery panels hanging. No one would ever know that there is a shower there - Perhaps something like that would allow you to have your pretty powder room & also the extra shower available if you need it.

We were debating the same with our remodel we cmpleted last year. I'm so glad we opted for the shower. This has become my teenaged DS's bathroom and he just brings his clothes along with him. That leaves the hall bath for the girls. Now that they are teenagers and want to take morning showers, spend more time in the bathroom, it works great--except for our water bill. Another plus that it works well for sleepovers (which may happen in the family room) as well as over night guests (who may also sleep in the family room). I figured my first priority was what worked for our family on a daily basis. It also boosts your resale value more if you have that extra shower.

If you have the funds I would do it and wouldn't think it is strange. How knows when you go to sell someone may need that for a bedroom.