The 4th Bathroom

There is a fourth bathroom in our house that has been banned ever since we bought the house. It's a half bath that is located in a not very smart place. It's upstairs, right off the family room and kitchen. Since it's in such a public place, the user would not be permitted much privacy as I'm sure sound would travel exceptionally well through the thin wall and into a heavily used part of the house. The bathroom's location is one reason it was banned, the second reason is because the toilet, like everything else in this house, had "issues". It didn't flush. Rather than deal with the toilet issue, we simply locked the bathroom door. I've always wanted a mud room- a place where the boys can put their shoes, backpacks, coats, etc., but I have yet to buy a house with one. When the boys come home from school, they dump their stuff in the family room and we walk around it all evening. Earlier this month I got an idea- why not convert the unused/broken half-bathroom to a mud room? We could cap the toilet pipe, install a bench there (with storage underneath), and put hooks on the wall for backpacks, coats, etc. The sink could stay or go depending on the final plan. I presented my plan to Dan who quickly rejected it and promised to work on the toilet during his holiday time off from work. Last week Dan replaced some toilet parts, did some practice flushing, and declared it "fixed", Well, we soon discovered that it wasn't fixed- it could move water, but that was about it. So Dan went and bought some "clog" dissolver. Two treatments later, no progress was being made. Today, Dan decided to snake the toilet. The snake wouldn't go down very far, so Dan decided to pull the toilet and snake it in reverse. The snake still couldn't do its job. At that point, knowing that something was jammed inside the toilet, Dan decided to take extreme measures. Dan took the toilet outside and tried to salvage the tank (but it broke); then he took the bowl to the top of the retaining wall, threw it onto the rocks, then went to Home Depot. Jonathan took it upon himself to destroy the tank.Dan bought a new toilet at home depot. The base of the NEW toilet has been providing entertainment for Miles and Nolan. See the open door in the background where Dan is standing? That is the banned bathroom! With a couple of hours, it should be functional, but still banned, except in the event of an emergency.