If you have cleaning help, do the frameless glass. If not, use a curtain. There are so many cute curtains available--your bathroom can still look updated with a curtain.

Our vacation home has curtains in the guest baths and glass in the master. It is so annoying to spend 15 minutes making the glass look clean when we've only been there for a long weekend. Sometimes we shower in the guest bath so I don't have to do it!

(yes, I'm lazy. Yes, it really takes that long--very hard water.)

If you get Showerguard glass, you will have much less worries about cleaning it.

I agree there are ways to do shower doors (I had the rainguard-treated glass in my last house and cleaning the door was a breeze), but I also think shower curtains are not out of style. We have a curtain in our current very modern-vibe bathroom and I think it looks great. My husband still wants a door so we may end up putting one in but in the meantime, it looks good!

I had lots of trouble making this decision. It was between frameless, bypass, and curtains for my shower/tub combo. I previously had shower curtains and finally got to the point where I ended up buying $3 liners and throwing them away when they got moldy. Bypass would have been good if I had little kids to bathe, but I don't (even grandkids are old enough now to take showers).

I had been using my DH's shower during my remodel which has nice frameless shower doors and really, really liked it. So, I decided to go with the frameless doors so I would be able to continue taking fabulous showers. I realize that there is going to be some squeegeeing involved but I am getting the glass guard stuff so hopefully it won't be too bad (especially since I have a window above my tub and any amount of light is bound to reveal every little smudge!).

We used "bubble" textured glass in our frameless shower doors. The bubble pattern hides any daily water spots, and the frameless doors are wonderful to use and clean. Not once have I felt the need to squeegee between regular cleanings, and I am usually pretty uptight about those kinds of things.
Also, if you go frameless, get the door that swings both ways - definitely convenient!

For the same reasons as Jrueter we used bamboo patterned glass. Nothing shows on it. I know the big thing is to have clear glass, especially after spending all the bucks on nice tile and plumbing fixtures, but you get to look at all that beautiful tile and those fixtures when you are IN the shower enjoying it. Oh, and definitely get a door that is self centering and swings both ways. When you open it into the shower as you reach out and grab a towel or to exit, the door drips on the shower floor, not the bathroom floor.

OTOH, some of the new shower curtains are simply beautiful, and they do a lot to enhance the decor. Costs a LOT less then new frameless doors and as Shanghaimom said your bathrooms will still look very updated with them. Bed Bath and Beyond has a great selection.

-Babka

Thanks so much for the input. I need to go today to look at the frameless shower doors that swings both ways and that are rain guard treated! I know they are going to be expensive! The expense may make my decision.

No one that responded are opposed to shower curtains so that is an option-just don't know. So hard to make all these decisions. Still deciding on my vanity too.

Do research the various glass guard products. Some are applied during manufacturing and last forever, some are applied after manufacturing and wear off. The after-market products (like Rain-X) have to be re-applied frequently. Some products will limit what you can use to clean the glass or require you to buy their cleaning products to use on the glass. You definitely will get what you pay for.

Yes, when I said we had we had rainguard-treated glass, I meant the kind that's done during the manufacturing process -- it was incredible.

As for where to buy shower curtains, in addition to BB&B, both Crate & Barrel and West Elm have nice selections.