We turned a powder room into a 3/4 bath by adding a shower. It was a strategic decision in case we ever have to sell and the office becomes someone's bedroom. It is designed to answer a potential buyer's query as to where the office/bedroom occupant is supposed to shower without going all the way downstairs or using the the master bath.

We only had a 1/2 bath to work with, and even though we stole a square foot here and square foot there, we did not have enough space for a standard shower. Consequently, the shower is smaller than the 3x4 space you have to work with. Still, we elected to have a custom shower door fabricated, rather than resort to a curtain.

It is likely that the shower will almost never be used as long as we are in this house, but we couldn't bring ourselves to put up a curtain. We bit the bullet and put in the door. We've lived with shower curtains before, and do right now, but we don't want any part of them in our new house.

We finished our house this time last year. The shower doors were the last thing to do before we moved in. I had time to order the custom shower frameless door in our master bath but I could not find one that I liked for the bath shower combo for the guest room so I decided to put up a rod and curtain and deal with it once the dust had settled. I found some modern hooks and a white waffle type cloth shower curtain. The tile that surrounds the tub is white subway tile with a slate coloured glass tile mid border. Now that a year has passed I have to say that I am not sure I will add the glass door. Perhaps when I find one I like I might change it. I do not find it tacky and have not had any negative comments at all despite the fact that I have the type of friends that would not hesitate to do so if they thought it was gross. You can always put up a curtain and change it later if you change your mind. As for the hard water issue. I totally agree. The master bath shower door is a pain in the butt to keep clean from water spots.

We are doing the same thing as creek side in order to make the 1st floor office an in-law suite with a shower if it is needed.

The space is small but our builder recommended that we go with a custom shower door rather than a curtain for re-sale value. Besides this bathroom will serve as the main floor powder room (2 doors) so I want it to look a little more elegant.

Not sure of what your specific plans are for the basement but I think of basement space as more casual so maybe a curtain could work.

One other thing, I might worry about water on the floor with teenagers using the showers.

Is it tacky to do curtains?

"Tacky" is in the eye of the beholder, I'm sure.

Personally, I dislike glass shower doors. They get streaky, since I'm not anal retentive enough to squeegee them after each use.

In this house, we originally wanted a shower large enough to be a walk-in without needing doors. The floor plan that congealed out of all the things we wanted, just didn't accommodate a shower that large. So, we happily opted for a curtain.

Outer curtains come in a huge variety of colors & patterns. If you get bored with one, it's a small outlay for a new one. Inner liner curtains aren't visible to the outside, if they're getting soapy/streaky, and can be tossed into the washing machine whenever the view from the inside begins to offend the occupants. :-)

I've seen many gorgeous glass showers doors, I just prefer a lower-maintenance option. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one in the world who feels that way.

--Steve

I can see both sides of the decision... thanks for your opinions. I do like to change the "look" which would be easy to do with a curtain. And I can always add a door later should I really not like the look of a curtain.

Keep them coming!

We debated the same w/ our LL 3/4 bath. Decided that we'd put in the curtain, then add a door later if we wanted. I don't know if we'll ever add that door. I like the softness that the curtain adds vs. a door. I don't think it looks at all tacky.

I don't like using shower curtains simply because the logistics of using them drives me crazy, but I've seen plenty of them that look absolutely lovely, not tacky at all. (Although really, to my way of thinking, a certain amount of "tacky" is almost to be expected in a kid's bathroom, so I wouldn't see anything wrong even if you went for something truly shiny and garish. Kids usually like garish.) Choose an outer fabric with the same eye that you would use to choose a window treatment, and it will look great. And if you don't like the way it looks, you can always change the fabric out later on, or even add a door, should you one day decide that you want one.

We had a custom cloth curtain made and then use a $5 plastic plastic curtain on the inside , which gets thrown out after a few years. The curtain is attractive yet we get good functionality and life.

plus you can wash that plastic curtain whenever you want too, if its a heavy duty one. Ours gets washed every 3 or so months.

I must be in the minority on this forum, but we went from glass shower doors in our old house to shower curtains in the new build. Like others, I had had enough of cleaning the glass doors. The softness of the fabric curtain adds a nice touch to an otherwise hard-surfaced room, and for less than $30 at Target, I can change the look. Tacky? Well, not in my opinion. I choose my decor according to my tastes and standards, not someone else's, but then, I don't have to concern myself with resale value; I plan to live in my house until they wheel me out to the nursing home!

coffeehaus -- I'm with you -- I love the idea of changing out the curtain to something different when I want different decor in that bathroom in a few years. So easy and cheap! Not to mention that there are so many cool curtains to choose from...

Make that 3, coffeehaus and shelly k :) Shower curtains are a great decorating feature and I agree with coffeehaus, that it adds "softness to a hard-surfaced room".

My wife and I are also planning to do shower curtains in both bathrooms in the new house. We love the design aspect of adding a bold print to an otherwise simple bath or doing a more classic white waffle cloth with broad swath of chocolate brown or light blue for a more classic look. Doors are nice for modern clean bathrooms, but we're much more cottage-y than that and if that's "tacky" to some, okay.

I am putting in a walk in shower..decided to go with shower curtain...willi I have problems with water does anyone think? was never sure whether to go with glass doors( not a big fan)..i was told i could always decide to put in a glass door later. Your thoughts. Thanks!

After installing beautiful glass doors and not realizing just how hard our water was we struggled to keep the clean clear look of the new doors. We finally removed them and hung a bright white shower curtain, one easily cleaned, made to smell great and brightened the room. I replace the liner from time to time and don't worry how it looks anymore.

I have glass doors in both my bathrooms now, and I have no great love of them.

My master shower is going to be re-done within the next month, and I'm on the bubble about whether to go with glass doors or a curtain ... I would prefer the curtain, but I think glass doors would be better for re-sale. And we are planning to sell within a couple years.

In my new house, though -- no question -- shower curtain. I like the color, pattern, and softness brought in by the curtain. I prefer running a curtain through the washing machine to scrubbing glass doors /using RainX every couple months.

Personally, I love shower curtains--and agree with all those with similar frustration about keeping glass doors clean. I recently tried the Double Shower Hook and really love it. I hang a fabric liner on the inner hooks, and dressier curtain on the outer hook. The weight of both easily keeps the hook on the rod. The inner liner is soooo easy to detach and throw in the wash as often as needed. The outer curtain can be classic, transitional, tone-on-tone, funky, eclectic, fun--whatever you want. If teenagers will be your primary users--I would definitely choose a curtain (they will never squeegee glass will they?) Let them choose something fun and funky for now, and you can tone it down with a new curtain later, when they move out.

Not sure if this would work as well in a shower set up, but we recently bought a shower liner for the tub in our rental that has a little magnet in the fabric in the lower corners, which allows it to stick to the tub and stay in position until moved. Works great!

Mrs Pete, I will be using a shower curtain knowing that we or future buyers could eventually easily add glass doors if we/they wanted to.

Thanks so far for the comments...i am worried that with a walk in shower and shower curtain, i will get water on the floor.

It would certainly be an easy thing to test out? Try a shower curtain first, if it doesn't work for you--order a door :)

In australia Shower curtains and shower/ bath combos are a thing of the past. The family bathroom generally has a seperate tub and walk in shower.

" In australia Shower curtains and shower/ bath combos are a thing of the past. "

Welp, seeing this is a US Based site and the OP was 5 years ago......................

@millworkman - even better, the OP was 14 years ago and the thread was resurrected 5 years ago!

Probably threw away two shower curtains in the past five years, and a squeegee 15 years ago.