I think we can eliminate the full wall and the pony wall. I find they both make the shower feel too closed off and the room smaller. The shower in the picture is also wider than mine will be so there would be less diagonally visible than in these pictures. I find the full glass wall and the tall narrow wall to be the least visibly intrusive.

Another option would be to make a smaller pony wall exactly the size of the side of the vanity to put the niche in and have glass above and beside it. It would have basically the same appearance as having the full glass wall with the benefit of the hidden niche. Of course, that option limits the niche to being low where it is harder to reach bottles and where water can get inside.

Suzanne, I came across this photo and it made me think of your comment about your preference would be to have the accent wall visible upon entering the room. Maybe the solution is as simple as directing attention away from the niche by having the accent feature stand out more. When I look at this picture I notice the accent line of tile down the wall and partially across floor...I didn't even notice the niche at first. The niche could be downplayed even more by using the same tile as the wall and keeping the accent tile only for the 'feature' line

To me the busy background in the niche helps camouflage the contents of the niche. If the background was a solid color the cans would stand out more. Just my opinion.

Honestly, what I saw first was the towel warmer but I understand your point. I agree with you, you should draw attention away from the niche.

I believe that when you enter the bathroom, you will mostly likely look at the center of the north wall and the corner between the north and west wall. I also believe that you have room to put a quarter rounded bench in that corner. If you make it stand out too, your eye will be directed to that area and with something on the floor like you suggested, your eyes will really ignore the niche. I would probably put the niche close to the vanity.

I think Kaye is right about having a niche with some pattern on the tiles to camouflage the bottles but the pattern has to be busy.

Great suggestions Kaye and Suzanne! I like the idea of going back to the full 36" glass, bump out the whole north shower wall to accommodate both plumbing and niche, add a quarter rounded bench in the north-west corner.

In some ways it feels like we've gone full circle here. BUT somehow it feels better to know that all of the options have been considered. :)

Thank you so much for your help!

I will re-do your layout late tonight or tomorrow morning. I will add the bench so you will know exactly how much space you have in the middle of the shower.

You're the best Suzanne!!

I started it. I have to go now but I will finish it tonight.

Here's the floor plan with the bench in the corner. You may play a little bit with an inch here and there but it should work as it is right now. Even thought a bench occupies floor space, it is not as if it is a full enclosure like in your current shower ... standing 15 in. from your your bench should be ok.

Just a thought…….. the bench will get wet every time you shower and will need to be dried. If it were me I would consider putting a semi circle bench under the towel hooks. Your hand sprayer should reach that far with no problem and you could use it as a table when you use the tub. Then it would not get wet unless you are using it.

And you might consider putting the niche above the towel hooks. You could even use a double towel rack instead of hooks.

Thank you so much Suzanne! It really helps to see it all on the layout diagram to see how it will work. It looks great! I appreciate the time you've spent drawing and re-drawing the layout. You rock!

kroze, that is a good point about the bench getting wet in the corner. At one point we did have a semi-circle bench under the hooks. I believe we took it out because of window access concerns. It does seem that no matter what layout we come up with there are drawbacks to consider :)

I think what I'll do at this point is contact the contractor again and get his 'feel' for this layout. I'm open to listening to his ideas for any modifications that may make the construction easier or more cost effective, but I also have a well thought out plan thanks to the help I've received here and have a clearer vision of what we want and need. Now I am going in knowing what the pros and cons are and the parts of the layout that are 'must haves' and which could be modified.

Thank you so much!!!

The bench in the corner was added to draw attention on the middle part of the north wall and going to its left corner so the niche on the right side of the north wall will go unnoticed.

Personally, what I like the most is the bump-out on the north wall with a pony wall that is the same size as the vanity. The niche could have only one shelf at 18 in. from the floor. It is a good height to rest your foot while shaving your legs. I would have only one shelf for the niche and make it as wide as possible. You need to test if 18" is too low for the niche but I think it would work. It is 2" higher than a standard tub. I have no problem to grab a shampoo bottle when it rests on the edges of the tub.

Maybe you could just continue the granite of your counter top in the shower and have your niche below.

I like the idea of the temporary bench kept under the hooks and be used for a table while taking a bath.

Of all the ideas suggested, this would be my pick:

coming late to the game, but I do have two suggestions.

1. - we have a long linear drain in our open shower, all the floor in the bathroom is the same. It is a 16 x 4 dark gray marble (from Arizona Tile), grouted dark, dark gray. Floor looks fabulous, grout looking dirty is not an issue, and the drain works perfectly! Also looks slick.

2. Instead of a built in bench, which we went round and round about, we bought a teak bench from Ballard. It's perfect! We can move it around if we want. It also brings another texture to the room.

3. I have attached a photo -- kind of grainy, sorry. Also ignore basket -- we removed that. This is just to show you the linear drain and optional bench idea.

Beautiful floor tile, Lori. It all looks lovely.

I agree with Suzanne's opinion on the shower layout. That is the one I would pick also.

Suzanne, thanks for posting your preference of layout. That is very helpful to me. We abandoned the pony wall idea because of potential issues but I think you are right, if we keep the niche high on that wall water and reaching should not be real issues. And the moveable teak bench is an idea I've always liked :)

Lori, I'm so glad you posted your experience. Beautiful shower you have there!You have just confirmed a lot of thoughts I've had and we've been discussing here. Teak moveable bench, darker floors with dark grout, linear drain and the vertical line of accent tile. Love, love the marble herringbone you chose! Kroze also used Arizona tile in her shower...unfortunately its not available in my area :( Wish I could get my hands on some

Thanks kroze! Hearing that both you and Suzanne prefer this layout makes a huge difference. I think we have consensus. This is the layout I'll send to the contractor :) Thanks again!!

I think in the last layout I drew above, I would extend the vanity 6 in. and have a 2 sink vanity. I think 5'6" is acceptable for 2 sinks but not 5'0".

marble herringbone is just from Lowes' (I think or Home Depot -- can't remember for sure). It was really reasonable. We also used it on the counters for a backsplash, about 10 inches high, and in the niches. We framed the niches out in a plain white marble. Sorry - only meant to attach the backsplash tile.

Gorgeous backsplash Lori!

Suzanne, that is a very good option for making a double vanity as the shower would still be 43" wide

If you find your drawers are too small with a 2 sink vanity, you could add drawers in your 24" built-in. ItI might make it look even more deeper.

Would you like me to draw the layout with a 2 sink vanity if you want to send it to your contractor?

EDIT: The 49" wide shower is really 45", I forgot to take into consideration the 4" counter top inside the shower. Making your vanity 5'6" would reduce the shower width to 39". IMO, it still is a good size considering the counter is not like a full height wall and you have a part of the shower that is 45" wide. Kroze's shower is 42" wide and I believe she told me her shower is quite large.

EDIT2: If you want me to draw the layout with a 2 sink vanity, would you like me to add a a linear drain? If yes, do you want it on the north wall or west wall?

Thanks Suzanne! I sort of have in my head that the shower and vanity sizes could move dependant on finding the 'right' vanity. It looks like there is about 6" to 'play' with and the shower would just adjust in size based on the vanity I find, whether it be a 60" single or a 66" double or something in between. With that said I don't think you need to draw the layout again. I think the one you have already done is great and will help explain to the contractor what the needs are. I do want to keep the shower as large as possible so maybe a 63" vanity is the way to go. Thanks again, your help has been invaluable!

jeckup, I just went to www.build.com and they have some lovely 60" vanities with double sinks. I hope you browse through their selections. It will give you inspiration. Remember….. they will give you a significant discount based upon the amount of things you order.

I'll have a look kroze. Thank you!

When building your niche, make sure you have enough height inside it so you can grab a shampoo bottle and not hit the top part of the niche when lifting it.

I added that to my notes Suzanne. Thanks! Great tip

Actually, I think if you put your niche at 18" from the floor which is a good height for shaving legs and you have a 34" high vanity, your niche could be up 16-17" high. I think it is plenty enough to grab a tall shampoo bottle. This means I would not worry too much about the height of the niche.

@jeckup; Happy to see that more decisions have been made as it appears you are well on your way of getting the bathroom of your dreams .... ☺. That said; I don't think you will regret the use of a linear drain however will suggest that you test the niche height of 18" from the floor (as a foot rest for shaving your legs) to ensure it is feasible for yourself as it always could be lower if need be. Wishing you the best ......

P.S.: Re the link that Kroze gave you. Though I live in Canada, I ordered a lot of my bathroom accessories online from www.faucetdirect.com who comes under the umbrella of the www.build.com network and was more than pleased with their service and pricing.

@Suzanne_m: For what it is worth, I think you did a fabulous job in assisting jeckup.

mrsben, thank you! I am also in Canada :) I will check out faucetdirect.com. Last year I ordered door knobs for the entire house from build.com. Even with the shipping to Canada and the exchange rates they were still a lot more reasonable than buying them locally, and more selection as well. The first batch I received did not match the description on their website so I emailed to let them know I was disappointed (something I have never done before in my life lol). I figured with the cost to return them I would just have to live with them....but instead they acknowledged that their website description was misleading and they offered to cover all expenses (including the currency exchange rate differences) to exchange them for a different knob. I received the new order and was absolutely thrilled! I will always look at build.com and their affiliated companies for all online shopping as a result of that experience. Sorry, a long winded story maybe but worth mentioning that they stand behind what they sell :)

And I agree....Suzanne has been absolutely fabulous!!

I hope your projects are going well too

I bought doorknobs for my entire house from build.com also. I am very pleased and they were super cheap.

And it is impossible to say enough good things about Suzanne.

@Jeckup: You are more than welcome. Currently with the exception of final touches; three bathrooms are basically completed however the powder room located on the main floor is being put on the back burner for now as beginning to concentrate on renovating the kitchen first. Re ordering online; fortunately I live in close proximity to the U.S.A./Canada Border so have an U.S. (broker) address that I have items shipped to, who hold items for a very small fee (up to a year) which I can pick up and process through Customs myself so can save a bundle re shipping or handling fees which on the most part is an added plus. Also; I feel as pricing is so much cheaper in the States I am saving on 'our' crazy Provincial sales tax which I otherwise would be paying if I was purchasing the same thing here which in some cases is almost double (or sometimes triple) in cost. In a nutshell; hope I am not sounding cheap (or being disloyal to Canada's economy) BUT I agree totally with you; regardless of the exchange rate in the majority of instances you just can't beat American pricing!

P.S.: Am glad to hear that your experience with build.com was also a positive experience. FYI, I went with all polished nickel fixtures in my bathrooms and www.faucetdirect.com did have the best selection and pricing bar none.

I agree with you mrsben...you don't sound cheap, you sound frugal...like me! lol! I'll have to look into the US broker address method. That's a great idea! Glad to hear your multiple bathroom adventure is complete. Good luck with your kitchen!

With the arrival of spring (and now summer!) this project got a little sidetracked by outside projects. On top of that my contractor started a new home build project that has delayed his services. We are booked in with him for September for the bathroom reno so hopefully that timeline sticks. In the meantime, there are some further decisions to make.

The contractor looked at the proposed plan and he was very complimentary on the design...thanks to you all...especially Suzanne and Kaye :) He feels the overall layout will work well in the room BUT he said there were choices to be made about installing the curbless shower. Because this is an existing house he said putting in a curbless shower is not as simple because the underlying joists cannot be compromised to get the slope to the shower drain. The sloping must happen above the existing floor...this makes sense to me BUT it creates an issue with keeping the floor all one level in relation to the bedroom. He said the choices are:

1) approx 1.5" step up into the bath from the bedroom then curbless within the bath

2) a low profile curb enclosing the shower area

I'm not crazy about either option as BOTH sound like toe stubbers to me. If we went with the 2nd option we could put the curb tight against the side of the tub and only have one curb to step over but somehow it seems like it would make the bathroom seem smaller and more chopped up. So back to considering leaving out the tub and just running a shower along the entire wall with glass enclosure and curb. OR back to square one and leave the toilet under the window, convert the corner tub to a shower and make the existing shower a closet. Round and round we go lol. Thoughts??

Well, I got the same message from some of my proposed contractors on my remodel. However, one told me that it would be no problem….. and he was right.

However, I have a slab floor in my bathroom and they put the shower where the tub had been…. which was slightly lower than the main floor. If you have a basement you will have a different situation. Or if you have a different type of foundation it would make a difference.

I am not an expert on this but I think you could use a second opinion from another contractor.

What foundation are you working with?

Thanks for the response Kaye. There is a basement below the bathroom and the contractor mentioned building code in the area prohibits modifying the joists in the bathroom floor.
nnigrt mentioned that they did a combination of partial curb & elevation to get the curbless entry into the shower...I could mention that idea to the contractor maybe

You might be surprised that a step up at the bathroom doorway isn't really a problem -- in fact, you've probably entered many bathrooms like that and never noticed. For one thing, you put in a clear threshold (usually marble) to mark the transition, and usually it ends up getting stepped over. Second, you can always use a sloped transition (i.e., it ramps gradually down over the 4-5 inches of the doorway -- this is called a single bevel) to make that part smoother and trip-proof. So I wouldn't let this notion keep you from a design you've spent so long perfecting.

Great info acm! Thank you so much

@acm...I needed to thank you for your comment one more time as I just noticed this morning that we have a single bevel transition between our kitchen and hallway. I have stepped over it countless times and never noticed it until this morning. Feeling much better about that option now. Thank you so much!

Forgive me jeckup for readdressing your "final" layout. I have not gone back and reread this thread and my memory is woefully inadequate. Having said this, I would ask if you have previously considered putting the shower along the right wall directly across from the bathroom door and then slide the tub to the back left corner. The vanity would then be in the front left corner. It would be "L" shaped with two sinks. This would give you the option of having a doorless shower just like mshutterbug. And with an attractive shower bench and accent tile above it, the bathroom entrance would be beautiful.

If you have a difficult time visualizing this, the shower and tub would be perpendicular to each other. The tub would remain in the same direction.

Suzanne would need to verify adequate spacing. But I think it would work.

kroze, we discussed this exact layout early on in the thread. It was months ago so I'm not surprised that you don't remember lol. We decided the layout Suzanne came up with worked a little better for 'flow' and for budget. It started to sound very expensive, especially if glass was used to keep the open feel.

On my feed this morning there was a picture of a bathroom with similar layout to the 'final' design we came up with here. It makes me feel better about the design again. I think I just really need the contractor to get here and start so I can stop second-guessing it lol

Jeckup, I think you are going to have a beautiful bathroom. Your layout with the extension of the counter top going inside the shower area and hide a niche is perfect.

In your situation, I think a mobile bench is better than a fixed bench. There are many beautiful mobile benches on the market.

I like the floor combination bathroom/shower on your first picture. I am going to share it with mshutterbug.

Yes it is a lovely layout. I was watching HGTV yesterday and the Property Brothers remodeled a bath with your type of tub/shower arrangement. It was very beautiful. I think it is a current trend.

and the Property Brothers said they gently sloped the entire bathroom floor toward the shower drain!!

Thank you for the encouragement Suzanne and Kaye!

Do you recall what Property Brothers episode it was? I'd love to look it up when it will be airing here.

Sorry. I have no idea what episode it was. I am not a regular viewer of that program. It just caught my interest because of the similarity to your layout.

That's ok kroze. I'm still glad you mentioned it. I am a regular viewer of Property Brothers and haven't actually seen that episode so your post got me to hunt for the episode online. They air at different times/seasons in the US and Canada. I thought I found where it would be airing here but I guess I was looking at the US website :\ Oh well, fortunately they keep a great Pinterest page and there are a few pictures of this bathroom there.

The photos address a few thoughts I've had in the back of my mind that give me a better visual of what the final design options are.

1. They used quartz panels on the shower walls instead of tile. This option eliminates the worry of grout. Not sure what the cost difference would be. I've seen it advertised in the newspaper that there is a local supplier, I'll have to go check it out.

2. They did not put the quartz on the far wall behind the bathtub...I've been struggling back and forth if that wall should be tiled so it feels like part of the shower or if that is a waste of money better spent elsewhere when water will realistically never get that far. This bathroom looks great without that wall being tiled :)

3. They put a chandelier over the tub. I thought with the open shower plan that this 'dream' feature would not be possible....looks like its something I may still be able to do. I'll check with my contractor about local building codes.

4. They opted for a narrow full wall beside the vanity next to the shower (instead of a pony or glass only). I assume this is mostly because they have a multiple spray system coming out of the shower walls. It does not look as closed off as I thought it would when we were discussing this earlier in the thread

Really nice to see a layout almost exactly as we've chosen! Now its just about the details

I am looking for ideas and help for our small bathroom remodel and I believe you mentioned heating your shower floor and bench. I would love to know more about this! I mentioned this to a contractor and electrician and they said they had never heard of doing that. Our shower will be 60"x32" - using ceramic tile planks. We are also considering a heater/vent that I also saw posted in this thread. This is such a great resource of valuable information! (Photo is of existing and soon to be the "before" photo!)

You need to consider looking for other contractors. Heating the shower floor and bench is a common practice and easy to do. The heating wires are in matting but can be extracted and hand laid. A wire simply runs up the side of the bench and then is arranged according to directions. The tile or granite seat is laid on top of the wires. It is good to have separate zones for the shower and bathroom floor. You will use the floor heat almost constantly during the winter but the shower heat only an hour or two a day.

I'm in a similar dilemma, and curious what you decided to do????

what we did:

We hated garden tub and put in large soaker tub in with frameless glass shower-much larger-5'x5'. We kept floor plan the same. Added heated floor. Greco Roman style.

Great job!!

beautiful bath