Glass shower with high side "pony" wall

last year

last modified: last year

Hi there,

We are renovationg a primary bathroom shower, which sits in a corner of the room. The longer front wall of the shower stall will be all frameless glass with a door. There is a shorter wall 90 degrees to the front of the shower, which used to have a piece of framed glass above it (the old shower enclosure used framed glass). The dilemma is this: Do we keep a small section of glass above the tall wainscoting on the short wall, or just build the wall all the way up to the ceiling? I like the clean lines of the wall just going straight up to the ceiling, but I also like the idea of the additional light from the side piece of glass. I've included a photo of the partially demolished space. (Also, we are aware of the water damage, etc., which is partially why we are doing this renovation!) Any thoughts? Thanks!

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artemis78

last year

last modified: last year

We did half glass and I love it. Our original plan actually called for a full wall there but for complicated reasons we had to flip the toilet and the shower, and ended up with the shower on the far side of the window. I wanted natural light in the shower, so we did an eleventh hour switch to half glass. (Our original plan had the shower more or less where yours is, though, and when I planned that I thought the window would give it enough light, which it probably would have.) These aren't great photos since I can never get a good angle on this corner of the room, but will give you a general sense of it:

I love that during the day, we don't turn on the lights in here at all. Three years in, I've found the tile and glass about equal as far as cleaning. The glass is not as much of a pain as I anticipated it would be, but this is also in a master bath and the people using it consistently squeegee the glass. I did worry about the visual of having the toilet immediately next to it—that was part of why we had originally planned a solid wall there—but you actually can't see it from inside the shower, so it worked out.

I can't tell from your photo whether that wall is staying as is (in which case I think glass would be tough for such a tiny area and would just take the wall to the ceiling) or if it's coming down so that the shower would be open to the rest of the room with an new pony wall. If the latter, glass could work, but you may find that the window gives the space enough natural light.

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Comments (14)

Lyn Nielson
last year
I don't see any photos but, I would opt for the more light in the shower option.
Julie Larsen
Original Author
last year
Can't seem to make the photos show up. Let me try again.
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Julie Larsen
Original Author
last year
Here’s the photo!
Clyde Kalvin
last year
I would continue the wall all the way up. I think it will look better and less glass to clean.
Julie Larsen thanked Clyde Kalvin
porkchop_z5b_MI
last year
Continue the wall up to the ceiling. You already have lots of light from the big window next the shower, and a relatively small rectangle of glass on the side of the shower isn't going to let in any meaningful amount of light. Plus, it will just look better with a full wall and be less glass to clean.
Julie Larsen thanked porkchop_z5b_MI
PRO
User
last year
I’d also opt for the full wall versus one section of glass. But…I don’t see a ceiling light fixture in your photo, will there be one right in front of the shower or is it around the corner above the toilet?
Julie Larsen thanked User
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
Glass. A solid wall will make that shower feel closed in for sure.
Julie Larsen thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
Ivegotsketches
last year
I would want as much light/openness in the shower as possible, but totally up to you and your budget. On the show No Demo Reno they do a lot of showers like these. You could check out Jennifer Todryk’s instagram for inspo.
Julie Larsen thanked Ivegotsketches
Julie Larsen
Original Author
last year
@AiFL: there is a ceiling light outside the shower.
ci_lantro
last year
Need a light inside the shower, too.

I would close up that bit of wall. It's a large shower; that bit more glass isn't going to make much, if any difference in how the shower feels.
Julie Larsen thanked ci_lantro
PRO
lisedv
last year
I would continue the wall all the way up.
Julie Larsen thanked lisedv
ci_lantro
last year
Nice rendering. Yields a much cleaner look. And less complicated, straightforward install for both waterproofing & tile layout inside the shower.
Julie Larsen thanked ci_lantro
Julie Larsen
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Thanks so much for all the comments and renderings, pics. Still mulling the decision, but leaning toward a full wall. I'm going to block up the space with cardboard and see how it feels. We weren't planning to bring that wall down to a shorter height, as I think it might look odd stepping down the beadboard. Thanks so much again!