New This Week: 5 Bathrooms With a Curbless or Low-Curb Shower

1. Curbless With Hexagonal Tile

Designer: Jane Henderson
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Size: 40 square feet (3.7 square meters); 5 by 8 feet

Homeowners’ request. Incorporate space from a large hall closet to create a full bathroom for a college-age son. The clients found designer Jane Henderson by searching for a pro on Houzz.

Shower entrance. No curb. Black hexagonal floor tile runs continuously through the space.

Other special features. Gray and white wall tile in the shower creates a striped effect. Charcoal-colored grout adds contrast. Matte black plumbing fixtures complement the floor tile.

Designer tip. “We specified a sleek glass panel door that swings in as a space saver,” Henderson says. “To make the space look larger, we specified a wall-mount vanity. Creating an open space below the bathroom cabinets allows for light to move throughout the bathroom. We associate that light with more room in the space we are in.”

Wall paint: Simply White, Benjamin Moore

2. Low Curb With Marble

Designers: Elizabeth Tanny of E Tanny design; Balzer & Tuck Architecture
Builder: Teakwood Builders
Location: Saratoga Springs, New York
Size: 60 square feet (5.6 square meters); 6 by 10 feet

Homeowners’ request. A bright, functional, timeless design for a first-floor bathroom in a new-construction home.

Shower entrance. Low curb, covered and topped with polished Calacatta marble tile, which matches the shower walls.

Other special features. Dark stained wood vanity. Polished-nickel fixtures. Gray walls (Mindful Gray by Sherwin-Williams). Honed white marble mosaic shower floor tile. Quartz countertop that mimics the look of Calacatta Vagli marble.

Designer tip. “The use of varying shapes and the irregular veining in the Calacatta marble wall tile creates interest while still remaining a timeless feature in the bathroom,” designer Elizabeth Tanny says.

“Uh-oh” moment. “Initially our clients, having seen only a few samples of the marble wall tile, were surprised and a bit apprehensive of the amount of variation in the veining,” Tanny says. “I asked them to trust in the design and wait until it was completed. Once [it was] finished, they described it as a work of art, and it’s now one of their favorite bathrooms in the house.”

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3. Low Curb With Porcelain and Quartz

Designer: Taylor Minotti of Minotti Design
Location: Delray Beach, Florida
Size: 60 square feet (5.6 square meters);

Homeowners’ request. A durable, open-feeling bathroom with clean lines.

Shower entrance. Low curb clad in polished porcelain tile that mimics Calacatta marble; the same tile has been used for the main floor and shower floor. The curb also features a quartz top that matches the countertop. “We wanted as minimal of an entry as the budget would allow,” designer Taylor Minotti says. “We opted for matching the flooring material to the shower curb so it would blend in and the eye would move right past it.”

Other special features. White marble and mother-of-pearl accent tile installed in a chevron pattern from floor to ceiling in the shower. “This utilizes the ceiling height to make the space feel larger by bringing your eye all the way up,” Minotti says.

Designer tip. For the shower tile, Minotti opted for white grout. “This helped to conceal the grout lines. All of those grout lines make your eye bounce around rather than just flowing through the room,” she says. “My tip if you are trying to make a space feel bigger is to use larger-scaled material or create the effect of larger scale with monochromatic finishes, like we did with the chevron tile and grout, to draw your eye up.”

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4. Curbless With Natural River Rocks

Designer: Alexandra Sheets Saikley of Saikley Architects
Location: Mountain View, California
Size: 89 square feet (8.3 square meters); 8 feet, 5 inches by 10 feet, 7 inches

Homeowners’ request. A main-bathroom sanctuary with a Japanese soaking tub.

Shower entrance. No curb. The floor tile, composed of natural river rocks, continues seamlessly from the main bathroom area into the large shower.

Other special features. Japanese soaking tub. Porcelain 12-by-24-inch wall tiles that mimic travertine.

Designer tip. “Keeping a small space simple makes it feel more spacious,” designer Alexandra Sheets Saikley says. “Vaulting the ceiling opens up the space. We used prefabricated scissor trusses, which didn’t add cost to vault the ceiling.”

“Uh-oh” moment. “The height clearances were very tight for getting drainage from the shower and adjacent deck to work over the living space below, while making sure the whole thing was very well waterproofed,” Saikley says. “There was some coordination between these issues and structural issues that had to be worked out during construction.”