We just built a new, deluxe shower for a referral Client in Simsbury. They have a 15 year old home with a shower that was substandard for the quality of the rest of the home and even the master bath itself. However, the Client didn't really want to invest in an entirely new bathroom and truly it wasn't necessary. The trick was to select materials and a design that made the new shower work seamlessly with the existing bath materials. I think we hit a home run on this one!
The shower was enlarged by about 50% and the shape was changed from a rectangle to a large square with one side cut off at an angle. The wall tile is a close match to the existing marble that was used at the whirlpool platform steps and cut into the floor tile as 2x2 decorative accents. We added a beautiful decorative border - two rows - that mixed all the colors of the bath and created a "running bond" (also known as brickset) pattern with the 10 x 14 tiles - this was actually the Client's idea. The shower floor is tumbled, broken pieces of marble in a random mosaic - it's the WOW factor in the project. Although the pattern is strong the neutral color allows this to work beautifully.
We included a generously sized shower seat and two shelves in marble to match that in the room plus matching thresholds. The existing shower system was reused. Actually we moved the hand held away from the main shower head so that the shower can be used by two standing side by side. A very important part of the job was adding a fan/light in the shower area itself ducted to the exterior... mold/mildew was an ongoing problem. If the Client is diligent about using the fan and letting it run after the shower is vacated the problem should be resolved.
The project took about two weeks to complete not including the wait for the frameless, clear glass door to be installed...which was about 2 -3 weeks.
There is one glitch that I will share with you to alert others to a potential "issue". I had shown the Client a sample of the mosaic floor. When it came in, the pieces of mosaic were larger and lighter than the sample and the grout joints were larger. This is very common with natural materials and not unexpected - except I wasn't clear with the Client. They were initially very disappointed - we scrambled around to look for other choices and the Client ultimately decided to go forward with the original material - now that it's all together they love the look. Lesson learned - with natural materials such as marble - always get a sample of the "current" version. Shame on me...I know better!
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| Here is the Shower BEFORE |
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| Floor plan of the new shower configuration |
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An AutoCAD drawing of the tile design. |
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| The newly completed shower AFTER |
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