Ever walk into the shower at a hotel or fancy Airbnb and think… why does my shower suck?! Well I know I have…and every time I’ve thought that over the past couple years I’ve came home to look at all of my boring shower remodel ideas printed out and stuck on my bathroom floor. It turns out I FINALLY got to remodel last month!
My shower had leaked (the space behind the tile was not waterproofed, it “leaked suggested” if you will) and forced me to remodel the whole bathroom. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic to get to try out all these shower remodeling ideas I’ve pinned for the past few years – but some were winners and some were major fails. So before you demo that shower like I did – read these tips before picking your dream shower designs!
The very first thing on my shower must list was a rainfall showerhead. They’re gorgeous!
So nice to stand under!
But my rookie mistake? Not thinking that after about 2 weeks of using one you seriously can’t rinse shampoo out of long hair. Also, they don’t have the best water pressure if you want to get REALLY clean after a workout.
Best of both shower heads? Get a combo style that comes with both the rainfall shower head as well as a handheld shower head you can attach. That way you can rinse down like a queen one day, and then get serious about showering the next!
Built-In shower niches were high on my list too. Adorable, right?! So great for storage of baskets or shelves without having to deal with hooks or those plastic corner shelves that always autumn down.
I had three built into my wall when they did my tile that I had angled just right to store shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. They are gorgeous and make for great shower Instagram photos 😊 But here’s the downfall. Cleaning those bad boys is basically impossible!
All that trim where the tiles angle to meet each other? Gross with soap scum. And if your bottles aren’t JUST the right size to fit?
Then it looks cluttered. Love them? Yes.
But make sure you maybe build them an inch or two bigger than you think you’ll need. Also, invest in small LED lights you can pop inside the niche to see what you’re grabbing when its dark in there! Oh heated bathroom floors.
How I loved thee until I looked at my water bill. Wait….what else sounds amazing? Heating just the areas where you ACTUALLY walk barefoot.
Don’t get me wrong, I love having the ability to have heated floors in my bathroom. However, the areas in front of my shower and sink? Heavenly.
Halfway to the toilet and corners? Totally overkill and expensive to heat those areas. Invest in them, but hey intelligent about the areas you heat.
Going along with that frameless shower doors are STELLAR- until you see how much water spots they show! Don’t get me wrong, they are absolutely beautiful. Glossy shower doors require spotless cleaning to actually look that way though!
And don’t get yourself those little squeegee things they sell to go along with mine to “clean up” after your shower like I did. I threw mine in the closet after about a month of pretending like I used it. Now I wipe down mine about once a week and accept that they will show water spots 90% of the time.
No one cares but you, I promise. It’ll still look great, you’ll just be doing more work. Okay last minor shower gadget comment….those fancy digital shower controls.
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Sure it’ cute to preset your temp so you aren’t terrified of burning your feet every morning AND nice to be able to time your showers, but who really needs to start their shower from their phone so that it’ at the perfect temp when you walk into the bathroom? Yep, me neither. Same thing goes for the digital controls.
I LOVE that I can preset my shower temperature so it’s not scalding or freezing when I get in. Especially loved that during the winter when it takes my hubby FOREVER to get the water heated up from frozen pipes. But as for the other bells and whistles?
Delete. Your shower lighting matters more than you think. Did someone say that????
Our old bathroom just had one ol’ light in the middle of the ceiling and it cast shadows EVERYWHERE. So gross. Not only did I install some recessed lighting meant for wet areas, I pointed them so when you stand in the shower, it minimizes shadows cast on your face.
Best decision ever. I literally couldn’t see properly when washing my face or shaving my legs with the one light staring at me. Now I CAN SEE.
And if you really want to get fancy, install dimmer switches so you can keep them bright for those early morning wake-up showers and dim them for nighttime. My biggest shower remodel regret? The Tiles.
Tile is seriously so hard to visualize from tiny 4×4 squares at the store. Yes that gorgeous stacked subway tile looked amazing stacked up by itself at the store. It also looked amazing when Justin tiled it.
BUT the grout lines between each teeny tile is A MESS. Doesn’t matter if you seal forever either, every drop of water will show ou. And if you can see the individual tiles after they’re laid down like mine, ANY dirt or uneven grout lines WILL stand out.
Choose larger tiles people, its way easier to maintain. Okay last tip about tile. Everyone raves about your tile in any shower remodel, but Buyer beware: Just because they look like they’ll go together doesn’t mean they’re functional together.
I LOVED the look of my larger look porcelain tiles with the marble finish, but they’re also SUPER slippery when wet. Just beware that some tiles look nicer together than they’ll function. We opted for the textured finish to give us a little grip, but man am I paranoid about slipping every time I get in now!
Steam showers? Overrated. Here’s my advice, save yourself a lot of extra ventilation you’ll need to not burn down your house (not to mention the extra cost on installation,) don’t waste your money on extra shower controls that you think you’ll use, and don’t stress yourself out!
It’s fun the first few times you sit there and think, “damn this feels like a spa!” But then you realise how much it smells like you’re showering in your kitchen every. Single.
Time. you turn on the vent fans!
One last thing I never thought about when remodeling? WATER PRESSURE. Literally didn’t occur to me that everything we picked out had to be PERFECT with our water pressure.
My adorable body shower spray system wouldn’t of looked so adorable spraying tiny amounts of water everywhere. Be sure to test your home’s water pressure PRIOR to picking out shower fixtures! Trust me on this one.
There you have it! My biggest shower remodel tips and don’t do what I did moments. Truth is I loved ripping down everything and starting from scratch to really design my dream shower.
But if I could go back I would have paid more attention to how WE use our shower daily vs what we could possibly use it for someday. Your shower is going to be used more times that you THINK- so think practical, my friends!
