I agree with others who say you don't need to match the stainless of your appliances or your sink. IMHO, a stainless or brushed nickel faucet is a more contemporary look, a polished nickel faucet is more traditional--you'll particularly see polished nickel faucets in the bridge style to emphasize the traditional look. Also, the brushed and stainless finishes won't show fingerprints the way polished finishes would. I myself chose polished chrome for my Grohe Ladylux Plus faucet for the following reasons: (a) my kitchen decor is "transitional", i.e. neither contemporary nor traditional, and chrome is also transitional--it can go in either style, (b) I really like the shine of polished chrome, so bright and cheerful, which I prefer to the matte look of stainless or brushed nickel, just my personal taste, and (c) polished chrome was so much cheaper. So it cost less, and I liked the look, so not much of a decision for me.

Hi my bathroom is the same dimensions as yours, and the entry door is 23". After we installed the tile, the interior dimensions got a bit smaller due to the thickness of the tile etc, which is why we have 52" wall to wall at the shower threshold. Think about access to your valves when you decide on your shower door design. We couldn't move ours to the opening opposite the shower opening since a) it's an exterior wall, not recommended b) we would have had to build the wall out and would have lost space inside the shower. We couldn't move our toilet or sink, this is an apartment building.

Condos, senior neighborhoods etc. I'm 47 and I would never want to burden my child with rolling out my trash (and doing a lot of other things) when I could move to an area with better services as I need them. When my parents were in their 50's they moved to their ranch house and used to say the same thing to us. However when it became clear they were no longer able to live in their house without assistance, they started balking at the idea of moving to something with better services. As they aged they didn't quite realize how much more help they needed, even after we got my Mom full time help during the day. (Mom had parkinsons and started to lose her ability to think clearly, while my Dad kept his facilities till the day he died) So would it have been better to drag my parents out kicking and screaming to someplace else, or better to help them to still live in their home. And since Dad was "clear of mind" I doubt a court would have allowed it. Once my Mom passed away, my Dad moved in with my sister. But that was his choice because he realized he couldn't maintain the house himself and he was afraid at his age of living alone. Trust me when I say the decision is never an easy one on either side of the fence.

We have a niche, a towel cubby, and a built in bench. Hubby uses the niche for his razor but I leave my items on the bench. I would prefer a ledge but sometimes the layout of the space suggests the appropriate use. My absolute favorite is the towel cubby which is next to the corner on the shower head wall. Previous owner had started building the bathroom but we didn't like his layout. We moved the plumbing to the interior wall so the original smaller sized bench became too narrow but I didn't want to lose the space so we just left it and tiled the interior. We put up a hook and hang the towel in the shower and I don't have to come out of the shower to grab a towel.