1. Niche
2. thermostatic heated floors
3. frameless door

1. higher end countertop
2. niche
3. heated floors

I love spending other people's money :))
Where do you live? If in a colder climate...
Heated floors
higher end countertop
niche

Frameless shower door
Heated floors

And as for the Axor thermostatic valve - have you considered going Hansgrohe (not Axor)? You can still go thermostatic, and it's not that much more expensive than pressure-balance (I think). They have that Thermobalance valve trim that's combination temperature control/volume control/diverter. Plumbing costs should be less too.

If you do that, you might be able to afford the higher-end vanity/counter, too!

1) heated floors
2) heated floors
3) heated floors

oh, o.k., I'll give some others:

frameless shower door
some kind of thermostatic valve (it really does make a difference, we find, with our Hudson-Reed)

re the niche: I don't understand why a niche is better than shelves in areas that aren't used, but if you like the look, go ahead. I prefer having no interior corners that could harbor anything.

We did come up with a way to make the pony wall into a long unseen shelf, btw: if you have a pony wall, just put a shelf in front of it, measuring how low it has to be by the height of your shampoo bottles etc.--you want it so they don't show above the height of the wall. Doesn't cost more (at least it didn't with our tile guy), is exterior so no little tucked away nook, and is completely accessible. It's the whole length of the pony wall, so plenty fits on it.

btw, with the heated floors, I recommend against Thermosoft. The one mat we had that worked well just up and quit one day after months of service, and someone else had that happen with a mat after about a year. Two points determine a line...

Heated floors -- oooohh yeeeesss!!!

Niche (i think it makes the space feel waaayy bigger than shelves in unused spaces)

Thermostatic valve, because everyone needs a toy in the shower!!

Being from Louisiana, I can't even imagine needing heated floors!!! I'd have to say that one totally depends on your location!

I'd concentrate on the things that you can't easily change later:
So I'd put the shower door first... it's about the biggest thing you'll see. Kohler has some nice doors that you can DIY.
Then good tile, some niches and the thermostatic.
You can always swap out the vanity/countertop later if need be, but with nice knobs and stain maybe a little extra molding even a plain jane vanity can be jazzed up!

Wow, thanks for feedback everyone! After 6 rounds of bathocracy, here are the scores-

heated floors 6 (unanimous)
shower niches 4
frameless door 3
high end vanity 2.5
exposed Hansgrohe thermo balance 2.5

Heated floors appear to have the pennant. Vanity and exposed fancy-dancy shower are facing elimination....perhaps they will form an alliance and vote shower doors off of the island....

So, I'm surprised to see niches so high, because I'm kind of thinking more along lines of flyleft...concerned about mildew in the corners. Since we're in Jersey, seems heated floors are worth it....a few more posts, and I'll let you know....will post you all on the progress of both rooms.... Thanks Again!

If the *exposed* aspect of the shower is what you're talking about, I really don't think that's important at all. If it's the thermostatic aspect, then that is functionally important. Funny but I didn't even notice the "exposed" part until just now. Why not do a regular old inside-the-wall thermostatic? It might cost less...

I'm coming late to this poll but had to jump on the heated floors bandwagon. I installed heated floors in my sunroom and my laundry room in the last 6 months and LOVE THEM. It is hard to tell you how much I love them :)

The sunroom was basically unusable for 3-4 months of the year (we're in Kansas and it gets pretty darn cold) because the room is on a slab, with 3 walls of glass and no insulation above. With the heated floor, it became our favorite space in the house this past winter. Did I mention I love it?

We aren't redoing our master but if we were heated floors would be at the top of my list.

Right after heated floors would be the frameless shower door. I love the way they look and the way they open up the space.

You could always upgrade the counters later, and like someone posted above, you can make even not so special vanities look pretty nice with a great mirror, good lighting, nice knobs, etc.

RE your 36" vanity, I would check with a custom cabinet guy locally. I was shocked to learn that they can often come in cheaper or right at the big box stock stuff and for better quality. I paid just over $700 for a 42" that is very very nice. Check around for deals on sinks - I got a Kohler undermount on ebay for $5. I got my granite from the granite boneyard. Call all your local granite fabricators and ask if you can look around the boneyard for a 36" piece. At that size, you should have lots to pick from and it should be pretty inexpensive. Or find some nice person on the Kitchens forum on Garden Web who is getting granite slabs installed and has some nice scrap available :)

I can't speak to the thermostatic value because I'm not even sure what it is...not sure I want to know or I can see the price going way up for the two kids' baths I'm getting ready to do!

Good luck!

Anita

Edmakeover, where in NJ are you? I responded on your other thread.

We (in central/Northern NJ) opted NOT to do heated floors. WhyÂwell, what if they broke? Also, we figured no matter what we'd have to have some type of mat. Our exposed floors are not that wide (less than 3 feet for most of the room) and as our architect mentioned, the bath is on the second floor where cold floors had no been an issue. Other thing, we got porcelain tiles and maybe I'm crazy but they seem warmer underfoot than ceramic.

Where did we splurge? We got all RH fixtures. Very nice, including the thermo shower with handheld and separate old fashioned wall mounted tub filler with handheld.

Next splurge, my tile. Floor to ceiling. It cost a lot but to me it makes the room.

Vanity: custom. I probably could have saved $1k or so on our 5 foot vanity but I'm getting exactly what I want. What I wouldn't buy to save $: any vanity made with particleboard. A good reasonable option could be a pedestal sink if you don't need the storage, though there are high end ones of those too.

Where did we save? My floor tile was reasonably priced. We didn't tile the walls of the separate water closet. We didn't do the heated floors. We hope to do our own painting.

1. heated floors!!!! Love 'em, can't imagine living without them in the winter, we put them in master bath, kitchen, and sunroom.
2. shower niche
3. frameless shower door

You can save on the heated floors by buying from Warming Systems (wire that you tape onto the subfloor) than the mat systems. Then you'll have more money for your other splurges.

Funny - I'm stunned by how few people think the thermostatic valve is important! Personally, I don't care a whit about it being the exposed type - that's just cosmetics - but IMHO, *some* type of thermo valve is crucial.

Maybe it's just that *my* water changes temperature *constantly*, and I can't wait to stop having to fiddle with the controls when I shower. This will be one of the most luxurious aspects of my new shower. :-)

higher end vanity - they are a pain to replace later. It can be done easily enough, but why have to do it at all?

heated floors - not needed here, but most folks who have them like 'em a lot.

niches - the more, the better. We have a double wide inset and a double-height corner, and we could use yet more storage! And that's with only 2 people using the shower.

I would NEVER recommend frameless on a neo-angle. A 42" neo-angle is exactly what we have, and the frameless door leaks. It's almost impossible to angle the showerhead fully on the bather but not on the door. A rainhead will prevent that, since the water falls straight down, but we didn't like our previous one, so went to a handhold on a bar. Huge mistake, with that frameless enclosure.

I would have to go with the exposed shower fixture, because I have one and love the look and the way it works (thermostatic etc)

The niches because you need to do them when tiling the shower.

And if you want the floors, do them now.

These items need to be done initially or they're huge costs. Changing out a vanity is really no biggie later if you want to upgrade. But replumbing for a different type of shower valve or infloor heating is a big deal to re do as well as retiling a shower.

I prefer frameless showers myself, but you can do that later as long as you build the enclosure correctly for it now.

Is shopping more carefully an option?

I've seen some very nice looking vanities at Costco and Home Decorators.com that are [frankly] more stylish than about any at HD, and include a stone slab top. Unless you have very particular space requirements, you may find something you like better and actually save a couple bucks.

Same with the shower valve-- I like a thermostatic very much, but would just as soon have Moen as Hansgrohe. When you go past a certain point on fixtures, what you are buying is art, not plumbing. I'd rather have my art out in the open, not hidden in the shower.

Past that, well... a heated floor can't be retrofitted, neither can niches. But a frameless door can be, especially if you live with a curtain for a year or so, save the cost of the door you really don't want, leave the tile shower virginal for the upgrade hardware.

If you want a frameless shower door eventually, make sure that you have studs on the walls on which the shower door will be mounted.
Personally, I prefer shower baskets to shower niches (easier to keep clean, less soap scum). And a thermostatic balanced shower valve gets my vote. You'll have to have either a pressure balanced or thermostatic balanced valve, so why not revel in the delights of constant temperature.
I have porcelain tiles on the bathroom floor. They do not feel cold underfoot, even in winter. But we do have a heater right where you step out of the shower (it's a light/vent/heater combination in the ceiling), which makes for a toasty warm area.

Thanks everyone, this forum really is fantastic! GC said he would do heated floors, but thought it wasn't the best use of $$, since these are small bathrooms...with the mat on the floor, not a lot of steps to take to enjoy the heated floors....so, my splurge list, I think is as follows.

Shower Niches
Semi-frameless NeoAngle shower doors
Moen 3/4 thermostatic spa set (compromise on exposed)

Final question on the thermostatic shower set...considering I have a small 42" neoangle shower, which is most "luxurious" combo...rain head and hand shower, immersion 2 function rain shower head and body spray, or handshower (mostly held high like standard) and body spray? Plumber says I may not like strict ceiling-mount rainshower, as there is "nowhere to hide" in the small shower...leaning towards the 2 function immersion head (rain or std) with body sprays....

Going decent, inexpensive vanity, and contrary to everyone's advice, ditching the heated floor....am I crazy?

Based on Jkom 51, Having 2nd thoughts on the door, would hate to spend 3 grand on something that leaked...I'm doing semiframeless, with the top bar, perhaps leaks are with the full frameless?...can anyone recommend a nice framed door, none look that great to me..

Lots of messages about rain showers here - many people seem not to like them because you can't escape them, and you can't get shampoo out of long hair.

I've got a shower-over-tub, and I'm planning on a standard fixed showerhead (multi-function) plus a handshower on a slidebar (so I can use it sort of like a body spray).