Thanks everyone. Now the issue of the chair rail has come up of course. Our GC is working with the door company directly, and this is the email I received from him this morning regarding the placement of the doors in relation to the chair rail that goes all the way around the room, including through the shower. "If the door is hinged on the wall as we discussed, we will need to bevel out the chair rail because it is 1/8" of an inch too big. The bevel would then be filled with grout. This will allow the door to swing without it binding on the chair rail." I haven't been able to speak with him because of work committments, but am pretty sure that I emailed him saying we didn't want the door to hinge on the wall. Besides all that though, does this seem like a good idea? I'm a little hesitant since I have no idea how it will look, and I don't seem to be able to find any images online. Our experience with the contractor has been fantastic but at this point I am slightly annoyed that we weren't advised how the chair rail would affect the glass placement. The glass is already costing us more than expected, and adding another stationary panel will add even more to the total, but that said, we don't want to make the wrong decision in the long run. Advice?

Tell him to cap it the same way he'd cap the end of a piece of baseboard-- miter the end of the last piece of chair rail next to each side of the mirror, and cut a wedge shaped plug for the end, and then grout in the gap, just as was done at the end of the chair rail on the right in this picture:

Thanks for the compliments, mommyto4boys. Yes, the tub and shower tile is from Lowe's as are the decorative inserts in the floor. Floor tile came from a local store. The bench is a metal triangle (I've seen people call them "Better Benches" here, but I don't know if that's the brand we got) that you screw into the studs, fill with mortar, and tile over. And yes, it's strong enough to sit on. We did a shower pan because I've heard of people having issues with floor grout, plus I was less confident of my DIY skills when it came to a tiled floor with the slope and all. We got it from Onyx (the only manufacturer I found that made this size standard, not custom), and it weighs a TON...took 4 of us to get it up the stairs. The way I put together the tub: 1. built the frame with 2x4s and plywood 2. tiled the top deck 3. nailed the panel around the sides (lots of shimming to get it to match perfectly around the whole thing) 4. glued the chair rail over top of panel 5. nailed the baseboards and the trim that goes over the 135 degree corners. I put the picture frame on before attaching the panels to the tub frame. Hope that helps!

missenigma, thanks for your reassurance. It is just the very few I've used that were heavy frameless glass doors, I recalled thinking they were a bit overkill and even a little cumbersome that was BEFORE I read the stories on this site where folks have reported them shattering and causing injury. To answer your question, I reviewed my quest for shower doors. It should be simple, right? I have 6 showers and I want doors on 5 of them. I've learned to get prices for items without any company knowing the size of the home or visiting if it is possible. (We firmly believe the price takes a 25% price hike if the subcontractor visits first.) We have gotten astoundingly different bids for the same products. That being said, I planned to request the price of one door and indicate I may need more than one. My husband mentioned that he likes the obscured glass and I agreed. We measured all the shower openings needing doors. I called several glass/mirror companies to get quotes. Not happening without a visit to site, etc. In other words, at least in our minds, prepare for being over charged. I am not a person who follows trends, I don't care what is in or out if I like it, I like function over form (a shower curtain does not work on many levels), I am tired of being told what will help to "resale" my forever home, and I frequently will consider materials not actually meant for a job, if I think they may perform better. I must be difficult to please because there are times I think all products on the market could simply be better. (I'm raising teens who want to be engineers--I have hope for the future of products!) We were surprised about the cost of a single glass shower door especially when we requested obscurity. We did not think we were asking for anything out of the ordinary. However, since the trend gods have spoken and heavy clear glass frameless doors are all the rage, the tongues start clicking at you when you want to select something else. I do think the frameless doors look nice but I was interested in perhaps a slightly lighter door, with obscurity, that would both perform better--whether this costs less or more is irrelevant if I liked the product better. I've only gotten 1 quote back so perhaps the other companies won't have such a higher mark up for obscurity (again, I account this to a trend thing). There is a lot of things that keep me awake at night but glass shower doors is not one them. ...now searching for just the right product, item, color, ….that keeps me awake. My latest quest is to find pivot or fold away mirror for the cabinet behind my vanity so I can see the back of my head when I pin my hair up, curl it, or cut it. It is like solving puzzles--it is great when you accomplish what you set out to do.