Here are a couple, and I'll be doing another one the beginning of next week:

Those look great. On the bottom photo, is the niche on the right-hand wall the same size/shape as the other? (The 12x12 does look like a logical cutout size and looks good in overall context.)

This is one I had our contractor do when we redid the hall bath.

I loved how it turned out, wish I had one in my bath!

Bill I love it that your niches fit exactly in the tile pattern.

Do you and your boys do the framing changes as well? My van is so full now that we are back at it - I'm thinking I need a trailer for the F150. Packing studs, ply, board, thinset and all the crap my Chevy Express 3500 is a "Gong Show"...

How do you pack your gear and your soldiers... ?

Lauraella,

nice tile layout. Did you help with the layout? What steps did you take to finally decide on the design?

Hi,
I went to a local fabricator's yard with my tile and scoured the yard for remnants that matched. The fabricator made the niche insert and delivered it in one piece ready for the tile installer to set.
Here's it is:
{{gwi:1483724}}

John,

Yes I did do the design. I wanted the tiles on a 45, I know more cutting. I really wanted the tile to go up on the wall as well. Easier to clean! So I purchased a few sheets of the onyx 1" and then we purchased the pencil tiles at Lowes. The field tile and accent pieces were from there as well. The shelves in the niche were supposed to be the backsplash for the sink, but we wrapped the onyx border around the whole room so it is the backsplash!

DH said we made the bathroom too nice for the kids, they will never leave!

John-- yes, I take care of any framing changes that have to be made.

cinnamonsworld-- Yes, both niches took the place of one full tile, as will the one I'm doing next week.

I will be framing for a niche just like Bill's on Monday and I have designed a couple "Light Niches".

The one above the toilet will be 24" x 18" and top lit with a LED puck light.

And the other will be 8" x 36" and be side lit with multiple LED puck lights. To get an even glow I plan to set in a piece of White Laminated Glass and use it as a diffuser. This should cast a warm glow near the back side of the soaker tub for reading...

Lets see your projects people.

I know Bill is banging this stuff out. Where is the other's?

Thanks for sharing Bill.

Bill any advice for "Worst Case Scenrio" if one of these European fixtures we just installed heads South? I was toying with the idea of making a rough in niche and wrapping the waterproofing over top of my green eboard Hydro banned walls. I thought perhaps three weep holes in the grout joint below the mixing valves and the same priciple for the in wall toilet carrier and water fall tub filler.

Thoughts?

JW

Bill can you share some building advice with us?

Q: What is the number one reason Shampoo Niches Fail?

Q: What is your preferred slope?

Q: How much wiggle room do you give yourself when planning the rough in dimensions?

Thanks Bill!

Here is a picture of a Stainless Shelf we built a Shampoo niche for. Notice in my picture and Bills above that the niches fit right into a tile layout. Exactly.

{{gwi:1483725}}

Another one;

{{gwi:1483726}}

This is not an accident and it shows forethought and helps to make a bathroom Sparkle. Your tile guy? IS he just a tile guy?

Can he adjust the framing for you? Should you settle on out of square or no pitch?

Their is lost to learn to this process. Bill and I make it look easy. But we both run crews. We have all the toys. All the training.

Most don't.

Ask this of your tile guy before he prices the job. Bill might do this just because he is picky and know how easy it is. Most are lazy. The extra 20 minutes is down time.

Understand the scope of work and you must sign off on the tile lay out. Don't have a chat on Tuesday with your GC and then complain on Sunday it is not perfect. This needs to be decided in the beginning.

Do you think Bill didn't know the lay out before he changed the studs? No chance.

Learn more about every step. Dig deeper. Who's advice are you following?

JW

Lauraella Bravo.

Great tile layout. This simple step is so important. It's a lot of work.

Where did you look online for examples?

Here is a link I have of different tile layouts.

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/40434/list/Examples-of-different-tile-layouts-for-your-shower---Vancouver

Here is a link that might be useful: Choosing a tile layout - Step one...

Actually when we did this 2 years ago I was on here all the time. Bill's examples as well as a few others were my inspiration. Of course having a great contractor that can see your vision helps! Alas he has moved to Oregon :( Sad day around here!

But all bathrooms are done so that was a plus.

I will be framing for a niche just like Bill's on Monday

This is the one waiting for me (BEFORE it got waterproofed, obviously):

I was toying with the idea of making a rough in niche and wrapping the waterproofing over top of my green eboard Hydro banned walls.

You're supposed to, anyway. I'll make sure to take a pic when I go in on monday-- the waterproofing is supposed to lap over onto the surrounding wall 6" in all directions.

Q: What is the number one reason Shampoo Niches Fail?

Poor waterproofing and lack of, or reverse, pitch to the bottom shelf.

Q: What is your preferred slope?

It's not preferred. It's REQUIRED-- between 1/8" and 1/4".

Q: How much wiggle room do you give yourself when planning the rough in dimensions?

Approximately 1/2" to all four sides from where I want to end up.

Another one I just finished--

Here's mine:

and here it is from farther back so you can see the placement:

I was toying with the idea of making a rough in niche and wrapping the waterproofing over top of my green eboard Hydro banned walls. - JW

You're supposed to, anyway. I'll make sure to take a pic when I go in on monday-- the waterproofing is supposed to lap over onto the surrounding wall 6" in all directions. - BV

I'm thinking about a waterproof "Box"? NIche? don't know what to call it. I want to make a niche for the mixing valves. Bring the supplies into this box and then possibly Kerdi fix the pipe to box waterproofing. Then when I board over the mixing valve I could pre waterproof the back side and use kerdi fix to seal up the seam.

My thought is if the European mixing value fails it will flood the internal box and weep (Spray) out the trim and then the problem is visable and not hidden.

Have you done anything like this? I think it should be quite easy to do.

What do you think?

JW

Here's our niche. The picture exaggerates the slight grout thickness inconsistency in the shower stall for some reason - its not really noticeable in person. The niche is bounded by steel schluter edge moldings.

John-- it SHOULDN'T leak. You can get into all kinds of what if's with the plumbing. It'd make for a great novelty idea, but practically speaking, I wouldn't bother.

We did pressure test it to 200 PSI but I'm kind of getting a kick of the "back up" plan. This room is curbless so in theory it would drain down the drain until someone noticed and shut off the water.

Hmmmm.....

Who's kidding who - you know I'm going to try it. :)