"My walls are going to be painted tongue and groove pickwick paneling (v. similar to beadboard), so I don't think I can tile to that--or can I?" You can tile on wood. But it does depend on the tile that you are using as well as the intended adhesive. Some of this is personal preference, what I mean is that if using "regular sized porcelain tile" sure, I'd not have a problem going over properly prepared wood. For glass mosaic? No. The better bet would be to mark out the area for the backsplash. Then come in a half-inch or so from that perimeter line and mark a new cut line. In that area instead of your wood paneling, insert a fill piece of cement backer board. Pad out the backer board so the face is flush with the wood paneling. Then you can do whatever you want on that space. Glass, ceramic, stone, mosaic, non-mosaic. And you can use the appropriate adhesive. With the backer board being slightly smaller than the tiled area, your top course and side column tiles will lap over the backerboard/paneling seam for a nice transition. If the edges of your intended tiles don't have a level of finish appropriate for exposure, then you could use a border or frame (wood or tile) to contain the design, just like in the photo above. Mongo

Bill V - I found one of your comments in an old GW post from 2008. I copied and pasted below. So I'm thinking unsanded. If I am wrong, please let me know! Thank you so much for all of your help! As for the explanation of the different grouts, I just posted this in an FAQ thread on the gallery side of the bathrooms forum. Here it is, copied and pasted: Although there are others, for all intents and purposes, there are two kinds of grout-- portland cement based, and epoxy. The portland cement based grouts are the conventional grouts that have been around for millenniums. Although in the last few decades, they've been modified with latex and other polymers to make them stronger and more resistant to mold and mildew, they're basically the very same grouts that have been used since Greek and Roman days. There are two kinds of portland cement based grouts. One is sanded, and the other unsanded. The only difference between the two is, as their names imply, the sand. The ONLY thing that determines which grout should be used is the joint size. NOT the glaze, NOT aesthetics, NOT the material (ceramic vs. glass or polished marble), NONE of those. I'll repeat-- the ONLY thing that determines which is used, is the joint size. Anything under an 1/8" takes unsanded grout. Anything 1/8" or bigger, you use sanded grout. If you use unsanded grout in larger joints, the cement in the grout will shrink way too much as the water evaporates out of it, and the joints will end up shrinking and cracking bigtime. If you try using sanded grout in smaller joints, the grains of sand will literally clog the top of the joint, and not allow the grout to get down INTO the joint, and the grout will flake off in a matter of days.

The caulking should be where the tile butts up to the window frame. one thing you might consider is using a piece of travertine slab for the shelf.

Joe, do you need a tub? Or would a walk-in or roll-in shower work best? I'm in agreement with wisco-girl. I just did a shower for an MS customer about 3 months ago. A couple of items while I await your response, and these are geared towards a fully accessible roll-in shower: 1) Use a movable seat instead of a built-in bench inside the shower. 2) Grab bar guidance can be found on ADA sites. You can shuffle the locations slightly depending on your shower configuration and your wife's abilities, but their recommended locations are pretty good. 3) For the shower head, have a hand-held unit on a bar. Most bars are not certified for grab bar use, but there are units that are. I used an Alsons ADA handheld. Looks nice, and the vertical bar is an actual grab bar and the height adjustment is an easily manipulated lever. Use the longest hose you can find. 4) If the grab bars will not be screwed directly into a wall stud or solid 2-by blocking installed between the studs, I prefer to use "Wing-It" anchors. I can do chin-ups on those things. Kerdi? From the studs to tile, you're looking at: a) drywall or cement board, the seams between panels do not have to be thinsetted or taped. I personally prefer cement board (wonderboard or durock) but you can use regular old drywall. If using drywall I recommend 5/8" drywall. b) thinset and Kerdi over the drywall or cement board c) thinset and tile over the Kerdi d) grout With accessible showers, I recommend a deck mud base versus the Kerdi foam trays. You can use the foam tray, I simply find deck mud easier to shape to the shower sizes that I build. If a deck mud base, I staple plastic sheeting to the floor. Then set expanded metal lathe over the plastic and tack it in place, just enough so it doesn't flop around. Pack deck mud and set the drain, with the proper slope (1/4" per foot usually) from the walls to the drain. Once the deck mud has cured, Kerdi over it, then tile. If using a Kerdi Foam tray, thinset the tray to the floor, then kerdi over the tray. Easy. Here's a Kerdi thread from a few years ago. This is Kerdi over cement board on the walls, and Kerdi over sloped deck mud on the floor. Might not be the same methods you chose to use, but it shows a few techniques. Lastly, the curb. you need 2" of vertical drop from the top of the curb to the shower drain. Floor pitch needs to be between 1/4" per foot and 1/2" per foot. You can usually get an inch or so simply from the sloped shower floor. So you may still need an inch or so of elevation at the shower threshold. You can do a standard curb with square edges, or a roll-over hump. The hump is sort of like a speedbump. An inch or so of vertical over several inches of horizontal, gentle enough to roll over in a wheelchair is need be. There are also flexible "pop-up" curbs that can be glued to the tile at the threshold. They stick up a couple of inches, and being made out of flexible material they can be rolled right over. I'm not sure of their durability. Anyhow Joe, more than you asked for. And you thought YOUR post was long. lol Oh, and for grab bars, etc, look at a website called "grab bar specialists."