patty_cakes- Sorry I can't help with costs, but years ago friends in AZ had a set up very similar to what you described (i.e. steps down to a shower area), it could be used as a shower and also become a square tub kinda thing. It was very cool looking and I liked it, but they didn't. They were always afraid they or the kids were going to fall in it and she fussed and worried about germs (I'm not a germophobe, so that would not occur to me). It was tiled in a dark purple tile that gave a very regal, almost Roman look. What I liked about it was the sense of being submerged when taking a shower, and that's what they hated (she used to say she felt like she was drowning in there) but I'm a water nut, and they are not. Now, on to what I know better: in our new build we have have 2 tiled, walk-in showers, downstairs is a "wet room" and upstairs in the family bath we have a series of 3 rooms in a row that comprise the bathroom (think of a rectangle). From our bedroom the entrance is from the middle of the long end of the rectangle and we enter into the "vanity room" (if you will). To our left is the toilet room to our right is the shower room. DD's entrance from her BR is at the right end of the rectangle, she enters into the shower room. The floor, walls and ceiling of the shower room are tiled, just the floors in the vanity and toilet room are tiled. It's a full mud job and there is a small step up from each bedroom to the bathroom but the bath itself is on the same level (if this makes any sense at all). We wanted it to be HC accessible and figured that it would be easier to build ramps from the bedrooms than to have to deal with a curb in the shower (this is our last house). The shower itself is 7' x 6' with a shower curtain bisecting the long wall, giving us a glorious 7' x 3' space in which to shower. We lived with small plastic stall showers for years and are very grateful to have such a luxuriously large space and also love that there are no curbs. sandyponder

Prairiegirl, yes, I am very cognizant of getting older & mobility issues!! Thing is, I will have to climb a stairway to get up to my wheelchair-friendy shower! Dh & I have actually decided that we may eventually need to climb the stairs on our be-hinds to make it to the shower or tub. There is no space on our first floor to build a full bath. I'd like to throw another question out there. What if I did the reverse. Put the walk-in shower in the guest bath instead of the soaking tub, & put some sort of tub in the master & eventually upgrade that existing shower stall too? Congrats to your sis, on her new house. That pricing sounds fabulous. Where I am, you can basically get a condo for that price if you want to live in a decent area, & that's in the current economy. When I bought in '06...it was much worse.

Ditch the linear mosaic entirely and use the 2x2 in the niche. The 12x24 for the shower walls. Test that gray tile for dirt, lint, and high maintenance before committing to it. You might just want to use the Carrara for everything tile.

That’s not a poor job at all. It’s not a top the line designer A+ 15K tilework per shower work. But neither is it F hack 2K per shower work. It’s a high B. Once it is caulked, it will be fine. As long as the waterproofing was done correctly, you are ahead of 95% of the posters posting about their showers on here. Relax and have some wine. Your pennies aren’t scratched.. They just have a bit of grout residue that needs polishing of them. The back wall isn’t hugely out of plumb. It’s close enough that the increase in cost to rebuild it isn’t worth it. A bit of lippage is inevitable in older homes with wonky walls that don’t completely rebuild everything. If it’s less than a credit card thickness, it falls within industry standard. Color matching grout to the tile is recommended for a reason. As as long as there is an expansion gap in the corner, once properly caulked, the tile edges won’t be visible. Just celebrate the fact that your installer knows to caulk there instead of grout! Overall, it’s miles and miles ahead of the piecemeal cement board with no waterproofing and gnawed with their teeth cuts seen here fairly often. You picked a decent installer. Maybe not a top 3% skills installer, but if he used the Kerdi properly, it’s good job. Pictures of the Kerdi install process would be the cherry on top.