We are currently at the point of putting up durock in our new shower. We will be painting redgard on top of the durock. We are using a Kohler cast iron pan and have built in a bench at the far end. We are DIYing it and neither of us have done a bathroom before so we are trying to do all our due diligence so our bathroom doesn't look like crap in the end! I have a bunch of questions I'm hoping some of you would be willing to help with. First, let me explain our design choices so you have an idea of the look we're going for. We're doing a white subway tile in the shower (Interceramic cheap stuff from Lowes). We bought the 2x6 bull nose pieces to run around the sides in the opposite direction as the subway tile. Chrome thermostatic rain shower. Frameless glass shower doors. The floor will be marble with a basketweave tile rug in the center. The vanity is white with carrera marble top. So here goes my questions: 1. Durock, fuzzy or smooth out? I've read that the fuzzy side should go out when using thinset, however I'm unclear on whether or not we should use the fuzzy side considering a layer of redgard will be painted over prior to tile. 2. Niches. We are adding two niches. One larger one, probably around a foot tall, and one narrow one directly below it for razors, etc. The back will be basketweave marble, the sides will be white subway tile we're using on the rest of the shower. We've read floor elfs tutorial on building a niche (THANK YOU) so I think we understand the construction. My question is for the "shelf" part. I'd really like to use a solid base however our budget is busted for getting something fabricated. Would it be possible to use a 3/8" marble tile and somehow polish the outer edge so its not raw ourselves? Which leads to my next question. 3. The bench. We have a bench we've constructed out of 2x4's and plywood. Again, I would really love to have a solid surface instead of tile but having something fabricated is not in our budget. I was considering using 2 18x18 marble tiles which should fit perfectly but would this look strange? Also, same problem of needing to polish the raw edge of the tile. Also, is marble just bad news for a top in the shower which will probably be coming in contact with shampoo, soap, shaving cream etc? I'm concerned about etching and looking like garbage. Any other suggestions on material we could use that'd be in keeping with the rest of our "look"? 4. Grout. I've discovered that I really love the look of white grout with white subway tile. However, I can't stand devoting a lot of time to keeping the shower clean. And I really can't stand dirty grout but I also hate to scrub it. We have a hand shower so we can do a quick rinse after showing to get rid of soap, shampoo residue but the odds of us wiping the entire shower down after each use are slim. Will a white epoxy grout on the walls just be a huge hassle with keeping it clean? Is it worth the premium vs just sealing a regular grout? And, lastly, any direction to a good tile tutorial would be appreciated. We want to make sure we don't have funky looking cuts or awkward looking tiles. If you've made it this far, thank you!! This endeavor has turned out to be a ton more work and research than I expected and this site has been an invaluable resource!

If a salesman were to tell me not to use a snaded grout because it might ruin the material, my first reaction would be then what will normal use do?!?!? I've not only doneglass with Spectralock, but I've also done it with conventional sanded grout, as well, and I specify this because the sand in conventional grout isn't as fine as that found in Spectralock. Now, that said, glass is very much like glazed ceramic in that not all glass has the same hardness. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there isn't a rating scale like the PEI rating scale for glazed ceramic. But just to give you an idea, the glass in the pic below, as you can see, is a very glossy looking tile, and that IS sanded grout in the joints:

Oh, friend... I can post pics. I have new pics I just took, but it doesn't matter because I AM DONE. No more! For at least the next 15-20 minutes I QUIT. I wait till I'm certain kids & DH are asleep, so none of my noise will disturb any sleep. I finally get in there to take out more wonky stuff. What the heck with the dropped ceilings? The rectangular "acoustic" panels - with the crappy metal "track" system to suspend them? They work together - to try & hurt you, anyway. You remove a couple panels & some metal trim so the plywood can come out, suddenly - You are barefoot, standing/balancing on the side of the tub, both arms reaching up to keep MORE ceiling from crashing down, looking around for SOMETHING to prop up what's actually still up there - but minutes before, you moved everything - including the table with your tools on it - away from the tub for a reason you can't recall now... You can SEE the prybar & other items you could use, but you can't reach them. I was STUCK, with both arms up holding ceiling parts, that clearly didn't want to be up there. I finally got down, along with more ceiling - a balancing/reaching/ballet act & a bit of "screw-it" mentality at the end... Could've been worse. And I didn't wake anyone. But then I looked up, & saw the original plaster ceiling, & saw other things that I didn't like at all! But this is about the tub. Sorry. Covered in cobwebs, crud, & what-all. Grouchy, angry, grossed-out & frustrated... Not sure what pic you're wanting, to help advise me... (If ya really want to help - send a wrecking ball to my address!). Taken right after I got out of the fiasco - the stuff IN the tub is only part of the crap that fell on me.. Wasn't heavy, at least.

"I'm using a gray grout on the field tiles, can I use white grout around the frame to maintain the illusion that it's a separate frame? If so are there any tips on achieving this technique?" Grout your field, when doing so it's okay to overflow a bit into the niche frame joints. Let the grout set up well for a few hours, then come back and clean any overflow gray grout out of the niche frame joints. You can get a clean line at the white/gray joint intersection by cutting through the gray grout with a utility knife. Let the gray grout cure, then mask the gray grout off and grout the frame with white grout.