Hi jle, Sorry for the tardy reply. I'm not getting notifications for some reason and just happened upon this... Thanks for the nice comments... still stressing about the design of the room. The tile is El Barco beveled ( that I picked up from Tile World here in NY. http://tileworldus.com/company_contact.html) The problem that we discovered later is that that manufacturer does not offer 3x3 square beveled tiles. (They are important when you are having to cut the beveled tile to butt up against bullnose, etc because the bevel means that the center of the tile is fatter than most of the edges you are butting it up against and so the red clay portion will show unless you have these 3x3s) I ended up having to pay to express order the 3x3s from Luxe Tile http://www.luxetile.com/beveled-ceramic-tile-3x3-4975.aspx and they were marginally thinner and also for some reason not exactly the same width as the El Barco so my tile guy had to do a lot of fudging (more "glue" underneath and the grout lines had to be bigger than I originally planned) that's a long way to saying I would just order all the tile from luxe if I had it to do over again. I also got the floor tile from Tile World, I think it was $12 a s.f. A note of caution. I thought is was Carrera (it's not, i think i comes from China and has cream color running through it also) I would look on ebay if you are interested and go with something like this if you are really interested. Its a little more expensive but probably worth it. http://www.amazon.com/Carrara-Carrera-Basketweave-Marquina-Polished/dp/B00368E7XE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1282792453&sr=1-2-spell My medicine cabinet, which isn't in yet? is an oval beveled mirror from Broan. And yes, I ordered an hourglass tub from Kohler which didn't have an apron and had my guy build the "molding" on the front. It was pretty easy, I think he used 1x3s and then we added some cove trim molding. I was originally going to put in wainscoting around the rest of the room that had a similar look but backed off because i thought it might feel too tight. Good luck with the window, I think its a great choice. Hope to see your finished bath on line soon! All the best, e

Thank you for the awning suggestion. It is not a large window maybe about 24" height and 20" width. Though it is closer to the showerhead side of the shower, I don't think it should get water directly since most of the water jet will be towards the center and the other end of the shower. I guess the awning window will have to swing open to the outside? Is it possible to have a bug screen that is not covering the whole window? I think any bug screen can potentially create a moisture retention problem.

Thanks for your advice kudzu. Designer keeps assuring me that it’s not a big issue. I have talked to one contractor who says he can waterproof. But I have had small windows in multiple showers before and even with waterproofing I believe they all develop problems over time and I am even more concerned with this shower bc it is quite large.

You would have to rip out that whole wall and build it with waterproofing and vinyl windows. You would then have to cover them for privacy, unless you did opaque/frosted glass for the new window, but people would probably still see the silhouette of a body. You could have a rod and shower curtain to drape across it too. You need something easy to clean because it will get wet and splashed with soap, etc. Plantation shutters, even plastic ones, would be a pain in the neck to keep clean. Move the toilet into the bathtub area and expand the shower in the current location? Are you on a slab or a basement? Will make a difference on how hard or easy it might be to move stuff!