The photos are great. Thanks much. I've been surfing and have found quite a few sites with grab bars that also look good. Here are a few sites: http://www.greatgrabz.com/grab-bars http://www.pontegiuliousa.com/bagnosicuro/grab-bar-collections.html https://www.plumbingsupply.com/luxury-grab-bars.html And here is the cornershelf/grab bar I am contemplating. Moen makes a much cheaper version, but it has a plastic insert, and I want something that will be more permanent. http://www.wrightstuff.biz/cornershelf.html Here is one take on which type to install: "Never anchor a grab bar into drywall , it will not hold and you could be seriously injured. How to properly install a grab bar is to screw it into the wall studs or to blocking in your walls. If your walls don't have blocking, add it by nailing a piece of plywood into the studs. The plywood should be þ inches thick and 6 to 12 inches wide. A grab bar should have 1-ý" of clearance from the wall. Wall mounted grab bars come in several lengths. Deciding which length to install depends on how the grab bar will be used. For example, if you're putting a main grab bar on the side wall of a bathroom tub enclosure a grab bar at least 24 inches long is best. If you're adding a second grab bar for support on the shower head wall, it should be at least 12 inches long. Horizontal grab bars offer better leverage when you are trying to get out of a bathtub or up and down from a toilet, but a grab bar placed at a 45 degree angle to the toilet or bathtub's rim is better when trying to accommodate people of different heights. Angling your grab bar has an additional advantage. A 24 inch bar installed at a 45 degree angle will exactly span wall studs spaced 16 inches apart, and you can screw into the studs on each end for maximum support. Horizontal grab bars should be located 33 to 36 inches above the finished floor around toilets, and 33 to 36 inches above the floor of the bathtub (7 to 11 inches above the rim) and close enough to the shower head wall to support you when adjusting water temperature."

Thanks, rhome and twn! I've tallied your two votes for running the tile vertically. The more I look at that last photo, rhome, the more I like the way it looks. Were you thinking staggered grout or lined up grout as in the pic? I forgot to mention that the grout we chose is very, very close in color to the tile so it may not really matter whether we stagger or line up the grout lines. It will be similar in look to the 1st photo I posted showing vertical tiles. If we line up the grout lines, that's less cutting for the tile setter - that should make him happy - and less waste - that makes me happy. twn, the 5.5" band of accent tile will run around the tub/shower area above the shower niche (linked below in case it affects your decision) but below the shower head. The shower niche is on the same wall as the shower head because the other two walls are exterior walls. I'll have to draw it out with the tiles running vertically to see how things work. (twn, I often march to my own drummer, too. For example, I've always preferred honed to polished stone.) Here is a link that might be useful: Noble shower niche

I can’t do that unfortunately - we are building and it hasn’t been built yet and have to make these decisions sight unseen Of course you can! Two choices: - Bring a chair into your hallway. Pretend your chair is your shower seat. As someone else said, pretend you're in the shower -- what height and length is comfortable for you? - Skip the built-in seat and go with a shower stool. This is superior because it means that if -- in the distant future -- you're less able, and you need to bring in a hospital shower chair, you can always remove the stool. Three other thoughts: - I have a 30x60 shower in my girls' hall bath. It used to be a bathtub, but when it needed replacing, we went with a walk-in shower. I find the length perfectly acceptable (thought we have no shower seat), but the width is a little narrow (and I'm a small person). If you could eek out even just 6" more, I think you'd appreciate it. You'd really appreciate it if you ever need to add grab bars, which do eat into the width of a shower. - Likewise, the toilet-closet is pretty small. - Remove some of your stress by choosing a hand-held shower on a sliding bar. This sets you up for users of different heights or an elderly person who cannot raise an arm comfortably.

My new master shower is 7X6.5 Consider just how big this is. You'll be showering out in the middle of that large space /unable to reach the walls, which can feel excessive /overly exposed /commercial. I am thinking 12x24 or maybe even 24x48. I'd say 12x24, which is pretty big, and mount them "tall" rather than "wide" ... the larger size is genuinely HUGE. They put huge tiles in church basement in the remodel, and they are noticeably monster-sized. It works in a huge basement where 200 people can sit down to eat, but it would be too much, too much in a private home. And, of course, you want small tile on the floor for "grip". Plus large tiles on the wall will pair nicely with small tile on the shower floor ... contrast is nice. I am really wanting black. Thoughts on using black tile: - Are you ready for the upkeep of stark black? If not, consider black with a speckle of some sort. - The ideas proposed on this thread are sooooo different. One black accent wall is quite different from a whole-shower in black. Decide just how much you want. Personally, I think a little of this strong color goes a long way. - Consider testing it out first: buy a roll of black wrapping paper from the dollar store and tape it up to get a general idea of how it'll look. - With black, I'd work hard on creating a space to hide the toiletries ... like behind a pony wall instead of in a front-and-center niche. I'm thinking a shampoo bottle would really stand out (in a negative way) against stark black. - How will you carry black through the rest of the bathroom? Artwork with strong black accents? Black in your light fixtures? Has anyone used textured tile in their shower? Is it hard to clean? I don't think lightly textured tile would be too bad to clean ... as long as you have a hand-held shower that you can use for cleaning. With a shower this big, consider that a hand-held shower on one end won't reach to clean the far side. While black looks dramatic, everytime I've seen black bathroom fixtures they are water spotted. I have no experience with black bathroom fixtures, but I know that black granite countertops in a kitchen show every crumb /every water spot ... and I'd assume bathrooms to be similar. I didn't realize the tile would be about $2K. Wondering if I should just consider quartz slabs instead and it be about the same cost? I'm not at all surprised ... that's a big shower. If you could have quartz slabs for the same cost, I'd go for it (on the walls); slabs would eliminate the grout lines altogether, and that can only be a positive. We are actually wanting to do the brassy/gold fixtures! Yes, that'd work well ... I'd also consider black fixtures at the sink to tie into the black shower tiles. Do they make brass/gold shower fixtures?