Hi! The big window in the shower is part of my 1985 tract house and appears to be a problem for most homeowners in my neighborhood. The original installation was prone to leaks, with water penetrating the inside of the wall. Many neighbors use a shower curtain along that wall, but I wanted to have an unadorned window. We gutted the room, and hired a local "vinyl" window company to install the picture window. It's dual pane with patterned (Industrex) glass. The interior of the window was not rated to be used in a wet environment. The installer caulked areas he thought would be vulnerable. There is no way to know if water is going inside the window, but to my eye I think it's doing great. My tile installer used "old school" techniques, putting wire lath up with layers of mortar which he leveled perfectly. The tile is perfectly square and sits flush against the window. Along the bottom edge, he used sheets of vichithane (sp?) which is a sticky rubber product. He over-did that area to make sure water never entered the wall. The marble sill sits on top of the waterproofing system. A window in the shower is great and I love the design, however, I can't shower at night with the light on. I have no problems with a "peep show" as long as I shower in the morning with the light coming in from the outside. Hope that helps! P.S. The local window company convinced us they manufacture windows, but I suspect they are the same as big-box store retrofit vinyl windows. The rest of the house we used Renewal by Andersen and they're much better.

I'm presently adding a tub alcove to an old bath which will turn it into our master bath and part of a new "suite" . I love Sarah Richardson's designs, like her program because she always explains the decision making process. In the link you gave to her bathrooms, the first photo shows the hand held "British telephone set" option for a shower. That is the one I've chosen for my clawfoot slipper tub. I did not want a curtain or any of the attendant hardware. There is a standup shower elsewhere in the house, and this bath of ours is strictly for the TUB experience. I did not want any mildew and mold issues with it. And the alcove is still under construction, so I cannot give pictures of it. They are framing the walls on three sides now, and will soon knock down the existing exterior wall in the old bath, which will give us a space approximately 6 foot long by 5 foot deep as an alcove. The tub is about 28 inches wide, and 60 inches long. The tub rim is drilled for the faucet set, which will go down through the floor. The tub will be pointed WEST, and that 5 foot wide end wall will have a nice sized antique stained glass window in it (which was salvaged from an old house in downtown Mobile). I picked it because of the warm golds and reds and greens and creams in it, because a tub bath at sunset is a great experience. The walls in the alcove will have beadboard up to the high clerestory windows (Lexan) on the wall behind the tub, and then the sloping ceiling will also be beadboard. The old or existing part of the bathroom will have the thick and molded plaster walls removed to install wallboard with beadboard wainscoting below. The toilet and sink are already installed in their new spots, with the rebuilt American Standard 1.6 gallon flush toilet having a Toto washlet on it. I'm having blocking put inside the walls now so I can add grab bars in the future. Also blocking in the ceiling so I can place hooks for my humidity-loving hanging baskets...about four of them where I won't bang my head. And in the middle, a Kichler Palla 3 light mini chandelier which will be high enough not to present a problem...or so I'm told. That open ceiling over the tub will be 9 foot or more at its highest, so I will find out this Tuesday how to hang the chandelier when the electrician arrives. Just so I cannot reach it while standing in a tub of water, I think that is the criteria, right?

Yes, you can paint the appliances that are not porcelain and you can even have them paint countertops. They work miracles. I am not kidding. I had my countertops done at my last house before I sold it (bathroom) because I had gotten wild and crazy one day and did a bathroom in apple green, orange and navy wallpaper and the countertops in apple green. I repapered the room. They painted the tub and countertops all white. The tub always was white but tubs get those rust marks and it just needed painting. It looked gerat. The last time I talked to the lady who bought the house she was going to gut the bathroom and put granite on the countertops. She then said, "Well, I guess there is no use in asking what color the tub was, " when I told her I had painted that white over green formica. But, she acted like she did not believe me. I told DH I bet she went home and scratched the countertops to see if the white would turn green. LOLOL

Tonight DH and I discussed how we want the contractor to finish the tub and walk in closet bumpout. And to what degree we want it completed. DH is an itch about doing things so-so, therefore it will be better to add the tiles ourselves, and do the painting as well. BUT, the electrical, the plumbing, the windows, the removal of the old pair of windows in the bedroom to allow entry into the new closet, that will be framed and cut by the contractor. Also, drywall and taped, but we will finish with a skim of plaster--or so DH thinks. I am ready to leave the closet drywall plain. I am fed UP with DUST. In the tub bumpout, I've decided I want it all beadboard...roof and walls. I think there is a synthetic beadboard mfg by a company with a name beginning with "A"...am I right? That would be very very water proof or moisture resistant. Of course the contractor will do the foundation, the framing, the roof as well. Our windows will be up high near the little rafter "tails" that stick out all around the house. The clerestory "lights" will be NON opening, and made of Lexan. DH says that if you make them less than 24 inches (they will be about 16) you do not have to allow for expansion/contraction of the Lexan. So each small panel can be caulked in and screwed down. That will give us natural light all along our northern exposure, and require no window treatments. I want these Lexan panels in the walkin closet also. I already have the wire closet kit to make high and low hanging racks and such.In fact, I might even get the contractor to install them for me. The top shelf rack will come about the height of the window bottoms. The roofline will just extend at its current angle, and we will lose a little closet height near the outer new wall...but not enough to create a problem. Having the "lights" up high will really take advantage of ambient natural light coming from the north, which is true and consistent all year long, winter and summer. For closet doors, I plan to get two pairs of bifold with frosted glass in the top panels, and louvered fixed shutters in the bottom panels. They can be installed later by us, because the brand I want is special order from Lowes. I also already have the tub fixtures/plumbing stuff ready to be installed. And the two short sconces and one longer double ended sconce for the sink, and the towel bars and racks and ONE grab bar. I plan on more of these grab bars, and will ask the contractor to place a lot of blocking in the walls while they are open. I am so excited. I've tried not to get my hopes up, this might not work out, but OH BOY I"M READY TO TAKE A TUB BATH. If the man is a professional, this job should not take very long, should it?