mad-gallica makes an interesting point about the depth of a lasagna bed. I always start with wet newspapers and I think they are essential to smothering weeds and grass. I start out building a bed right on top of old, thick sod which contains a lot of weeds. I need to have a deep bed otherwise some of the weeds come up through (usually a weed with runner roots that is growing outside the bed and sending runners into the bed). My first bed was built over a summer of gathering ingredients the first year we moved here and the house was being renovated. I only had time to work on a bed, not actually garden. It condensed by about half over the winter and got topped with composted horse manure that was practically dirt in the spring. It continued to sink over the years but I've used the beds for vegetables, not perennials. I assume they will settle in as the bed matures. If your goal includes smothering existing weeds/grass, then I think you need to put down the newspaper. I have a pile of old grass clippings and chopped leaves that occasionally sprouts a weed. If you just need to build some good compost and soil, then it might be fine as it. What I also want to point out is that I needed to dig a trench around the beds. Just enough angle and depth to discourage runner weeds from growing into the bed. They still try. I still need to weed but the trench also provides a gap for the lawn mower wheels. I use an edging spade or spading shovel to cut the trench. This has greatly reduced the amount of time I spend keeping the edge of the beds neat but every spring I do have to spend a lot of time re-cutting the edges. I have quack grass and creeping jenny that cause most of the problems. If you don't have runner weeds, you might not need the trench. What also reduced edge weeding around one circular bed was to edge it with pavers so the mower wheels can get close to the bed. Grass still tries to grow between the blocks but I no longer have a problem with the lawn invading the bed in full force.

Is your niche shelf marble? Could you have your tile guy trim the niche in marble instead of tile? Your niche is too deep for the bull nose. I had the same problem and this was my tile guy's solution. I purchased a box of 12x12 stock marble from Dal Tile, my tile guy cut it to fit and polished the edges. It looks a lot cleaner and no grout lines. Alternatively, instead of having a sliver of tile next to the bull nose, you could have your tile guy cut the bull nose so that each piece is the same width. Other than that, to my untrained eye, your shower looks great! eta: and if you keep the tile trim, line up the grout lines as Chispa recommends.

Completely new to gardening. I had a bunch of bougainvillea leaves and wood that I been broken down for days/years. I added it around my rose as a mulch, and mixing it up into the soil because that area was hard clay. Should i not have done that? It's a small area and i can easily dig it away, but wanted to check before doing so. Also, what would be good for cracked clay soil? I'm thinking bark mulch, but the nursery recommends compost and gypsum. This is a bit too expensive for me right now.

Thank you all for the reassurances! Glad to know this is part of the doubt that occurs in a remodel!!! FYI: As far as Inknow, they have not prepped the shower waterproofing yet. This is what was there when they tore out the old. How is it usually done? Thanks for all of the feedback!