Heated floors in California would be a waste of money (I'm from SoCal originally), and heated towel bars to me anyways, seem to be more of a fad and not really worth the money. Our masterbath is also small, we removed a tub and made it a shower only bath and Cyn is right, put your money into beautiful tile, fixtures and if you can afford it, full glass doors for the shower.

Thank you, Cyn and Lukki. My plan is to have ceramic tile that has a natural stone look in the bathroom :-) The reason is that we currently have a bathroom with marble in it and it's been a nightmare to maintain with the softness of the stone, etc. Of course, I would be open to considering stronger stones such as quartzite but it's important to me to have earthy, neutral tones so that it feels bigger.

Also, thanks for sharing about the radiant heat. It's a bath on 2nd level so all the more reason to avoid radiant heat! Towel warmers always felt like a great idea to me but I have no experience with using those, therefore it is useful to hear about them! Yes, I'd love to hear more ideas about how to make it feel luxe. I think that a sense of spaciousness is important and that's what is at risk for the moment in my design!

While on that topic, how big a shower is comfortably big without being drafty? Will a 5'x4' shower be nice and just spacious enough?

Thanks again!

We have always, except for this house, had large master bathrooms and while the look was beautiful, they felt drafty to me. You might really be happier with a smaller bathroom. I dont know how small the room is but in order to feel spacious you need to forgo too much contrast as that is what makes rooms look and feel smaller. Try to keep your color scheme light. 5x4 shower imo would be fine. Take the glass and tiles in the shower up as high as you can to give a sense of height.

We are adding a small 13by8 master bath addition in my older home and have opted for no tub in favor of adding lots more storage, which is lacking in my house. One thing we are doing is adding lots of jets to our 4by5 shower to give us a spa like option. Another higher end thing we are adding is a curbless shower with two glass walls. It think the curbless option is easier and less expensive in new builds so it might be late to add in your bath.

Rorah, no it's not too late. We are still at design phase and entire second level is an addition, therefore plenty of time still to incorporate great ideas. Great suggestions so far, and love to hear more -- and of course if anyone sees an inspiration picture, I'd love to see as well!

Here are a few of my houzz shower ideas.

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We kept our mbath smaller with no tub. Instead we did use electric radiant flooring which is so nice...we're in the NE so cold is an issue much of the year. I also insisted on a towel warmer. I love it. Not only does it warm the towels for me so I can wrap up in them after my shower, but it acts like a radiator and helps warm the bathroom too.

We made our shower a steam shower as well. Nothing like steaming after shoveling snow in the freezing cold. It's also supposed to be good for you as you sweat out a lot of excess salts and toxins and especially if you have respiratory issues. We added a seat in the shower to sit on while we steam, and we put a light under the shower seat so we don't have to sit in an "operating room" environment while we steam, but can instead enjoy soft, indirect lighting. We used corian as everyone said granite gets and stays too cold to sit on. We also used corian for our countertop as it is softer and warmer than granite or natural stone, plus I love the integrated sink...so much easier to clean. We also put in a sound system so we can listen to news while we're getting ready in the a.m. or listen to relaxing music while we steam (though it has to be pretty loud as the steam generation is pretty noisy).

We built the shower with a 2nd handheld by the shower seat. This was done with the idea of aging in place. It came in handy when I broke my ankle and had limited mobility to be able to sit and wash. I'm also a barefooter in the summer and I love being able to go into the shower, sit and wash just my feet before I go to bed.

We have 2 sinks with a center column for storage. At the bottom of the column is an "appliance garage" with an outlet built inside. We use this for electric tooth brush and water pik so we each have access from our sinks and don't have cords hanging out all over the place.

The other big thing for DH was to design the bath so the door didn't hit you when you were standing at the sink. That was a big bugaboo for him.

We also built in a narrow cabinet next to the pot for tp storage and anything else. We did not do a separate WC and we are glad that we designed the area in front of the pot large enough to turn a wheel chair around...it was most helpful when I broke my ankle last year.

The other big luxury for me was, we went with tankless hot water heaters and we have a 2nd one which does nothing but heat the water for the master bath. I told DH I didn't care what it took but I was NOT going to take another shower where, if he turned on the water, I froze. Now he can do laundry or dishes or flush or whatever while I'm showering and my water stays hot for as long as I want it.

i don't think i would get radiant floors in a warmer weather area. also not sure that i would get a towel warmer... only time i used ours was in the late fall, winter and early spring- i loved it, but never used it when the airconditioner was on- i also liked it especially for hanging my robe on and sometimes my shirt/sweater/jacket i was going to wear. my advice there is if you install a towel warmer, install it where you can very easily reach it from the shower- even tho ours was very close to the shower, with the door swing, we would have to actually step out of the shower to get our nice warm towel!! :(

i love my makeup mirror attached to the wall, but i really don't like having the light on for very long- when using the makeup mirror with the surrounding light, i always get some serious dots(like from a camera flash) in my eyes in the shape of a ring that seem to last a long time- can't be that good for my eyes. i plan to ask the opthamologist about it next time i go!

i have some fancier pulls and lighting in our bath. dimmer switches. put in a shower fan that isn't a big and ugly looking fan... granite or marble or quartz looks nice. i had neat looking sinks in a previous house.

i love having a tower by the sink and agree about having a couple of outlets in it!

i also like a built in storage piece or linen closet to keep towels, clothes that i have worn, but will wear again before washing, a hamper, etc. i also like having a shelf with an outlet to charge our phones, etc concealed in there...

Homey, I agree with you about the marble actually. I was just thinking in terms of whites which is my favorite for bathrooms-clean, fresh, goes with any color, never dated. One thing that the inspiration photos reminded me off is tiling the ceiling of the shower. It seems most people don't these days and I have always preferred that. Easy to clean.

I also prefer a smaller bath for just the reason you mention. I hate a cold or drafty bathroom! ;-)

Like others have mentioned, luxury finishes/materials. Just consider
each aspect/addition and kick it up a notch :) And (imo) lighting is
everything! Chromatherapy in the shower. Consider a Tapmaster for
hands free water at the sink. It keeps the area much cleaner, dryer,
saves water and reduces cross contamination. We have them at all our
sinks. www.tapmaster.ca No waving your hands, or touching the fixture,
no electricity or batteries. Simply hooks into your under counter
plumbing. An uber quiet exhaust fan (Panasonic Whisper). And most
certainly a Toto Washlet (bidet seat). It replaces your toilet seat
and offers variable warm water wash (two rear and one front wash),
deodorizer, heated seat, dryer. The ultimate "spa" experience :D Saves
trees (if you're into that) by reducing the need for t-paper.