They probably had units (caddies?) that hang from the shower pipe, and moved those for cleaning up the house to show.

Shower storage

Jak - I don't think you are picky at all. I'm sorry but who takes their soap and shampoo into the shower and then back out every time...? Geez! I saw another house the other day where they had the shampoo on the floor of the shower and I had no clue as to where the soap was. I cannot imagine paying a $zillion for a house and having to put one of those things on the shower pipe to put my soap.

Geez, that sounds too much like dorm living to me. Having to take your stuff in and out of the shower is too much trouble. I'd rather have the clutter of a few bottles of shower gel and shampoo.

We had our Master bath redone about six years ago. My friend would come over periodically to see how it was coming along. We put two niches in for soap/shampoo. Two years later they had their Mb remodeled......wire shower caddy hanging from the shower head.

I totally agree feels like my dorm living. I get not having much out when a house is viewed but i need a place for my shampoo, conditioner, razor.....maybe a place to raise my leg...we all need to bathe. I haven't carried a caddie since college and won't ever again.

When we were selling our house last year, our realtor and the stager told me to take down the shower caddy whenever there was a showing. They told me to get a bucket that would fit under the sink where we can put the soap and shampoo when people come over to look. Apparently, buyers don't want to see your bathroom stuff (I'm sure they have those, too;)

For the past 3 years, DD has been sharing a beautiful rental house with three of her sorority sisters. Built in the Forties, neither bathroom had a place for shampoo, etc. I ended up buying her/them a nice shower storage pole/shelf system on Amazon. I can't imagine bathrooms in your upscale area without something already built in, at least during a renovation. I had nichos and benches built into ours.

I'll be the outlier here :) I've never lived in a house that had a built in holder for toiletries in the shower, so didn't even consider it when we were having our home built 12 years ago (when shower niches were very much in vogue). At my previous homes, I kept my few toiletry items on the side of the bathtub. My kids still do that in their bathroom, but they use the same mixture for shampoo and body wash so it's just a single bottle. In our current master bath (where the bath and shower are separate), my husband used to keep his stuff on the built-in bench, and I used a small wire caddy on my shower head... I guess I never realized they were so gauche ;)

A couple of years ago, I read the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and was intrigued by the author's suggestion to store shower items outside the shower. Obviously it wouldn't work for everyone, but it's worked out wonderfully for us. Other than our shower scrubbies and my razor, which are kept on suction hooks above the shower heads where it stays pretty dry, all other toiletries live in the floor-to-ceiling cabinet that's directly across from the shower. I don't wash my hair every day, so usually only need my soap and facial scrub. Either way, it's not a big deal to grab the items I need and move them into the shower as soon as I fire up the hot water. When I'm done with each item it goes on the bath mat to dry off and then gets put away when I get out of the shower. It sure makes using the squeegee and spritzing with shower cleaner spray easier, so overall I spend less time cleaning the shower. The uncluttered look is an added bonus.

Well it can be expensive depending on the area but still not have these. Our condo was considered pretty upscale..yet nobody remodeled the builder grade baths(including us lol..ah we did change the floors though at some point), so the shower had no bench, no niche, nothing for storage really. I dislike most organizers they tend to get rusty..we kept shampoos etc on that little step that the shower door was attached to. And on the teak bench we got for sitting there. I was afraid to sit on it anyway:) And we had towels put on this movable rack right on top of the door. Not extremely convenient. Well when I was 20 or 30 I wouldn't care, but now I actually do. I want a place to sit.

It still was a beautiful bath, even though the white tile and pickled oak wasn't my thing..It was big, and planned nicely. It had a huge window with palm trees looking in, and the entrance to master closet was off the bath..that was convenient. And the bath itself was raised and had a step-I found it very helpful. I'm a bath person..a clumsy one lol. We repeated this idea when we remodeled the new house.

When I had to increase storage in kids' bathroom(much smaller space this time), I did buy a hanging organizer for their shower-bath combo. But this time I looked and looked until I finally saw a nice looking one and made in such a way so it won't slip..it's teak. A big help for a small space.

In our master bath that we had to plan from the beginning since it was a part of the addition we were very onto adding all those things we didn't have before..a bench, a niche..so much more considered, and comfortable.

But I bet we payed a very different price than those builders of our condo community. Although I must give them that: it was one of the best layouts I have ever seen in my life. Unlike 90% of new construction. What do they ask 800K for I frankly don't know. Because it's new?

(it does start looking like it makes some sense after it's priced close to a million. Or so I noticed.)

Even if I keep my things outside of the shower, I still need someplace convenient to put them WHILE I shower.

Although I never looked at what you are specifically asking, I do notice that builders in my upscale area do cut corners when it comes to the bathrooms. Many only tile what is necessary. Same with landscaping. They throw a few bushes in and call it a day.

Yet, they command top dollar, due to the area.

As it turns out, my own mother is one of those people who don't keep their shower essentials in the shower. When she still lived in her own home, she kept everything in a cabinet under the sink and would transport it back and forth. I found out during our master bath remodel when I showed her the niches we were building into our new shower. She expressed dismay that we were "ruining the design and aesthetics of our bathroom" by having shower products stored out in the open like that.

My current shower has a decent niche, but even with that I have 2 suction cup held corner caddies. In the new to us house we are about to relocate to, I am planning a bath remodel. I have already planned for at least 3 niches. I will say that I do not do clear glass shower enclosures, mine are frosted. In both bathrooms the shower is close enough to a mirror that I don't want clear glass! If I was doing clear glass then I think the clutter of a bunch of products would bother me but since I can't see details through the glass then the convenience of the niches is totally worth it.

Part of my issue is I like to change around what I use from day to day. I get tired of the same scent pretty quickly so I usually have at least 3 options on any given day.

I'll add my opinion on wire shower caddies. I don't particularly care for the look, but we had used one for over 10 years out of necessity. (no other place to put shampoo, conditioner, etc.)

Last year we suddenly had a leak in our shower. The wall was wet and soft around the upper edge and side. We called our plumber, and he said the wire caddies hung over the shower head were the worst, and he sees this problem often. Over time, the daily pressure/weight and movement cause the pipe inside the wall to leak at the joint!

No more wire caddie for us! Until we are able to remodel our bathroom, all of our shower necessities are sitting on the floor of our shower......

Needless to say, our new shower will have a couple of niches for shampoo bottles, etc!

I will say in our previous home when there were showings I took my regular stuff out and put very beautiful bottles and unused homemade soaps in out bathrooms. If they opened the vanity doors they knew we were faking.

Gosh - TVq1 - it is always something. Thank you for that information.

My parents use caddies and remove their products from the two showers that they use after they're finished with them. This helps with ease of cleaning. I started doing the same thing when we moved to our new house, even though I do have a corner tile shelf and a granite ledge that I can put my products on. I've gotten lazy, though, and lately have been leaving my products in the shower. I don't like the way they look there, and it's easier for me to spray down the entire shower with cleaning product when the products are elsewhere. It's really not all that unusual to remove the products, and just boils down to personal preference. That said, I don't think I'd be too keen on not even having a place to put them during use, and am happy for the shelf and ledge that I do have.

I cannot imagine DH taking soap/shampoo in and out of shower. He would have soapy water trailing from one place to another. He usually leaves things where he last used them and often with the tops off. Having to put our soap and shampoo on the floor of the shower doesn't make sense at all. Neither does hanging something from the shower head - after reading the above post concerning leaks cased by the extra weight. So, I guess we will have to find some sort of suction cup shelf contraption or pay to have someone install a shelf in at least two of the showers.

My shower/tub has a corner shelf. When I redid my mother's bathroom, I installed a soap holder in the tile for the bathtub, and I wish I had one for my bathtub. I especially do not like the wire shower caddies, but sometimes they are necessary. A niche can be designed into the tile pattern to be attractive - it does not have to ruin a tile pattern.

Master bath has two built in niches but they're very narrow. Main bath (where DH showers for some reason) has built in corners for storage at the tub edges, but we had a wire hanger there. I took it down when we changed out the shower head, and I got a dispenser that attaches to the wall. It holds shampoo, conditioner and body wash and we just refill it as needed. It's a better solution than all those bottles that fall onto the floor!

When I redo the master I plan to get one for that shower too-I've seen some that have space to hang loofas, razors, etc.

I hate seeing shower clutter too. The only place we have to put bottles would be around the edge of the tub but I use one of those over the shower head pipe caddys which only holds sons toothbrush/toothpaste and a buff puff. I have a dispenser that attaches to the corner that holds shampoo, conditioner and body wash. And then a mesh pocket like thing that you hang with your shower curtain that holds my face wash, toothbrush, razor, dd's face wash.

I put a high shelf in each shower compartment and in the second one I got even smarter and put a drain hole in the shelf. They are out of the way of the shower spray, the only water that gets on them runs off the bottles. That said, our showers have one body wash, one shampoo, and one scrub in them at a time, and I keep a razor, toothbrush and toothpaste in there too. (Which are hidden because the shelf is slightly above eye level). So no clutter really, and the shelves are not visible from the door.

But I think nothing in there to hold necessities, (Even if you carry them back and forth), is style over substance.

The version that I don't get is the altar-like free-standing tub with absolutely no discreet storage for anything at all nearby. I guarantee you most people leave stuff on the rim of the tub or piled on the floor around the tub, totally ruining the effect. But I think a lot of people are blind to that sort of clutter. Personally I don't want something that looks nice when I straighten it up for company to see. I want it to look nice during practical everyday use.

OK, before this thread, I have never heard of keeping a toothbrush/toothpaste in the shower. How common is this?

I prefer not to have a lot of stuff in showers so we only put niches into a couple of them. For the others we have the metal suction cup baskets for soap and shampoo. (I'd be happy with a carry caddy but DH would not.)

My thing about a carry caddy is that you are taking something wet and storing it somewhere dry at least once a day.

Well I don't do it-the toothbrush in the shower thing- but my DH does it. Because that's where he brushes his teeth. So I put it back after he's done and gone.

The shower though is build in a way you can't really see the niche and things in it/or the part of the bench where I keep a soap and a squeegee..so it looks very clean

He does put his toothbrush higher up though where the partial wall and the glass meet..to keep it more dry I suppose? so I take it out and put it back in the thing-y holder for toothbrushes that's on the vanity counter...our toothbrushes etc.thing-y is actually a very nice creamer..nice pottery piece that looks like it was born to stand in this bathroom.

I must say that I do have soft spot for pretty bottles and such. Actually I have even very organic looking toothbrushes..:) But my DH goes for the biggest cheapest bottles possible..if he sees something that seems too pretty to him he'd be like "It's too pretty..I can't use it". I don't really get it since why not..but whatever.

Same things with clothes btw. The better they're made the less chance he'd wear them..he would sometimes but just to make me happy. He has this firm belief jeans should cost 20 bucks because that's what he payed for a pair of Levi's in nineties. Well ok..there's been an inflation, right?

"OK, before this thread, I have never heard of keeping a toothbrush/toothpaste in the shower. How common is this?"

Personally I know I do a better job brushing in the shower than over the sink. I can brush, brush away while my hair is getting wet. I can take my time brushing because I'm not rushing from toothpaste running down my hand. I've brushed my teeth in the shower for forever!!

Uh, I brush my teeth several times a day, but I only shower once,

I brush my teeth in the shower, at the kitchen sink and sometimes at work, but I rarely do it in front of the bathroom mirror.

We just gutted three bathrooms and modernized everything. The MB has a 3x6 ft shower. There were compromises we had to make based on drain holes in the concrete, but a the shower went in anyway. I had them put a corner foot rest in the back and a corner shelf above that. Then just above that there is a 2-ft wide window with ledge wide enough to hold more. With a family of women that's still not enough. The plumber thought it was a good idea to put the shower head at 7 feet (it wasn't). We needed more real estate but there's no shower caddy that hangs that low. I stuck a bath type Command hook at eye level and it's working perfectly. They make one especially for shower caddies. I got the nicest plastic caddy I could find so it can go into the dishwasher to clean.

Pali -- Totally agree! I love those beautiful, free-standing tubs and actually had a claw foot in one house but I'm glad our new to us house will have a tub surround for things...And, I'm also glad the tub doesn't have jets.

April - so funny about your husband not wanting to use the "pretty" things -- I think mine would be the same, like -- Can I use these???? LOL

Brushing ones teeth in the shower sounds so interesting but with warm water :-/.... We are in the desert so we try to make showers short.

sunfeather I'm not so sure how warm is the water when my DH takes shower..:) I can't walk into his shower I'd be freezing to death. When I shower he thinks it's boiling hot.

BTW boiling hot is good for keeping showers short..I love only very hot water but I know I'll loose conscience if I'm not getting out of there fast enough..:)

Frankly, having a place for shampoo, soap or whatever in the shower works well. Doesn't mean some one has to use it, but it gives options. Plus, if one is bringing in any of these items each time one showers, it is convenient to have a platform upon which to place them. The floor doesn't work for all.

A lot of personal preferences shared and they are all very valid and very real. I think this issue comes down to the difference between "high style" and USE. I often thought of this difference when watching HGTV. What looks good might not always be functional in real time. A shower without a place to set things is silly at best.

Our master shower has two corner shelves by each shower head, and then a corner "seat" (which is really a large shelf) on my side for my foot. Each of us having two shelves means that it doesn't look crowded even when we have all our stuff there. Having it bare to me looks sort of 'fake', but I do like that nothing is crammed together.

The upstairs shower has a built in shelf--and I should have done at least two.

The downstairs bathroom has a bath surround. I ended up getting a multi-piece rather than a single piece (new construction) because I couldn't find a new construction one that had anywhere to put the shower stuff.

We're about to move into a townhouse for a year--I suspect I'll be looking for some of the not-so-attractive-but-oh-so-useful bathroom storage solutions.

That's for sure....usually what looks good or cool doesn't work in real life!!

Hmm Maybe I am crazy! I just put in a double niche and a single niche (above each other) and three corner grab bar/shelves that have drain holes.

We use two different body washes, three wash clothes, two tooth brushes, toothpaste, two razors, a face soap, a face exfoliating cream, and my conditioner. There is no way I want to lug that around back and forth. I really dislike the things that hang on the door or the shower head.

This is my first time with Niches. :)

Yes, in the guest bath, with the tub, I put in two niches, different heights for guest convenience. I've never before lived in a home with niches in the wall tiles, and when I first saw them elsewhere, I thought: what a great, practical, and attractive idea!

The master is a roll in shower (age in place). I found two corner caddies that attach to the walls and whose railings are suitable and rated for use as grab bars. Again, two different heights. Dual purpose!

I can certainly lean to form over function but I can't imagine toting a shower caddy in with me every day!

But I can definitely see how some of the stunning full-glass showers don't leave much room for anything but a niche on full view -- which seems to call for at least decanting such low-brow things as shampoo etc into perfect-for-the-room bottles!

Personally I like the view from the door to be as free from bottles as possible but...it is what it is.

In this bath the left-hand niche is fairly obscured from door and will be more so when shower curtain goes up:

SNEAK PEEK | Deconstructed Deco small vintage-inspired colored bath · More Info

PREVIEW | Deco Deconstructed small vintage-inspired colored tile bath · More Info

In this one the vertical niche is at the end of the bench and completely hidden from sight:

Rectilinear Romance in a small vintage-inspired colored tile bath · More Info

Rectilinear Romance in a small vintage-inspired colored bath · More Info

And I grew up in a late 30s house with one of the first "Cinderella tubs" (in a lot of 50s houses) installed as a tub/shower combo. It had a single tiled ledge (similar to the double ones below) as well as those seating areas that could -- and sometimes did! -- hold overflow.

Even pulled to one side the shower curtain covers most of it. My mom's still there and I need to get a shot of it!

that is pretty harsh runninginplace. It is pretty common. If you are using natural products there is no reason you should really need a separate shampoo and body wash.

HERE is another one.

I am currently looking in to an argon cleanser that is for face and body too.

They make combined body wash and shampoo even in store brand types. I also dry off the bottles, my razor and tooth brush after use. But I set them on the edge of the tub, dry the shelf off and then put it back. I haven't used bar soap in maybe 20 years.

Drying everything is fast, saves cleaning time in the long run, --as does avoiding bar soap--almost completely eliminates the possibility of mildew, is better for your razor and toothbrush but is hell on towels.

Boopadoo is correct regarding the "F" you asked about, runningplace... We use natural products here. Clever marketing will make you think you need special soaps for everything, but there are products that clean both hair and skin (among other things) very well. I started them out with California Baby but now usually make my own.

You must have mixed my post up with someone else's because we don't use washcloths here (though I keep some around for guests). The scrubbies and razor go on hooks above the shower heads. I use bar soap (my husband prefers the liquid), but it sits and drains on a soap dish, not directly on the bath mat. To your comment about ease, easy has never been at the top of my priority list. I also do crazy things that require far more effort than putting a soap dish and toiletry bottles on a bath mat, such as riding my bike instead of driving whenever I can, composting, and even cloth diapering my kids. SO gross, right?! ;)

SO and I redid our tub/shower surround with ceramic tile. We had niches before and wanted better ones, because our bathroom was tiny already, didn't have hardly any storage space. I will tell you that attractive niches are a b!tch to work into your tile designs, particularly if you are on a budget and are looking to do something stylish that doesn't break the bank. Part of the issue is they have to be built in between the wall studs, not necessarily where you want a niche to jibe with the tile pattern. SO and I almost broke up over the design of ours! With the way modern installers cut corners and desire to pay for skilled labor, I bet it is partly ease of design and installation. The only thing worse than a shower area without niches is one with crappy looking ones, so the idea I think is to avoid that from a style perspective.

I now have a mesh hanging unit that hooks onto the shower curtain rod with the shower curtain hooks. That way it is inside against the shower curtain on the back side, so doesn't show. I like it. However, I am not so particular that I don't love some niches and bars, particularly for hanging wet wash clothes. My next shower design is going to have a washcloth rack on the end.

This is one of those things that can be really difficult. I did a couple recesses that I wanted to fit into the tile pattern exactly and we had to figure out in the framing stage how the tile was going to lay out, frame the openings slightly oversized, put the cement board over them, waterproof, start the tile layout, figure out exactly where the recessed piece was going to go, cut the hole, shim the opening to the correct size, re water proof as necessary and then do the recess exactly in the tile pattern. Two that I did are outside the shower so I did not have to worry about re waterproofing.
I also lay my outlets and switches out in the tile pattern and that is a multi-step process as well.

I have a stainless wire hanger with 3 wire baskets hanging over the corner of the bathroom, that has a tub/shower combination. I put everything in there. This tub and shower area is mostly used when there are guests. I do have places that are to set bottles on them, but, they drip and look messy. I love the 3 tier hanging basket. everything dries out very quickly, once it is put back too

I have one niche from a bathroom remodel three years ago. It's tall enough for a large bottle of shampoo and just wide enough for another shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face soap, shaving cream and razor. Everything just fits. If the niche were any larger, or if I had more than one, it would just be cluttered up with more things. The more the merrier!!! I still have to put my Clarisonic on the edge of the tub.

I'm glad my niche is made of field tile with quarter round edging. All those niches with stripes running through them are kinda messed up with product sitting in front of the design.

I remember as a kid selling magnetic soap holders to raise money for Brownie Scouts. I was always out bothering the neighbors to buy something or other. Just Googled and there are all kinds of those holders on the market

I have too many bath products (7 bottles and a liquid soap pump) for a wire showerhead rack to work well. Tried one, but it looked messy, and the hose of the hand-held knocked things out of it. The ancient tub (1943, but in perfect condition) of the tub/shower combo has sides so narrow that the tub corners can barely hold a razor. Solution: a pretty, medium-sized basket atop a very small stool (7" tall x 9" wide x 14" long) stationed beside the rear corner of the tub. The bottles don't show above the top of the basket, which is just high enough to be within easy reach, yet low enough to clear the towel that hangs above it.

That was an easy fix. The harder fix for this 5' x 7' bath is recreating the lavender-speckled tile. All the bathroom walls are tiled to either ceiling or chest height. When DH removed the ancient 24" vanity (NOT in perfect shape), we found the original owners had tiled AROUND it. The new one fits the space differently, leaving naked wall board exposed. If I have to make tiles to fill these gaps, I might as well make enough to tile that corner completely so as to have the future option of installing a pedestal sink. So I need 48 pieces to install where the vanity used to be. I think I've managed to mix hobby paint for ceramic to the right shade (about a quart of it) and now have only(!) to perfect my speckling/spattering technique. Eventually it might be a cute little bathroom.

We needed a niche but I don't like the look of them so we had our tile people create a hidden one.

Now you don't see it (it's to the left of the lower body spray)

You can sort of see it if you know where to look.

There it is!