sjhockeyfan, thank you very much for sharing your shower stall's information. So your shower base's width from wall to the step's inner edge is 28". What is your step made up of --- 2 bullnoses or tile and metal trims? Lotteryticket, thanks for your information. raehelen, appreciate your help. My contractor said with two bullnoses of 3" width, the step would be 6" wide. For 4" step, 32" wide shower stall would have a base space of 28" (32 - step width 4). But if I have 6" step, in order to have the base space of 28"(not including step width), I need to have a total width of 34" including step (28+6). So does your rectangular shower stall have a width of 28" not including the step? What are your steps made up of---2 bullnoses or tile and metal trims? Anna-in-TX, thank you very much for sharing the picture. It's a smart option. This post was edited by janesylvia on Wed, Jan 8, 14 at 2:23

Maybe I can help. Our house was built in 1962 and, interestingly enough, we are just finishing a master bath with exactly the same dimensions as yours and pretty much the same layout. All that remains to be done is for the shower door to be hung; that's another story. As I said, our bath is 7 feet long and a smidge under 7 1/2 feet wide. We also have a window over the toilet, but our wall with the vanity is on an interior wall, so no window there. The layout for our bathroom is exactly what you have in your plans, with a couple of minor differences. Our shower is 48" long, but only about 32" wide. We put a half wall between the shower and the toilet with a clear shower enclosure on the front of the shower and above the half wall. That provides a little privacy for the toilet area and prevents it being seen from the bedroom while maintaining the open feeling of the clear shower enclosure. We put crown molding all around the bathroom since the shower enclosure doesn't go all the way to the ceiling and so we weren't concerned about the humidity and the wood. The shower enclosure is tiled to the bottom of the crown molding and there is a bullnose decorative tile with a black pencil accent tile right below it that runs through the shower and extends all the way around the bathroom at wainscot height. We used a white subway tile for the shower enclosure and below the bullnose tile around the remainder of the bathroom. The subway tile and decorative tile form the backsplash above the vanity. Our plumbing for the shower is also in the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom. We used a black and white porcelain basketweave tile for the floor, both in the shower and in the remainder of the bathroom. The black accent tile on the walls and the black "dot" in the floor relate well to each other. Since we don't have the issue of the window over the vanity, we put two sinks in ours and there is plenty of room for them. The countertop doesn't feel crowded at all. As far as the grout goes, we used white epoxy grout (I don't know the brand) on the walls, and a dark gray on the floor. I've been using the bathroom, other than the shower, for a couple of months now, and the floor is pristine. While white grout was also recommended for the floor, I was too skeptical for that. The dark gray actually adds some definition to the tile pattern and there is no worry about the grout discoloring. Our vanity is 21" deep which is one reason our shower is narrower. We used standard cabinetry and the cost was relatively reasonable. It was amazing how much this small room cost! Our bathroom door does swing into the bathroom and into the shower. The only place we could find for towel bars was on the back of the door so we had to be really careful that the height of the towel bars kept them from colliding with the handle to the shower door. We also put a stop on the door so that it doesn't swing into the shower. It isn't ideal but the only way it would work for us. I don't yet have pictures; I'll try to post some in the next couple of days. Before the renovation, we had a bathtub and a small linen closet on the wall which now contains the vanity and the vanity was where the shower now is. We, thankfully, didn't need to move the toilet. I hope this has been helpful. While the bathroom is cozy, my husband and I don't generally use it at the same time. But if we did, there really is room for both of us with the double vanity. Good luck!

I vote minera to provide contrast. Does this darker color pick up the darker veining in your marble? I think that would be very pretty. I also like the minera and the nougat together in your photo. I see that it is hard to photograph the minera. It also looks like a soft dark color and not harsh. I definitely don't like the photo above this post with the dark modern cabinets.

klavr Are you sure you want to change the floor for resale value in a year? I don't know what area of the country you're from. I'm in the midwest and am pretty conservative with money. The real estate market has tanked here. Depending on your your house and your market, a tile floor may not increase your price. The added value may be in getting a buyer quicker, so that's worth something. But the market is unlikely to get better for quite a while. Buyers are scarce due to tightening lending standards and those able and ready to buy are looking for a bargain. We're returning to the days when people are less willing to pay a premium for an upgrade they could do themselves for less. Just something to think about.