I know this thread is a couple of years old but after a little Googling I found that this question has not been answered very well anywhere. What I have discovered is that you are not going to be presented with many soaking tub/shower combination photos in magazines or books. They all tend to focus on 'idealized' situations where there is ample room for both a soaking tub and a detached shower. But combining a soaking tub & shower is very possible. Here are a couple of ways it can be done. a. The free standing tub (e.g. clawfoot tub) with a wraparound shower curtain on a circular shower curtain rod. This is probably the simplest way to achieve a soaking tub/ standing shower combo. And if you do not car for the 'clawfoot' design there are many new free standing tubs that have bases other than clawed feet. Some are very elegant looking. b. A 'drop in' tub with square corners where tiled walls can be brought right down to the lip of the tub so that there is are no flat, horizontal surfaces where standing water from a shower can accumulate. This might require bringing the wall a bit closer to the tub. No problem. It can be done. Say your space is 80 inches and your soaking tub is only 70 inches long. Bring one wall 10 inched closer to the end of the tub (or both walls 5 inches closer) and create cubby holes (shelves) for towels in the walled area. c. Install a drop in soaking tub in the typical fashion, but include a circular shower curtain rod above it, and place the shower head above the center of the tub, or even hang it directly above the tub pointing straight down from the ceiling. This is actually the design I am considering. I may be a bit unconventional but who cares about convention if it is functional, serves your purposes and it installed in such a way that it looks visually appealing. If you place a cute ring to hold the shower curtain away from the tub when not in use and purchase a pretty looking circular shower curtain ring you could have yourself a real winning design. You could even place a horizontal beam covered with tile along the ceiling that would hide the shower curtain ring. d. A wet design. Either a claw foot style tub or drop in tub can be coupled with an overhead shower with no shower curtain whatsoever if you tile and slope the floor toward a floor drain. If using a drop in tub, slightly angle the horizontal tiled surfaces surrounding the tub so there is no free standing water, so that any water runs off onto the floor and into the floor drain. There is no reason why this cannot be done. After all, the floors of showers are slightly sloped, tiled, horizontal surfaces! Just use some creativity and do what you want. There are many ways to accomplish a soaking tub/standing shower combination! Of course you don't want to do anything too weird of it might affect your resale value. But if you use common sense you can definitely come up with a wonderful design. Don't let other people tell you what to do!! Note: If stepping in and out of a tall soaking tub seems unpractical for daily use, considering building 2 or 3 tiled steps up to your tub. problem solved. For extra safety a chrome grap bar or two and be affixed to the walls. Never a bad idea in any shower or tub anyway! -MyDogBurt

Devils advocate here because it happened to my brother's family recently. They live in an older neighborhood in a small college town in East Texas. The neighborhood is very desirable though, and property resale values stable, even with the new subdivisions springing up. They recently moved for Jobs and put sold their home. It had been updated cosmetically throughout. A large utility room had an enclosed acrylic shower they had redone in tile as well as the rest of the room updated. The hall bath had been a tub only when they purchased 10 years ago, but was short. They tore it out, shortened the 2 sink vanity to 1 sink, and put in a long, free standing tub on a base. The master bath is small with a double vanity, shower only with the toilet right next to it. They retiled the shower and did other cosmetic updates. All these updates were done 5-6 years ago. When the house went on the market, there was a big open house. Many buyers made comments that they did not like the shower only in the master while others didn't like the tub only feature in the hall bath. Needless to say, it was not an issue for many other buyers and there was a bidding war over the home and it sold very quickly. Do not remodel for what will work for someone else. It is not their home. They have their own home to do with what pleases them. If having a bath only bathroom works for you and your lifestyle, then by all means do that. How often do you have guests? Are you like a B & B or is it just an occasional person every few years? If a guest has a problem using a tub, they have an option down the hall. If that is too inconvenient for them as a guest in your home, there is always a hotel. Someone that high maintenance in your home may not be worth the hassle.

Thanks so much for the suggestions and advice. I am concerned about being able to get the tub close enough for a faucet reach but far away enough to clean. Unfortunately, a floor mount is not ideal since we're on a concrete slab. A wall mount would be a much easier install. It would be on a wall backing up to the master closet, so I think we could also have a panel to access the plumbing. I really like the Newport brass fixture, although it's a bit more modern than fixtures we've used in the other bathrooms. I would like to use a readily available brand name so parts are replaceable.

(cameron, i found a lot of new photos for you to view. see what you think) tozmo, that one you posted is actually nice looking. I guess i'm thinking of the old school corner showers. some smaller corner showers can look nice. I like this one too: Corner tub and corner shower! But yes, playing around w/design and layout ideas could be an option for a corner shower. Cameron, I found some other photos of a 'wet room' to give you some other ideas. And they show some linear drains on the shower floor. What I was thinking of was a drop in tub w/a deck, and the shower right next to it. Could you possibly do something like this? Or, what about this type of set up? at least the cleaning issues and water draining behind and in the corners wouldn't be an issue w/this layout Also notice the fixed panel glass divider. Doing this is better for airing out the shower which will have a huge impact on mildew buildup. is it possible to do a thin window in the shower so she could look out while bathing? (pretend there's a tub here) Also, look into doing a ledge just above the tub. of course the ledge would also be sloped toward the floor. don't forget the hand held shower head. these are necessary for cleaning the tub (and the shower) maybe something like this niche. Look at these pics and notice how they have the niche or ledge, the wall mount tub faucet, the tub placement and shape, the drains, curbless showers, and the fixed panel glass. not many of these wet rooms have full glass enclosures. If you do go w/that, make sure you have a window you open or the best exhaust fan. Both of these pics have the linear drains, curbless shower, fixed glass panel. an article about building these types of tub/showers http://jlm-designs.net/what-is-a-wet-room-learn-more-about-this-new-design-trend/ could you do the shower in the back, large glass divider, and place the tub in front of it? I always loved these! sunken tubs. popular in the mid century style.