Bummer, lindy! Maybe there could be a recreation in the new house? I will try to get pictures of our niche. It's time I learned how to post them anyway. It is in a hallway,and isn't as deep as the 1st pic. My DH has a specific piece of art in mind that will be my housewarming gift from him. I love niches and special ceilings! They truly make the area your own. Amy

So we have the tile, the paint and the layout finished...but the question is now niches. Niche one will be visible upon entry to the bathroom, through a glass door and adjacent glass topper to a short pony wall. To the right is the outside shower wall that might clip the visible end of the niche. This niche will be installed in a newly studded area, covering a former bay window, so we have no restrictions on length and height. The niche floor will be granite, matching the counters and shower sill, with a glass mosaic back. The niche will be rectangular or square, the question is how big? It's primary use is decorative vs. storage. My gut says 3' long and 1' high, starting at about 4' from the shower floor, and 2' from the bench/non-shower head wall (because the bench is below that end for about 18" from the wall). Placing it there will visually clip the end, where using 1' from the bench wall will not cause a visual clip. The usable niches will be within the totally walled off area of the shower. One idea would be stacking three niches, the top two being 15" tall and 10" wide with the bottom being 6" tall and 10" wide. Optionally, we can compress the spacing a bit by having a single niche with granite shelves, total of 40" tall and 10" wide. Either would be located to the side of the shower head and controls, with the bottom about 30" off the floor. Alternate idea is split the niches left and right and divide each with a granite shelf, these niches being 22" tall and 10" wide, with the upper total size 15" and the lower being 7" minus the 3cm slab thinkness. This provides four usable niches, but may look a bit noisy/busy, However the bottom of the niches would be at about 42", and probaly more ergonomic. The tile guy would hate four separate niches, but he's getting paid to do whatever, so that's in play too...call it a 15x10 above a 6x10. Thoughts?

Hi all Just wanted to update you on the project. First of all thanks to everyone who reported the racial comment from Kathy, it was very disturbing and I’m glad it is gone. For updates: 1) I took your advice and had the difficult conversation with the contractor. Although he disagreed, citing his experience, he immediately went to get some Redgard when I insisted - I think that is great customer focus (not many contractors out there are good about this). He was genuine about his response. For the record, he came highly recommended for the local Facebook page for moms, this is his profession for 30 years and is not a “Home depot parking lot side job person”. He also sealed up the joints and the work is coming together nicely (see attached pic). 2) I actually spoke with a couple other local contractors that folks in my network have used and swear by to get a second opinion too. One of them routinely applies Redgard and the other one does not. The theory is that if the water gets behind the tile, it’s going to be an issue, barrier or not. So these guys swear by their tiling and grouting job and also expect the homeowner to maintain it (eg resealing etc ). All I’m pointing out is there are different perspectives. I’m a perfectionist myself and admire all the pros here (reason why I turn to Houzz for advice) - that said I continuously learn in my profession that a) there are several ways to skin a cat and b) perfection can be the enemy of good. Each situation may be different slightly and one size fits all may not be applicable. Please note that I’m not recommending anyone to not waterproof - it absolutely makes sense for little additional effort 3) Last point: the tile accent wall is indeed porcelain and not abrasive stone. I expect it to clean well with the standard cleaning agents / solutions - in fact it requires less maintenance than natural stone or travertine that I often see in the bathrooms. I also checked with the manufacturer directly and they have confirmed use of this porcelain tile in tub and shower enclosures. BIG THANKS to @crcollins1_gw for your perspective on this. It is unconventional but we really love it. I’m sure many of you will disagree with opinions above and that is ok. My intent is not to offend anyone, rather just provide my perspective and in fact I’m thankful for the advice you all have given and the time spent in doing so as I will end up with a superior end result for my project and I have gained more knowledge in the process.

I would hang one of the larger pictures back over the bed. I think I would do the shelves offset from each other instead of lined up because that would be more interesting looking. Before you put holes in the wall, put up some painters tape to represent the shelves to test the layout. I don't have pictures of childrens' rooms, but here is a picture from a home office that shows what I'm talking about. You don't have as much room so you would have two across from each other.