We are currently at the point of putting up durock in our new shower. We will be painting redgard on top of the durock. We are using a Kohler cast iron pan and have built in a bench at the far end. We are DIYing it and neither of us have done a bathroom before so we are trying to do all our due diligence so our bathroom doesn't look like crap in the end! I have a bunch of questions I'm hoping some of you would be willing to help with. First, let me explain our design choices so you have an idea of the look we're going for. We're doing a white subway tile in the shower (Interceramic cheap stuff from Lowes). We bought the 2x6 bull nose pieces to run around the sides in the opposite direction as the subway tile. Chrome thermostatic rain shower. Frameless glass shower doors. The floor will be marble with a basketweave tile rug in the center. The vanity is white with carrera marble top. So here goes my questions: 1. Durock, fuzzy or smooth out? I've read that the fuzzy side should go out when using thinset, however I'm unclear on whether or not we should use the fuzzy side considering a layer of redgard will be painted over prior to tile. 2. Niches. We are adding two niches. One larger one, probably around a foot tall, and one narrow one directly below it for razors, etc. The back will be basketweave marble, the sides will be white subway tile we're using on the rest of the shower. We've read floor elfs tutorial on building a niche (THANK YOU) so I think we understand the construction. My question is for the "shelf" part. I'd really like to use a solid base however our budget is busted for getting something fabricated. Would it be possible to use a 3/8" marble tile and somehow polish the outer edge so its not raw ourselves? Which leads to my next question. 3. The bench. We have a bench we've constructed out of 2x4's and plywood. Again, I would really love to have a solid surface instead of tile but having something fabricated is not in our budget. I was considering using 2 18x18 marble tiles which should fit perfectly but would this look strange? Also, same problem of needing to polish the raw edge of the tile. Also, is marble just bad news for a top in the shower which will probably be coming in contact with shampoo, soap, shaving cream etc? I'm concerned about etching and looking like garbage. Any other suggestions on material we could use that'd be in keeping with the rest of our "look"? 4. Grout. I've discovered that I really love the look of white grout with white subway tile. However, I can't stand devoting a lot of time to keeping the shower clean. And I really can't stand dirty grout but I also hate to scrub it. We have a hand shower so we can do a quick rinse after showing to get rid of soap, shampoo residue but the odds of us wiping the entire shower down after each use are slim. Will a white epoxy grout on the walls just be a huge hassle with keeping it clean? Is it worth the premium vs just sealing a regular grout? And, lastly, any direction to a good tile tutorial would be appreciated. We want to make sure we don't have funky looking cuts or awkward looking tiles. If you've made it this far, thank you!! This endeavor has turned out to be a ton more work and research than I expected and this site has been an invaluable resource!

My goodness, are all of the posters in this thread living in households where no adult males live (or hang out)? I have never known an adult male -- not one -- who previously used canned foam shave cream and then tried a real shaving soap or shave cream (with hot water and a brush) who ever let canned foam touch his beard again, for the rest of his life. The experience with real shaving cream is a once-and-done experience, and what is done is the aerosol stuff; you simply cannot get to the garbage can quickly enough to dump it. And the reason that the can gets dumped is not that the can left rust rings.

here's a detailed drawing of the room that shows dimensions; hope that helps lizb. however, i am so sorry but i don't know the names of everything. the floor tile is: Augusta Marfil 18x18' and subway travertine 1'x2' as border is durango travertine and 1'x12' pencil and 2'x12' chair rail was nameless. the top wall tile was 9'x 9' b/c they ended up running out of the original tile we ordered and they just cut the 18 x 18 into fourths. the cabinet was custom, which was my biggest find of the whole room, b/c the guy is an artist and quoted me less than home depot's ugly semi-custom units and i didn't have to deal with the completely unhelpful and rude cabinet guy there. it's my favorite part of the whole room. countertop is granite called autumn gold or something with gold in the name i think. the toilet is behind the door to the right in the picture and nothing fancy, but it is a toto, which i am a faithful fan of. like i said it is a teeny tiny bathroom, so it's hard to take pics of. the lower niche was supposed to be horizontally slimmer...it's a toe rest for me to use when shaving my legs. we used to have seat in that shower space and my husband hates them and so the compromise was that niche since i never used the seat to sit on, just to rest my foot on. but the tilers (as i said before, i wasn't thrilled w/them or the inability to follow basic directions) made it way taller than it should be. i have to say, we didn't have the money to get a contractor, so i had to do that, which wasn't my first choice, but i couldn't have done it w/o all the amazing people on this forum, so thank you for helping us get through it and for getting us a bathroom that we love! and we even came in under budget! Here is a link that might be useful:

Here's what I wanted - the chrome bar that mounts to a flat wall and not a corner. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VP577JG/ref=asc_df_B00VP577JG5247533/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B00VP577JG&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198085216748&hvpos=1o9&hvnetw=g&hvrand=201849551126238050&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007826&hvtargid=pla-353535233212