To further clarify, I just found a picture of a similar shower to mine. Instead, they inserted a premade plastic shower pan. As you can see in this pic, there drain is exactly center over the standing area. Im thinking I should either reduce the depth of my bench so that it is truly 3x4 shower pan so the drain is center. Or just move the drain forward 1.5 or 2 inches so that is centered.. I plan to install frameless glass very similar to this shower. So i realize that the drain will be visible from outside the shower and thus should probably be exactly center for aesthetic purposes.. To me, though, the bench in this picture (which i believe to be 11 or 12inch depth) is too shallow to sit comfortably.. The bench I made is very comfortable size wise, with room to lean back somewhat.. P.S. I am installing a custom mortar shower pan, and will not be using a premade... Would appreciate any opinions or ideas, as I am trying to put this pan in immediately.. Here is a link that might be useful:

I think the key to adding custom touches to your house is to really focus and make thoughtful decisions on every detail, even the smallest ones. In our house, we did a lot of custom touches, some of which were more costly than others but all of which I think made a big difference. We planned very carefully for storage to eliminate clutter and didn't allow wasted space. Two examples in our master bath- the hidden niche for shower products and the use of a cabinet instead of a pony wall: Closed: Open: Pony Wall: There's a lot of custom storage throughout the house like that. There's too much for me to post pictures of but there's a room by room tour here: http://stonepondhouse.blogspot.com We also used antique glass door knobs on all the doors retrofitted for modern doors. It was actually cheaper than buying all new door knobs. None of our light switch or plug outlets are those beige plastic ones, I upgraded every single one to nickel. Same for the floor vents. The outlet covers and light switch covers were not very expensive but it makes a big difference for a small detail. We used a lot of trim work in our house too, I think that makes a HUGE difference, although that can definitely get expensive! Custom tile work, custom colors- no beige anywhere in our house, even our cabinets are blues, greys, yellows, etc. All of our knobs on every cabinet were selected w/ a ton of thought- they all match the room they are in, a lot of them are either vintage or custom-done, and the custom ones from etsy weren't really much more expensive than the standard ones. Basically, just pay attention to ALL the details...

Okay, here are pics. Warning! These spaces are a mess, especially the pantry. We are getting ready to list the house and reorganizing is on the to-do list. Until then, chaos rules. What I will say after doing four closets (walk-in clothing, reach-in clothing, office-in-a-closet and pantry) is that the planners have certain ideas and I have my own. I like symmetry for instance. In one closet, they tried to maximize space but it was out of balance to my eye. So I had to tweak it. They are very good about going back and forth with a design until you get it right, zipping you e-mail files and then chatting on the phone. I find it helpful to know what I want before I call. Have fun, it's great stuff. I'll check back in of you have any questions. If I forget, you can find me on the Home Dec board most of the time.

Interesting thread! We built our home 15 years ago and had custom built (and I mean a single guy built them himself) cabinets throughout the house. All solid wood. Book matched. No stain--let the natural beauty of the wood show!. Maple in the kitchen. Cherry in the bar area. Walnut in the kitchenette in the lower level. They are beautiful, no doubt. My husband is a hobbyist woodworker and is a total SNOB about cabinetry. Then we bought a vacation/retirement home in northern CA a couple of years ago. Renovating it now. Here's how I looked at it. - The boxes for the kitchen cabs need to be solid, well built - If I get frameless boxes, I have the choice of changing the doors if I want something different down the road - I want a decent amount of options for designing the space, but I have long ago decided that I never will be a professional cook, and I don't need every single design feature (those of you who cook a ton deserve those clever design details!). - I wanted high end finishes (counter and backsplash in particular). - We have to spend a lot of money on the rest of the renovation and I didn't want to spend so much on the kitchen that I limited what we spent on other areas. So, we looked at IKEA. Don't be scared by the furniture. The cabinets are totally different. When we looked at what we could pay for IKEA cabs relative to other cabinet manufacturers, it was easy to say yes. We considered custom doors, but in the end we decided to do the doors with IKEA too. DH and I assembled and hung a lot of them. He is VERY handy, and he has said many times that it's all about the installation if you are DIY. We found a local former cabinet maker to finish the installation (we had to travel back home). Interesting thing is this guy, who is an amazing cabinet maker, said he can't stay in business doing cabinets any longer because he just can't compete with IKEA (this may be more true in CA than other parts of the country). Now, when I compare the kitchen in both homes, one doesn't feel more "high end" than the other. They are simply very different. Both look custom built. When we sell our current home, will 90% of the buyers out there realize the quality of our cabinets? Nope. I'm sure someone will walk in and say "I can't wait to paint these wood cabinets white". LOL! I will say that working with IKEA is easiest if there is one near you. The people in the stores seem to be very knowledgeable and eager to help. During their kitchen sales it is busy, so go on a Tuesday or Weds. And there is a learning curve when it comes to ordering. What made our process a PIA was doing it from a distance. I won't go into the gory details! Good luck with your decision!