Sunday, December 21, 2008

The master bath continues



The master bath has become a source of, um, problem.  Specifically, the shower.  
We originally planned to have a shower pan built at House of Marble.  For a 5 foot by 5 foot custom cultured marble pan they estimated a cost of $700.  Which I guess isn't bad.  But then we got to talking.  During my brief tenure with a company that dealt with travertine, marble and such, I acquired a piece of travertine.  It's four feet long, a foot deep and about an inch thick.  It would make an AWESOME shower bench.  But then we began questioning how the bench would work in regards to the pan.  Since it's solid travertine, the
 piece is not light.  There is no way to 'hang' it off the wall, it would definitely need to sit on something sturdy.  I suggested cinder blocks.  (And, after doing some research, I found that is in fact 
an acceptable foundation for a bench.  BUT that is because we have a slab foundation.  You might want to consider another option if you are dealing with a second story or if you have a crawl space.)
So, now we think that we may need to build a custom shower pan where the bench base would actually sit inside the pan and then it would all be tiled together.  It will have a much more custom look and be a bit more cohesive than the pre built pan.
The design for the shower will use a 13x13 tile set on a diagonal. 

This will go from the floor up to about the 5 foot mark.  There, we will use a small brick tile that I found on Ebay.  The store is Oracle Tile, (here is their Ebay store) they have great prices, and despite having to pay shipping charges from California, it was still cheaper than similar products at Lowe's/Home Depot and they have a great variety.  If you are looking for tile, these guys are a must.  I bought six sheets of the brick pattern and one sheet of a matching 1 by 1.  I'm going to use these as accents throughout.  
And above that will be the same 13x13 squared off and we will take the tile up to the bottom of the window which is around 7 1/2 feet.
If we can make the bench work, it take up the four feet and the last foot will be a higher shelf for shampoo.  If the bench will not work, then we will go with the cultured marble pan and a corner shelf.
I will eventually add a sketch of the shower design.

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