Bathroom Trends for the Shower: Seats, Smoked Glass, Steam and Color

The bathroom features people keep are the ones built into the shower: a seat, the right glass, steam if the room can take it. They last because they change how the room is used, not only how it looks. Each has to be planned before the walls are closed, so here is what each one needs.

A built-in shower seat

A seat against the wall turns a shower from a box you stand in into a room you can spend time in. A stone top is the classic choice. What it needs: the seat is framed and waterproofed as part of the shower, with the waterproofing running unbroken over it, and its top is pitched slightly so water runs off. Place it out of the main spray, or within reach of a hand shower. In a small shower, a corner seat or a fold-down one does the job in less room.

Our own schedule puts cement board in the wet areas and waterproofs the floor and the shower to the ceiling before the tile goes on, and the seat is part of that step. It is not something to add afterward.

Smoked glass

Tinted glass has come back from the 1970s, and it suits a wide range of rooms. A smoked screen sits well with strong colors and gives real privacy in a bathroom that more than one person uses. What it needs: a light inside the shower, because tint keeps daylight out, and a decision made with the tile in your hand, since gray and bronze tints change the colors behind them.

Steam and the home spa

The bathroom as a place to recover in is the idea behind steam showers, massage showers, deep soaking baths and saunas. What it needs: a steam shower is a sealed enclosure, closed to the ceiling, with a generator nearby that needs a water line, a drain and an electrical circuit. That is plumbing and electrical work for licensed trades. The Department of Buildings says most bathroom renovations need an application filed by an engineer or architect (NYC Buildings), and electrical work is done by a licensed electrical contractor under its own permit (NYC Buildings). In an apartment the building has to agree as well, so raise it with the managing agent at the start.

A shower with several heads uses water in proportion. For scale, a standard showerhead uses 2.5 gallons a minute, and one with the federal WaterSense label uses no more than 2.0 (EPA).

The spa feeling does not depend on machinery. A deep tub, a warm floor, good towels and a dimmer on the light go a long way.

Green

Green connects a bathroom to the outdoors. In soft shades it is calm. In deep ones it gives a room character and depth. You can bring it in with tile or ceramics, with paint, or with plants. What it needs: plants need daylight, so a windowless bathroom wants species that tolerate low light, or none. Handmade green tile varies from piece to piece, which is its charm, so see a full box before you order.

Black

An all-black bathroom is dramatic, and it works best with texture: porcelain tile with a surface to it, matte fittings, a dark stone. What it needs: more light than you expect, at the mirror above all, and finishes chosen for cleaning. Polished black shows water marks and soap. Matte and textured surfaces forgive them.

Plan the shower before the tile

• Decide on the seat, the niche and the glass first. They fix where the framing and the waterproofing go.
• Decide on steam and extra shower heads next. They fix the plumbing and the wiring.
• Choose tile and color last. They are the only part that can change late.

The order of work, and the four to eight weeks an average bathroom takes us, are set out in the bathroom remodel timeline. The job as a whole is described under bathroom renovation in NYC, and finished showers are in the bathroom gallery. For the rest of the room, see what makes a stylish bathroom in a New York apartment.

Questions people ask