There are two options when designing a shower entry: curb or no curb. While there are benefits to both, the curbed, or low-barrier, option stands out as the budget-friendly choice because it’s easier to construct than a true curbless design. But cost savings aren’t the only advantage. A curb keeps water at bay and creates a natural demarcation line to change up flooring materials between the main floor and the shower floor. Plus, it’s a subtle element that offers plenty of opportunity to add style. Here, five designers share details on bathrooms with a low-curb shower.
Thomas Puckett Designs
1. Floor Fashion
Designer: Thomas Puckett Designs
Location: New York City
Size: 64 square feet (6 square meters); 8 by 8 feet
Homeowner’s request. “Color was all she wanted!” says designer Thomas Puckett, who used Houzz photos for inspiration.
Low-curb shower details. Blue-and-brass mosaic floor tile. Stone-look porcelain wall tile. “A low-curb shower allowed me to keep the beautiful floor pattern almost continuously across the small space, making the room feel larger and the design more present,” Puckett says.
Other special features. French blue vanity. “I always like the tension of mixed metals, so I combined soft, sexy satin brass with the custom industrial black iron shower enclosure and matte black shower set,” Puckett says. “I searched forever until I found a faucet that combined both brass and black.”
Designer tip. “Pick one element to be the star of the room and let it shine,” Puckett says. “In this case, it’s that mesmerizing mosaic floor with glass in multiple shades of blue and inlaid brass details.”
“Uh-oh” moment. “Due to the quirky building construction, we found out only after demo that there would be no room for two side sconces,” Puckett says. “So we made a quick change to one overhead sconce.”
Vanity: Shawbridge in French blue, 24 inches, Fine Fixtures; floor tile: Hip 2B Square mosaic in blue and brass, Artistic Tile; wall tile: Flow in Sky, Pacifica
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Design Matters
2. Flower Power
Designer: Julie Cavanaugh of Design Matters
Location: San Jose, California
Size: 54 square feet (5 square meters); 6 by 9 feet
Homeowners’ request. “This client’s hall bath needed to do triple duty,” designer Julie Cavanaugh says. “It was designed to not only handle pool traffic, but also be up to snuff for use as a guest powder room with luxurious materials commensurate with the rest of the home project, and also be used as a spillover teen bathroom for heavy morning getting ready before school.”
Cavanaugh uses Houzz Pro business software for all her client proposals, approvals, ordering and tracking.
Low-curb shower details. Linen fabric-look porcelain floor tile in two sizes (2 by 2 inches in the shower, 12 by 24 inches for the main area). Marble-look porcelain slab shower walls. Flower pattern glass wall tile in blue-green and white runs the length of the room into the shower.
Other special features. Custom vanity in a slate-gray finish.
“Uh-oh” moment. “Every house has issues, and when renovating lots of times we run into existing walls that are not plumb or level,” Cavanaugh says. “When installing these slab walls for the shower, a slight slant of the walls was identified. We combated this existing condition during fabrication to allow for the cuts of the slabs to be modified to accommodate for this building imperfection.”
Wall tile: Sublime Bouquet Azurite with Talc and Ink Art Glass, AKDO
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3. Whale Whimsy
Designer:
Location: Portland, Oregon
Size: 33 square feet (3.1 square meters); 3 by 11 feet
Homeowners’ request. “The homeowners wanted a fun and functional bath for their son,” designer Ann McCulloch says. “The client picked the whale wallpaper first and liked continuing the blue from the bedroom.”
Low-curb shower details. White-and-blue mosaic small-hex tile flooring. White subway tile walls and curb facing. Quartz slab curb top. Frameless glass door. Black shower fixtures and other details. “Because the shower is small, we needed a curb to keep the water from going into the rest of the bathroom,” McCulloch says.
Other special features. The shower head has a magnetic docking station for a waterproof speaker (Moxie by Kohler). Farmhouse-style sconce. Floating blue vanity with cantilevered trough-style sink.
Designer tip. “The space was very small, so we prioritized storage,” McCulloch says. “We tried to get as much storage in the vanity as we could, but we also made sure there were hooks for towels, etc.”
Floor tile: Herald mosaic in navy, Jeffrey Court; sconce: Eastleigh, Currey & Co.; wallpaper: Melville in neutral, Cole & Son
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PBF HOMES
4. Traditional Treasure
Designer: Pamela Forman of PBF Homes
Location: Gloucester, Massachusetts
Size: 70 square feet (6.5 square meters); 7 by 10 feet
Homeowners’ request. “Our client wanted an updated, refreshed look while still maintaining the integrity of their historical home,” designer Pamela Forman says. “We landed on a design that brought a freshness but remained true to the traditional feel of the home.”
Low-curb shower details. Siberian Gray marble-look porcelain shower wall tiles and curb facing. Glass mosaic shower floor tiles. Frameless glass door. “The decision to go with a low-curb shower had a lot to do with better accessibility and showcasing the tilework and design of the bathroom as a whole,” Forman says. “We wanted to keep the space feeling open and airy. We didn’t go with a curbless design, because of the potential risk of damage to the hand-painted pinewood floors.”
Other special features. “All of the elements used in this bathroom were selected to flow together seamlessly and bring refreshed elegance to the space,” Forman says. “The Siberian Gray polished porcelain planks on the shower walls speak to the existing marble stone in the vanity countertop. Colors from the marbling are brought to life by the colors chosen for the wall, hand-painted pinewood floors and complemented with the calmness in the trim, vanity and wainscoting. The finishing touch with the polished nickel and glass hardware, plumbing fixtures and lighting pulled everything together.”
Designer tip. “Additional storage in the primary bathroom was important to the homeowner, so we decided to move the shower out 20 inches from the wall to add a shelving column for easy access to storage baskets that hold frequently used items,” Forman says. “There are ways to reenvision the space that aren’t dramatic but can make a big impact on the functionality of a space.”
“Uh-oh” moment. “Throughout the home there were beautiful existing hand-painted pinewood floors,” Forman says. “It’s not common to have wood flooring in a bathroom, but the client wanted to stick with them to keep with the history of the home. We repainted the floor but had to be strategic in ways to protect the floor from shower overflow, so we added a stone-inlaid ‘bath mat’ for the homeowners to step out onto from the shower to minimize water exposure.”
Vanity lights: Cristol in polished nickel and white glass, Visual Comfort; paint colors: Adagio (walls); Adagio, White Wisp and Pebble Beach (wood flooring); White Wisp (trim, wainscoting, vanity and built-ins), Benjamin Moore
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5. Marble Marvel
Designer: Lisa Rossman of LL Design
General contractor: Zac Archuleta of
Location: Long Beach, California
Size: 110 square feet (10 square meters)
Homeowners’ request. “This bathroom was a part of the addition,” general contractor Zac Archuleta says. “There was only one bath at first, so they were wanting a proper primary bath. They were also looking for a freestanding tub, so we had to plan to fit it in with the shower and have space to walk around.”
Low-curb shower details. Marble mosaic floor tile. White marble shower wall and curb tile. “The main advantage of the low curb is to prevent any sort of backup of water,” Archuleta says. “The shower wasn’t too big, so the curbless wasn’t ideal. We did not want to risk any splashing or water seeping out of the shower.”
Other special features. White oak vanity. Black faucets, shower fixtures and other details.
Designer tip. A custom sliding barn door (not shown) saves space that would be required for a standard swinging door.
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