Every shower needs a niche to hold bottles, bars of soap, etc., right? But I’ve seen a lot of niches that don’t - or can’t— do the job. This post is going to show you 7 gorgeous bathroom niches. In addition, I’ll share my favorite design idea to give you extra space for bath and shower products.

We’ll start with the niche in my own tiny master bathroom. It may be small, but that bathroom is mighty. Why? Because it functions well for Hub and me. Function is King (Queen?) in bathroom design!

The interior of our shower is 36 x 42, so we wanted a niche that was also compact. Just something to hold bars of soap OR maybe 2 bottles.

Let’s pause for just a sec. I can’t tell you how hard it was for my contractor to grout this thing properly. As a matter of fact, after 3 tries, I thanked him for his efforts and acted like it was fine.

Then I hired the fantastic tile installer that I use for my client projects to come in and do it right.

First he had to make it look like this:

Before it could look like this:

The contractor who handles your bathroom renovation will often insist that you use his trades - that means his electrician, tile guy, painter, etc. But each of these trades is a specific area of expertise. Thinking that the 2 guys he has in your project can handle every job is often/always a mistake.

But then that same contractor passed along this completely awesome design tip for utilizing every inch of space in my shower: ledges. Ledges can hold your bottles and provide a wide, safe perch for your foot while you shave your legs.

Look at all the extra space these ledges provide! The way he installed the glass atop the half wall gave me a ledge. In addition, adding another piece of marble across the lower back wall is SO much better than those dinky little footrests that are often used in showers. It’s terrific that the shampoo/conditioner/scrub bottles aren’t on display like they would be if in the higher niche.

This is my very favorite shower idea. Bravo to that contractor!

I now put this idea in bathroom projects whenever possible. We just completed a whole house renovation project that uses the ledges and 2 beautiful niches. Here’s the first:

You can always tell when I’m the photographer - the photo isn’t quite straight and I wish you could see that the tile is the palest blue. However, you can see what I’m trying to explain. The left ledge on the half wall, the ledge across the back and niches to hold bars of soap and a couple of tall bottles. Pretty nice, right? This homeowner has a place for everything she might need in the shower.

Here’s a close-up of those yummy niches:

The edge around both niches is a metal schluter tile. Everyone in the business loves to say the word schluter! It’s a clean, modern, metal edge. And you can see the soft blue color of the large subway tiles a littler better in this photo.

Then I dove into Pinterest to show you some other really nice looking niches.

Found this lovely tall niche on Pinterest.

The tall, skinny niche above is backed with a contrasting tile. Very pretty. The bottom shelf can be used as a foot rest.

Found this horizontal beauty on Pinterest.

I love this long horizontal niche. It’s in a sizable shower, so it looks proportionate.

Anything with carrera marble is going to catch my eye, like this example above. They used a marble hex tile and then small slabs of marble for the shelf, top, bottom and edging.

Found on Pinterest. Don’t you love those blues?

Nice job on this one. Using blue mosaic tile, lining it right up with the horizontal accent that I assume goes all the way around the shower is a great design. Blue is always a welcomed color in the shower!

Speaking of blue - here’s the second niche from my recently completed project. It’s in the Boys’ Bathroom:

We kept it classic and simple: white subway tile with a soft gray grout. Adding a cobalt blue penny tile inside the two niches added a fun accent - and coordinates with the navy blue vanity that’s also in the room.

This is a very budget-friendly idea. White subway tile is inexpensive and we only used a smidge of the blue penny tile. That’s a lot of bang for the buck.

Come back to this post when you’re ready to update your bathroom. These ideas will never get old!

With sparkle and texture,

Anne