Building a Bathroom: Installing a New Shower Door

If you’re wondering what the heck is going on with our guest bathroom remodel, that makes two of us. We are officially one year into this project, but I think we’re coming around the bend with the finish line in sight!

We finished the new kitchen in about four months so it was a surprise to both Kevin and me that this bathroom (which is so much smaller) is taking so much longer. I guess patience is a huge part of the home renovating pie. You really never can guarantee what you’ll come across as you go, be it budget, construction obstacles, time delays unrelated to the renovation entirely (but inevitably affect it anyways), and you know how it goes… Many apologies for the drawn out story.

Happily we marked one more big install off of our list this week! Yes, after waiting far too long for this shower door to be delivered (long story short, the glass company was patiently waiting on us while we were patiently waiting on them… and finally we all communicated) she’s looking so brilliant.

And here’s a shot of her swinging a full 45 degrees open:

It’s a frameless glass panel! And it was the best option/investment that we could make for this new bathroom. We contemplated a shower rod and curtain but we would cover up that beautiful recycled blue/green glass tile (the tile can’t decide what color it is… it changes all the time depending on its mood. Maybe that’s why it was called Moonstone?? :)).

A framed glass sliding door was option two. But when it came down to the price we just couldn’t mess with how open and airy and beautiful a solo glass panel looked (and compared with a full sliding glass door, it wasn’t too much more). Since Lowes’ Awesome team was helping us with components of the bathroom such as the bathtub, fixtures, skylight, radiant heating, vanity, tile and toilet, we had a little extra from our saved up stash (that we used on construction materials, plumbing, electrical and so on) to splurge on a wow stopper just like this guy.

PS we had the best experience working with Lowe’s and they are my go-to. I cannot express how thrilled we were to make this entire bathroom happen with their help. Lowe’s, you guys rock.

Our secret for saving a little extra here was to have a glass company cut the shatterproof glass panel for us (rather than a store that specialized in bathrooms) and then to have Kevin install it himself. We did take the glass company up on their offer to measure (just in case the walls of our older bungalow were tilted just enough to notice a slant in a straight piece glass panel) at an extra cost.

You can have the door panel cut as a perfect rectangle, but the radius on the upper corner is a feature I’ve seen before and one I loved. Here’s the drawing I ended up sending over to the glass company:

But we ended up choosing to extend the door out to 34″ and to a height of 64″ to make sure the shower spray wouldn’t sneak up and around the single panel while someone was showering :).

Installation ended up being pretty basic – and easily saved us over $200. After measuring out the hinge holes in the tile wall, Kevin used a glass and tile bit drill through the tile, into the wall and into a stud (we had planned on some sort of shower door so we made sure to have a stud in this location when we were framing out the room). Up went the glass and the hinge which was then screwed into the predrilled holes. Note: unless you’re super comfortable with all of the above, consider hiring a professional to do this if you find yourself installing glass anytime soon.

These hinges are heavy duty, the two alone are supporting the weight of the glass. They’re also pretty:

The edge of the glass panel that meets the tub is lined with a long rubber squeegee for a tight seal.

Still awaiting new art, towel hooks and that door back there is in need of a new coat of paint and a door handle (it used to be a closet door so there wasn’t a handle on the inside, these days you’ll find a little rotating disc  to open and close the door to Liv’s room).

If the photos are coming through a little fuzzy on your end, Kevin took them with his iPhone and beamed them on over earlier this week. Liv and I are up in the bay area of California on a work trip while the hubby stays home for school and home projects.

And there’s the handsome man behind it all:

(I couldn’t leave out the best pic he texted.)

Here’s a round-up of more inspiration for frameless glass panel shower doors from DecorPad:

They’re pretty cool looking, right?

More building a bathroom posts: a vintage mirror, installation time, vanity wars, subway tile installation,  floor tiles and toe warmers, a quick catch-up on our work on the bathroom in 2011, tiling with recycled glass, choosing and installing a bathtub, demo time!, a peak at the layout, initial inspiration, partnering with Lowe’s

We partnered with Lowe’s on our bathroom remodel and had the opportunity to try out some of their product at no cost and some product at a discount. The ideas and stories shared in this post are entirely our own, promise.