Fitting a small bathroom shower - options
What do you do if you want to install a shower but you only have a very small bathroom?
There's nothing that I like better (well maybe there is one thing) than soaking in a hot bathtub. I can spend hours in it just relaxing and forgetting that the world outside exists. Sadly I very rarely get the chance to do this nowadays because I always seem to be so busy. Most of the time I use a shower and before I remodeled my small bathroom my shower was above the bathtub. It was a situation that I hated and I was determined to include a separate shower in my bathroom remodeling project.
The first thing to point out is that there usually is a way to solve problems like this and you mustn't give up before you've really had a chance to think the problem through. Don't let the fact that you don't have much room to play with put you off from searching for the solution.
So what are the options?
Remove the bathtub and dump it
Taking out the bathtub will give you more than enough room to fit a sizeable shower enclosure. Unfortunately you won't have a bath anymore. While this might fit in well with your current lifestyle you might want to think about what you might have need of a few years down the line and when you come to sell your property.
When you sell a property you must have a bathroom with a bathtub even if it has a great shower instead. People expect to find a bath in the bathroom and the lack of one can seriously depress the value of your property.
Design a shower over your bathtub
I'm not keen on this option because I didn't like it when I had one but it's an easy option. If there really is no other way or you want to add a shower without serious remodeling work then it's something that you can consider. You will need to replace your bathtub faucets with a set with an integral showerhead and add a shower curtain or splashguard. It's cheap and easy but only a last resort in my book.
Convert the bathroom into a wet room
Turning your bathroom into a wet room is possibly the most difficult and ambitious option to adding a shower to your bathroom. It will require extensive modifications and will most likely be very expensive. On the positive side you'll be able to put your shower almost anywhere you want and even the smallest bathrooms should have sufficient space. On the other hand, everything (I mean everything) in the room gets wet when you take a shower. An option to be considered but you must think seriously before going this route.
Install a curved quadrant shower cubicle
If you can rearrange your bathroom to get even the smallest of shower cubicles in then that has got to be close to the top of your list of possibilities. The shower enclosure can be free standing or installed along a wall or in a corner.
Even the smallest of shower enclosure is better than none at all in my opinion so you should check out the available sizes and determine the smallest size of enclosure that you would be happy with. You can always go up a size if you manage to design enough free space into your makeover.
To make the space available you should consider the whole small bathroom design. Find a smaller toilet and washbasin and even a smaller bathtub if you have to. Use squared paper and cut out shapes to try many different ways of arranging everything.
If a square or rectangular shower cubicle looks as if it might be just that little bit too big like it did in my small bathroom then think about using a curved quadrant shower enclosure. This might be a little more expensive but it made all the difference to my bathroom and I love it.
You can read the full article at
Small Bathroom Shower
