How to Customize Your Shower with Niches, Benches and Even a Soap Dish

Did you know that you can easily customize your shower with niches and benches? You can even consider a soap dish for an added touch of whimsy.

When you visit Tile Outlets of America, you'll find not only the perfect tile selection to create your dream bathroom and shower with, but also the right accessories to enable you or your tile installation professional to customize it with useful features such as niches or recessed tile shelves and benches, not to mention soap dishes and even towel bars.

Preformed Niches and Benches at Tile Outlets of America

Preformed niches and benches make adding such custom touches to your bathroom easy. These preformed products are made of waterproof plastic or marine grade styrofoam and come in many different sizes.

Tile Outlets carries niche products from Quickshelf, The Noble Company and Schluter. You'll find sizes ranging from 12x12, 13x13, 9x13 and 13x20, some with an arch, to more custom sizes and shapes with adjustable shelves. We can easily special order different sizes and shapes if you don't find what you need.

>> Shop Niches at Tile Outlets of America

For benches, you can choose from triangular shapes, rectangular and curved shapes.

The beauty of preformed niches and benches is that you or your installation professional can install them in minutes and easily tile over them.

To give you an idea of how versatile these products are, check out the examples below from recent Parade of Homes and the Tile Outlets Inspiration Areas.

Ideas for How to Customize Your Shower with Niches

When it comes to niches, you can go plain or you can go intensely decorative with mosaics and other decorative tile inserts. We'll start with plainer or classic ideas.

Classic Niches

Perhaps the ultimate look for a relaxing spa-like bathroom is clean, simple Zen-like retreat in pure white subway tile as the example below showcases. Notice how the inside of the niche simply continues the wall tile pattern.

This next image similarly features beautiful glossy white wall tile in this large niche. You can imagine how accessories - such as a loofah or a bottle - can become important visual accents.

This next example includes more decorative whimsy. However, it is subtle. The niche itself simply carries the pattern of the vertically placed rectangular tiles. The vertical subway tile decorative band is off to one corner of the bathtub.

In the image below, you see a double niche which has been tiled with the overall shower wall tile.

The image below features the most unusual recessed tile shelf yet! We love the width of it and how it is part of the perpendicular wall. This is a custom installation. What do you think of it?

In the example below, the niche definitely continues the direction of the horizontal tile pattern and installation. The decorative tile pieces, though, nicely coordinate with the grout lines.

This last example in the 'plainer classic' niche group definitely gives you a feel for what's to come! However, we find that the similarity in palette between the brick-shaped mosaics and the larger wall tile and the neutral feel of it brings that Zen-like quality we started this section with.

Decorative Niches

Moving on to decorative niches... this is where you can have a field day! When you think of all of the beautiful mosaics available, the possibilities become endlessly fun.

>> See The Ultimate Guide to Mosaics

>> See Mosaics Add Sparkle into the New Year and Beyond!

A special note: not all mosaics are appropriate for showers and bath areas. So be sure to ask first before falling in love. <3

That said, simply feast your eyes on these wonderful examples.

Here's a niche with, as backdrop tile, the same glass mosaic tile in the horizontal band across the top.

The example below takes the same concept. The decorative elements though are regularly placed narrow vertical bands in a striking turquoise color.

Below is a closeup of that installation.

The image below takes the feature wall concept (see Creating a Feature Wall with Tile: Inspiration from the Parade of Homes) with a niche embedded in it.

Here's a closeup of a decorative niche.

In this example, the decorative horizontal band is below the niche.

In this niche, the decorative mosaics have been installed vertically.

These next two examples from the Tile Outlets of America Inspiration Areas.

This first one is in the Fort Myers store. Notice how the decorative touches are along the side and top portions of the niche and echo the domed ceiling.

Note: this niche installation with the glass shelf isn't necessarily ideal for a working shower.

The installation below you'll find in the Tampa store Inspiration Area. Here, the vertical decorative band completely surrounds the three vertical niches.

Customizing Your Shower with Benches

The next option you have for customizing your shower installation is by including a bench.

Notice in this next image how the corner bench has been tiled with mosaics on the top and rectangular wall tile on the side.

>> See Why Buy From Tile Outlets? Hector Morejon From Five Star Flooring Explains.

You've already seen a close-up of the niches in the installation below. Here's a wider view with a bench.

And here's a detailed photograph of the bench.

>> See Tile Selections Create Coastal Living Feel in Parade of Homes House: Tile Outlets' Donna Kern

The simplicity of the bench below is a nice counterpoint to the double iridescent mosaic bands.

The corner bench below makes a nice shelf, too. What do you think of how the brick mosaic band combines with the wall tile pattern?

This last bench example makes for a relaxing touch to the glass tile borders and the marble-look wall tile.

Don't Forget to Customize with a Soap Dish!

Ultimately, bath and shower spaces are practical spaces. The custom touches you add need to perform a purpose, including hold your soap.

For that reason, we'll end this article with a soap dish we fell in love with because of how it works so beautifully not just for the soap, but also as a counterpoint to the pebble border.

Here's a close-up of that soap dish and the dreamy pebble wall border. Perfect, no?

Are You Ready to Customize Your Shower?

We hope we've inspired you to customize your shower with niches or benches or other touches. Be sure to explore what we have in-store at Tile Outlets of America to help make those touches become reality. All of our associates are available to answer your questions.

Thanks for reading!

Kate