First of all, it would always be ideal if you could find something vintage, preferably a door that included an etching of a naked woman, as above. I can’t remember where I got the photo, oopsy. Some other ideas:

If you can’t find a shower door with a naked woman, perhaps you can find a shower door with deer etched into it, like Amy’s 1953 Portland time capsule house.

…Or with fishes swimming in the sea, as in Shelly’s gray bathroom.

…Or herons or cranes or egrets or whatever they are, as weed30 spotted in a time capsule house and posted on the Forum.

And ooh la la, this is a fine specimen — spotted over on Retro Ruth’s blog, NoPatternRequired. But warning: Don’t go look if you get upset by the house-flippers of old. This shower door got gutted for, big gulp now, large slabs of beige travertine or travertine knock-off yadda yadda yadda.

Or a vintage accordian-style shower door, like the one that Mary Deluxe spotted in a time capsule house…

Carrie has one of these folding shower doors, too.

Here’s another style of vintage shower door — notable for the chrome or steel or whatever metal that is triple-bar-thingie at the top. This is Randy’s Mermador shower door, and I think it must have been very high-end:

Note… and I’m not kidding around any more, that old shower doors may not be tempered glass, which means if you crash through them you could really seriously hurt yourself *another concern for owners of vintage home to be aware of.*

Here’s another lovely prewar (most likely) shower door that a reader spotted at Seattle’s Second Use. You know that post yesterday about the Streamline Moderne time capsule house? This is the kind of shower door you’d find in that sort of interior. This heavy, shiny metal framing is a moderne legacy.

Yet, the look continued on for a while. I captured this photo at an estate sale in Pittsfield — for a 1964 blue bathroom decked out with all kinds of Hall-Mack and Nutone accessories. It was a beauty!

I even go nuts for little things like the handles. And oh, the fluted (I think you call it… or reeded) glass.

Beyond naked vintage, For shower doors, I tend to recommend a simple, metal framed door with simple wavy ripple glass. You can get a peek at what I’m talkin’ about in this video about my blue bathroom renovation.

Metal, as in: Satin finish nickel in the above photo is from Basco. Ix-nay on the antique pewter, bronze, burnished copper, wrought iron, oil rubbed bronze etc. etc. that more rightly belong in contemporary homes.

Similarly, I went with the very simple “obscure” glass for the two showers in the bathrooms that I renovated. One of the good things about mid century bathrooms is that if you go with “period”, these simple finishes also tend to be the least expensive. Let other elements of your bathroom decor do the talking. Unless you can get naked ladies, of course.

Where to get a shower door? I went to my local glass and shower door shop — local guy, he could show me all the samples, he came to measure, and then installed. At the same time, I also had him install one of my mirrors. He was great.

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There are three Kohler models available:

1. The Purist cast iron shower pan comes in a handy 48″ x 36″ size, and has very nice looks. It comes in 19 colors and prices start at $850+. These shower receptors are all “tile-in.” See that little flange/edge all the way around? The tile comes right down past that to seal in the pan and protect what is underneath from water.

2. The Kathryn cast iron shower base also is simple and sleek… same size, 48″ x 36″. Seven colors, starts at $850+.

3. The Salient cast iron shower receptor is sized the same as most standard bathtubs — 60″ x 30″. You can get the drain center, left or right. 20 colors, prices start at $637.

A few thoughts on shower pan sizing. I’m not a professional bathroom designer, but I’ve paid a lot of attention to this issue based on my own renovation experience:

• I think that if you have the space, it is wise to get at minimum, a shower pan that is 48″ wide and 36″ deep. Width for stretch room, 36″ depth for elbow room.
• I don’t think the 60″ x 30″ shower pan sounds like a good idea if you plan to install glass doors — to be sure it would be fine if the shower pan is open to the rest of the bathroom, like in a spa / steam setup. 30″ works in a tub with a shower curtain because your arms and elbows still have stretch room. Hey, every hotel now has those arching-out shower rods for just that reason. If you plan for glass shower doors, get 36″ depth so you can truly linger langour in the shower.
• That said, the one reason I still may have ended up with Swanstone is that they offer many more sizes. The two bathrooms where I put showers are both long — the shower runs horizontally on the same wall as the vanity. In one spot for sure I know that I could not go deeper than 34″ because of an adjacent door — and that’s the depth of my Swanstone base. In the other bathroom, I possibly could have handled the extra two inches in shower depth — but it would have taken away from the space from the toilet. It would have been a tough decision. In addition, in that second bathroom, I specified a 54″ long shower base. Swanstone gave me that versatility.
• Finally: Remember terrazzo shower bases, too. I have not seen these live, but I think they look like additional superb alternatives.

Bottom line: These Kohler cast iron shower receptors — Purist and Kathyrn, especially, along with the terrazzo shower bases from Crane/Fiat or Stern Williams are my top choices for shower bases, if you don’t want to go the route of unglazed tile.

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FYI, two of my bathroom have Swanstone shower pans that are 34″ wide — as much as we could squeeze in. Honestly, I am not sure which way I would have gone if I had known of the terrazzo options. In other bathroom, I simply don’t believe there was room for 36″. The other – it would have been tight and meant a narrower enclosure for the toilet. This particular decision would have caused me anguish: More room in the main part of the usually already small postwar bathroom, or more room in the shower? Such is the retro renovator’s life, alas.

Snaps to Christina, who writes:

I have an original 1962 terrazzo shower base downstairs and I love it! I’m turning my upstairs master bath tub into a shower-only and I’ll be getting a new terrazzo base for that shower. After much research, I’m getting one made by Stern Williams, ordered via Ferguson. It’s super-heavy, but even with shipping the cost is comparable to Swanstone. So, the only downside is reinforcing the floor enough to handle its weight. I’ll get photos of each to you at some point. Great site – thanks for doing this!

Here’s the link to the Stern Williams site.

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