Shower *Room* Experts

Shower Door of the Week: Shower Room with Serenity Door in Catonsville, Maryland

Tiny shower caves with moldy plastic curtains are OUT. Shower rooms with glass doors are IN!

If you’re remodeling and have the space, consider creating your own wet room for all your showering and bathing needs. This is where custom shower doors truly shine. After considering the many options, this client decided on a Serenity panel-door-panel for a minimalist look that showcases the room – not the door. The Serenity’s low-profile header makes it float like a butterfly, but the anti-derailing fittings make it sturdy like… a hippopotamus? Hey, we’re shower door experts, not simile experts.

Two other design notes! The hardware is matte black, an excellent pick with the charcoal tile. Honestly, any finish would have looked great, but look at that matte black bath faucet! 🤩🔥 And for the finishing touch, the clients went with low iron glass. We haven’t talked about low iron in a little while, so to recap: regular glass has a slight green tint from its iron content. Low iron glass is more optically clear. We recommend it against lighter-colored tile, especially, but it gives any shower enclosure a more crisp modern look.

So what’s next for us? A glass shower house? A crystal palace of showers? The only way to know is keeping an eye on our socials! We’re on Facebook. We’re on Instagram. And, as always, we’re all over the greater D.C. area, making your shower dreams come true.

Trend Alert: Matte Black Grid Door

Shower of the Week: Gridworks bypass sliding unit with matte black finish in Frederick, Maryland

This grid shower door we recently installed in Frederick, Maryland is doubly on trend! Grid showers and matte black hardware are both having a moment, and we love it.

Expert Advice: Matte Black Trend

The doors we install are actually from the second generation of the grid shower door movement. Early grid showers had small rectangular panes of glass welded together with metal framing. The look was was an immediate hit, especially in urban areas with uber-contemporary design trends. The units sold like hot cakes, but they were ghastly expensive!

Other manufacturers have found better, less expensive ways to accomplish the same look. We source ours from Century Bathworks in New Jersey. By using a single piece of glass with thin grid framing adhered to it, Century is able to provide this trendy matte black look at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.

Matte black hardware is, in general, also having a moment. Oil rubbed bronze finishes are also popular, but their tone can run the gamut from super dark to super light. It’s definitely easier to pair black with black versus two different oil rubbed bronze finishes from two different manufacturers.

If you’re interested in this trend, get in touch! We’re happy to start chatting about what would work for your unique shower space. You can also get the ball rolling with a free quote. We also post more shower door pics and fun bonus photos on Facebook and Instagram.

Expert Advice: Matte Black Trend

Matte black is a bathroom design trend that’s here to stay! We get quite a few questions and comments about matte black options, so here are some ideas to consider when you’re considering a new shower look…

Black and Light

One of the most popular – and show-stopping! – iterations of the trend is black against white or light-colored walls and tile. This beige space, which could have been dull on its own, is completely transformed by the black hardware.

Mix and Match

Matte black can stand alone, but it also plays well with other metallics and colors. Here the black shower frame is paired with silver-tones, marble, and stone for a unique but entirely cohesive look. Grid showers are also having quite a moment, and these two trends are a match made in shower door heaven!

Be Bold

Chrome is the standard choice for bathroom hardware, but it can fade into the background. Totally fine if a neutral is what you’re after. We love how these folks in Frederick paired a more neutral handle with a bold black faucet and painted panels. And that tile! This unit definitely makes a statement!

Or Start Small

If you want just a bit of black in your bathroom, it’s easy to switch up your cabinet pulls or faucet. For the shower or tub that could mean just a black shower head or handle. Who knows, you might get carried away by the trend!

Get In Touch!

We’d love to know what you think about this design – really! Matte black: yea? nay? We are quite active on Facebook, and you can also get in touch the old fashioned ways – well, not carrier pigeons but, you know, phones and email! We’re also on Instagram where we share even more shower door pics for design inspiration.

Or if you’re ready to dive in, you can get a free quote anytime!

Minimalist Matte Black in Mount Airy

Shower Door of the Week: Minimalist Matte Black in Mount Airy, Maryland

Another piece of matte black eye candy! We never get tired of the matte black trend – and neither do y’all. I’ll get back to the glass in a sec, but can we bask in that funky hardware? The bath faucet, shower head, and hook are so cool! But we’re the door experts, so let’s move on to that…

Still here? Okay, let’s geek out. Sharp-eyed blog readers will notice that the hinges are behind the front face of the glass. What’s going on there? The main appeal of these offset hinges is that more of the metal is “hidden” on the inside of the shower. Sometimes this is a technical solution, but we won’t geek out that hard today. The takeaway is that offset hinges are one option to double down on a minimalist shower aesthetic.

And now for something completely different. From our fearless leader, Noah…

For more shower door hilarity, follow us over on Facebook and especially Instagram. You can also get in touch with us at info@showerdoorexperts.com – or go ahead and start a free quote here on the website!

Frameless and Framed in Frederick

Shower Door of the Week: Frameless Swing Door with Knee Wall Panel in Frederick, Maryland

This week we’re going back to basics: what is a frameless shower door? We’re fluent in showerdoor-ese, of course, but we don’t expect our clients to know all the industry jargon. So let’s start with this frameless swing door we installed in Frederick, Maryland last week. Within the shower industry, “frameless” refers to any shower enclosure that doesn’t have metal adhered to the edge of the glass. That’s pretty “clear” (hah hah) in the photo below. The only metal in sight is the hardware. It’s a design that’s increasingly popular but not the only way to go…

fraframeless swing glass shower door

You might think that “frameless” = no metal at all. But not so! A door can be frameless even if it has a metallic header on top and a channel on the bottom. In that case the metal still isn’t adhered to the edge of the glass.

For contrast, here’s another installation we did in Frederick last week. It is a fully framed bypass unit in matte black. You can see that the glass has metal on every side. In general, framed shower doors are less expensive than fully frameless doors. (That said, a non-standard layout could cost more, so definitely check with us or start a free quote to get all your options.) It’s a traditional – even retro! – layout. In this case, trendy matte black modernizes the look.

We are always happy to nerd out about design and lingo! Get in touch if you have any questions at all. You can also pick up more ideas over on our Facebook and Instagram. Or stop by our showroom in Jefferson, Maryland!

Thoroughly Modern in Kearneysville

Shower Door of the Week: Modern Styling in Kearneysville, West Virginia

Are you digging this thoroughly modern shower door look? Let’s break down how to pull it off!

1. Matte Black Hardware

As we’ve written before, matte black is having a design moment! You can see with our shower door of the week that matte black hardware can be absolutely show-stopping. Especially against white tile. It also plays well with other metallics and colors. Actually, it’s pretty hard to wrong with matte black.

2. Clips

This shower is all clips, all the time. Going back to basics: clips keep stationary panels secure in frameless showers enclosures. So instead of having a bulky metal header or metal around the glass panels, a frameless shower unit almost floats off the ground! Its minimalism allows other design elements – like tile – to become the focus. We use brass clips that are plated in the hardware finish of your choosing. In this case, a matte black finish that matches their shower head and tile.

3. Shapes

Both the clips and the square pull handle are rectangular, which is perfect for a modern look! Even the shower head is more of a square than the traditional round shape. Some of our door handles are almost ornate, so this was a deliberate choice to go modern and minimal. We truly enjoy helping you pick out the hardware shapes and colors that work best for your space, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a chat!

(We’re also on Facebook and Instagram!)

4. Low Iron Glass

The most subtle finishing touch on your brand new modern shower? Low iron glass. Regular glass has a slight green tint from iron that gets trapped in the glass. You might not even notice it against darker tile, but we do recommend low iron glass for light-colored tile. It has less iron and so is more optically clear. Perfect for a crisp modern look.

If you might be ready to embrace a new shower look, let us know! You can start a completely free quote here on the website or reach out to one of our awesome experts. Happy showering!

Modern Minimalism in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

Shower Door of the Week: Modern Minimalism in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

When you think “Harpers Ferry,” you might picture winding cobbled streets, quaint shops, and historic walks along the Potomac. You probably don’t think, “oh yes, Harpers Ferry, hot spot of hip modern design.” But let me tell you! Eye-catching shower doors are popping up all over the panhandle!

Last week on the ol’ blog we talked about minimalism as a trend. This custom shower unit exemplifies all things minimalist, from the frameless design to the square pull handle. As a bonus, the hardware is in suuuper-trendy matte black. Black against white or light-colored tile is a classic look that we can’t image will ever go out of style.

Minimalist shower door in Harpers Ferry West Virginia

Speaking of the white tile – these clients wisely opted for low iron glass. Long-time readers will know that regular glass has a slight greenish tint from its iron content. Low iron glass is more optically clear, so we recommend it for light-colored tile. Especially if you’re after a crisp modern look like this one.

Design questions? Installation questions? We love all the questions! You can find us on the phone (301.473.5555), on the Facebook, even on the Instagram! In addition to stunning shower photos, we also share original cartoons and behind-the-scenes expert pics!

Shower Spa Day at Home

Shower Door of the Week: Wooden Spa Shower in Great Cacapon, West Virginia

Well hello, gorgeous! Unanimous agreement amongst the experts: this gorgeous spa alcove shower stole the show! It is giving us strong sauna vibes and we love it. We can’t take credit for the wood panel design. (Though we can recommend tile contractors.) But we’re proud of how this panel-door-panel shower door turned out. Some details:

Glass to glass hinges eliminate the need for a header system, so these Great Cacaponers get a beautiful minimalist look.

Matte black hardware – the ongoing trend! A brassy or bronze hardware would fade into the wood, but the black is eye-catching in the best modern way.

Low iron glass is more optically clear and helps give this spa-like shower a crisp clean look. Regular glass has a slight greenish tint, which you wouldn’t want to distract from the lovely wood color here.

There’s no reason why you can’t have a spa experience at home. With the right tile and glass, even the smallest shower space can be made more bright, open, and relaxing. We’re always, always happy to discuss design, so get in touch for a chat or free quote. You’ll find us over on Facebook and Instagram, sharing design tips and bonus content. Look out for our first music video coming out soon…!

Be well! Relax! Enjoy your showers!

Modern Matte Black Shower in Maryland

Panel door panel corner shower with a towel bar and robe hook in matte black

On the practical side of this design, the single-sided towel bar on the panel over the bath tub adds valuable bath real estate for wash cloths and towels. The interior robe hook is great for a loofah. We’re guessing they’ll go for a black loofah?

We’d love to know what you think about this design – really! Matte black: yea? nay? We are quite active on Facebook, and you can also get in touch the old fashioned ways – well, not carrier pigeons but, you know, phones and email! We’re also on Instagram where we share even more shower door pics for design inspiration.

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