A Shower That Feels Too Small and the Ways to Gain Room

Cramped shower solutions

What makes a shower feel too small

A shower can feel too small for reasons that have little to do with the footprint alone. A narrow stall with a door that swings inward steals room. A curtain that clings to your legs makes it worse. A bench or a corner shelf in the wrong spot can leave barely enough space to turn around. The feeling is a mix of width, depth, door type and what sits inside.

Many older bathrooms were built with a standard stall because it was a tidy way to fit a shower into a small footprint. Our habits have changed since then. People often want to wash comfortably, shave, sit, or bathe a child, and a stall designed for a brief rinse can feel confining for those tasks.

This page is general guidance for homeowners. It does not give exact sizes, since the right answer depends on your room and plumbing. It helps you identify what is bothering you and understand the range of ways a designer can gain space.

One useful idea is to separate perceived size from actual size. A shower can be technically adequate and still feel tight because of dark finishes, a heavy door frame or a low ceiling of steam. Changes in light, glass and surface color can improve the feeling without touching a wall. Other times the footprint truly is too small, and only a structural change will help. Knowing which situation you are in saves effort.

Identify what is actually cramped

Stand in the shower and notice. Can you lift your arms comfortably? Can you turn around without touching a wall? Is it the width, the depth or the height of the spray that bothers you? Does water escape when you open the door? Do you hit your elbow on controls or shelves?

Think about who else uses it. A taller person needs more spray height and more room for the shoulders. A person who wants a seat needs bench space. Two people who sometimes shower together need different dimensions again. The shower should be sized for real use, not for an average.

Photograph the shower and take simple measurements of the width, depth and height of the enclosure, and the position of the valve, drain and door. These details help a designer see what is flexible and what is fixed.

Stand in the shower with a helper holding a tape measure at your elbows, then at your shoulders. Those two numbers say more about comfort than the overall dimensions do. Then do the same with your arms raised, as if washing your hair. Many people discover that they have enough room standing still but not moving, which points toward width and door choices over total size.

• Note whether width, depth or door type bothers you most.
• Check whether controls, shelves or a bench crowd the space.
• Notice whether water escapes when the door opens.
• Record who uses the shower and what they need.
• Measure the stall and mark where the valve, drain and door sit.

Option one: remove the tub and enlarge the shower

In many bathrooms the tub and the shower share a wall, and the tub takes a large portion of the room. If the household no longer uses the tub, converting that area to a larger shower can transform how the space feels. A shower that spans the full width of the alcove is far more comfortable than a narrow stall tucked beside a tub.

This is a bigger project than a surface update. The drain, the slope of the floor, the waterproofing and the plumbing all change. Our page on tub to shower conversions explains the process, and our guide to choosing a walk in shower or a bathtub helps with the decision.

Think about whether another bathroom in the home offers a tub. If so, converting this one to a generous shower is easier to accept. If this is the only tub, consider how you bathe and whether a combined plan makes sense.

Think also about what replaces the tub's footprint. A larger shower can include a bench, a niche, a second showerhead and a wide entry. It can also leave room for a deeper vanity or storage beside it. Drawing the new layout on paper, with each fixture to scale, shows whether the freed space is better spent on a single roomy shower or shared among several improvements.

Option two: change the door and the enclosure

Sometimes the problem is the door, not the stall. A door that swings into the shower reduces usable room and can be awkward to open. A door that swings outward, a sliding door or a fixed glass panel with an open walk in entry can feel far more spacious. Each has tradeoffs for splashing, cleaning and the space required outside.

Glass choice also matters. Clear glass lets the eye travel through the shower and makes the room feel larger, while a thick frame or a curtain breaks it up. Our comparison of frameless and semi frameless glass and our page on shower glass door options describe the choices.

A curtain, if you prefer one, can be hung on a rod that sits wider than the stall to add a sense of volume. It is a modest change, though, and not a substitute for rethinking the enclosure.

Splash control deserves honest discussion. An open entry or a short fixed panel feels spacious, but it can let water reach the floor outside. Position of the showerhead relative to the opening, the width of the panel and the slope of the floor near the entry all matter. Ask the designer how the plan keeps water in, and what you should expect on the bathroom floor after a normal shower.

Option three: shift a wall or borrow space

Sometimes the strongest answer is to move a wall. A shower can gain width by taking a few inches from an adjacent closet, a linen cabinet or a neighboring space. A designer may also suggest relocating the vanity, the toilet or the door to open a larger shower zone.

Moving walls is a structural and plumbing conversation. Some walls carry loads. Others contain pipes, wiring or ducts. Not all can be shifted without added work, and in condos or townhomes there may be shared elements you cannot touch. Ask a remodeler what the walls contain and what is possible.

Our page on moving plumbing fixtures explains what happens when a toilet, drain or valve changes location. Our guide to small bathroom layout ideas shows how the pieces of a tight room can be rearranged.

Even small gains matter in a shower. A few extra inches in width can be the difference between touching both walls and not touching either. Designers sometimes find those inches by thinning a wall, using slimmer wall materials, relocating a niche to the other side or shifting a door frame. Ask whether any of these modest moves apply to your room before assuming the only answer is a big one.

Option four: a wet room approach

A wet room treats the whole bathroom, or a large part of it, as a waterproofed zone, with a floor that slopes to a drain and few or no barriers. It can make a small bathroom feel dramatically larger, since the shower shares the room's space instead of being boxed in.

The tradeoffs are real. Everything in the wet zone has to tolerate water, and the waterproofing must extend across walls and floor with careful detailing. Ventilation matters even more. Our guide to wet room bathroom design explains the concept.

Whether this suits your home depends on structure, plumbing and how you use the room. Floor level is a large part of it, since the whole zone must drain properly and the transition at the doorway must keep water from reaching other rooms. In older homes and in condos, the floor structure sometimes limits what is possible without extra work. A wet room can be wonderful or wasteful, so ask a designer to show you a plan and to describe how towels, a toilet and a vanity would live in it.

In a warm, humid climate, a wet room has an added question: where does the moisture go? A fan sized for the whole zone, a ceiling finish that tolerates humidity and a plan for drying towels become more important, not less. A room that is wet by design still needs to dry between uses, or surfaces will stay damp. Ask how the plan handles air movement as well as water.

Inside the shower: fixtures, niches and benches

How you outfit the shower changes how big it feels. A recessed niche stores bottles in the wall instead of on a shelf that juts out. A narrow bench or corner seat takes less room than a built out ledge. A handheld sprayer on a slide bar lets you rinse without turning. Our page on shower niches and benches describes these features.

Controls matter. A valve placed near the entry lets you start the water without stepping into the spray, which helps in a compact shower. Showerhead position, spray width and the number of outlets also influence comfort. Fewer, well placed fixtures often feel better than many crowded ones. Ask the designer to mark the spray direction on the plan, so water falls where you stand and not toward the door or the controls, and so the glass stays cleaner between wipe downs.

Lighting and finishes contribute. Bright, even light and light colored surfaces make a shower feel more open, while shadows and dark corners make it feel tighter.

Glass and mirrors can do quiet work. A mirror just outside the shower, visible through clear glass, extends the apparent depth of the room. A light placed inside the enclosure removes shadow and lets the eye see to the back wall. These touches cost little compared with structural change, and they support whichever larger option you choose, so consider them as part of every plan.

Waterproofing and drainage in a larger shower

A bigger shower puts more demands on the structure. The floor needs a gentle slope toward the drain across a larger area, the waterproofing must cover walls and floor with care, and transitions to the bathroom floor must keep water in. These are not details to leave to chance.

Our guide to shower waterproofing explained and our page on waterproofing describe the layers and why they matter. Ask your remodeler to explain how the system will be built and tested before tile is installed.

The drain also deserves thought. A linear drain along one wall can allow a single sloping plane, which suits large tile. A center drain suits a pan sloping from all sides. The choice affects the look and the tile layout.

Tile size plays into this as well. Larger tiles have fewer joints, which looks clean and is easier to maintain, but they need a flatter surface and may not follow a complex slope as easily. Smaller tiles bend to slopes more readily and add grip. Our guide to bathroom tile sizes and layouts explains how to balance the two for a shower floor.

Questions for planning and permission

Before committing, ask your remodeler what the walls contain, how the plumbing would change, and what the floor structure allows. Ask for two or three layouts and an honest description of the tradeoffs. Ask what the project would disturb in adjacent rooms. Also ask who will protect floors and furniture along the route into the work area, how dust will be contained and what happens if concealed damage is found when old walls are opened.

In a condo or townhome, rules about structure, plumbing and noise may apply. Requirements vary by city, building and community, so confirm what permits and approvals apply with your city building department and your association before work begins. Our planning page on permit and association questions can help you prepare.

Write the scope down. A larger shower is a significant change, and a clear description of what is included, what is excluded and how discoveries will be handled protects everyone.

Discuss living arrangements during the work. If this is the only shower in the home, the household will need another option while it is out of service. Ask your remodeler how long the shower will be unavailable in general terms, whether a nearby bathroom can serve in the meantime and how daily routines can be kept simple while the work is under way.

Choosing the right path for your bathroom

The right choice depends on what you value. If you want the most room, removing the tub is powerful. If you want a smaller change, a new door and clear glass may deliver much of the feeling of space. If you have room beyond the walls, borrowing it can transform the layout.

Try to imagine a normal day. How will you use the shower in the morning, in the evening, with guests or with a helper? Then ask which plan fits that day most naturally. A shower that fits you well makes the whole bathroom feel better.

Be willing to rank your priorities. You may want more width, a seat, a handheld sprayer and a clear glass wall, and not every wish will fit in every room. Decide which two matter most and let the others adapt. Designers can only solve a problem that has been ranked, and a clear ranking leads to a plan you will still be glad of long after the work is finished.

If you are in or near Hollywood, see our general page on bathroom remodeling in Hollywood for orientation. Homeowners in nearby cities ask the same questions, and the same careful approach applies in each: measure, rank your priorities, compare options and write the scope down.

Finally, remember that a shower is used almost every day for years. Small frustrations that seem minor on a first visit, such as a door that bumps a hip or a valve that is hard to reach, become large over time. Investing attention at the planning stage is the most economical way to avoid them, and it is the stage at which changes are easiest to make.

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