Putting in a new tub and tile surround,trying to decide which looks better soap dish or corner shelves. What height would you put the corner shelves and should i put one or two.
thanks cyndi

 

I prefer niches to shelves or soap dishes. You can make them any height you want, install shelves within the niches and it keeps everything from protruding into the bath area. I posted some general instructions in an older thread http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=196853. If there is going to be a shower in this tub, be sure to only use cement board for the walls, you must install a 6 mil poly moisture barrier behind the backer first and deal it to the flange of the tub. Lastly, do not use mastic to set any tile in a wet area. Use only modified thinset from a bag. If you wan to see what happens with mastic, go to the tile forum and check out the "please save my shower, my wife will thank you" thread. THere are great pictures of the demolition process showing how mastic washes away from behind the tile. THe thread will be on page 1 or 2. If you do not want to do the recessed niche, then corner shelves are better. Soap dishes always get pulled off the wall because everyone always thinks they are handles.