Inexpensive Bathroom Shower Wall Ideas

An attractive shower can enhance your home's value as well as make your daily shower a more enjoyable experience. When choosing the best options for your home, consider whether appearance or ease of maintenance is most important to you and then opt for the highest-quality materials within your price range.

Laminate shower surrounds have come a long way since the gaudy looks of the 1970s. Instead of gold veining, you can find simple solid colors, fairly realistic marble and granite looks and other styles to suit nearly any decor. Laminate surrounds are easy to install and simple to clean. Some companies sell single-piece units that are pre-bent to fit your shower, reducing the number of seams that can potentially leak and ruin your drywall.

Homeowners also love that laminate is easy to keep clean and shiny simply by using a mild shower cleaner. The most important part of laminate installation is to get a good seal in the area where the laminate meets the tub or shower floor, so take a few of the dollars you saved by choosing laminate and spend them on the best-quality caulk you can find.

Designer tiles are expensive, but if you have a creative streak and don't mind putting in extra effort, you can create a custom mosaic for your shower wall at a very low cost. Many online retailers sell affordable tiles for shower walls in a wide variety of patterns, from pearl shell mosaics to pebble-like designs. Many of these have easy-to-install interlocking designs and can add a bright, fun pop of intrigue even if you only have the budget to tile one of the shower walls.

You can also contact tile manufacturers or home improvement stores in your area and ask for any broken or remnant bathroom and kitchen tiles. Once you have well over the square footage needed to cover your shower wall, break the tiles into small chunks with a hammer and smooth out the edges with a file. Set the pieces in the pattern of your choice — either irregular or a specific design — and use high-quality grout to set them into your shower wall. The tiling process will be tedious, but the look will be one-of-a-kind and hard to surpass.

This is one of the most affordable options out there for shower walls. You can find prefabricated fiberglass shower walls from most home improvement stores. Many can be installed by confident DIYers. If you don't feel up for the job, it can be a quick one for a contractor, so hourly labor costs won't add up.

Many homeowners love how easy they are to find and install. They also come in a wide variety of designs and configurations, so you can find entire entire wall kits that will fit a tub and shower, or single panels designed to simply add one surrounding wall.

The big downside to fiberglass is its lack of durability. It is prone to discoloration and dullness over time and can easily become stained if you spill products like home hair dyes on it. However, if you're looking for an easy and low-cost option for a rental or a place you don't plan on staying in for very long, it can be an attractive low-cost option.