Here is the result of day one:
I plumbed the shower, installed the wall board and started the tiling - not bad for a vacation day.
Now that I have the mosaic lines installed on the left, I will cut out the space for the niche on the right. I already rough-framed in the niche a bit larger than I needed, then will add blocks to get it exactly to the right location and size.
The earth-tone tiles are actually large, but cast to look like small tiles. They are 18" x 28" and a bit hard to handle. They need a lot of mortar, and require support to stay in place - hence the clamps at the bottom. They are high-quality porcelain that I bought from a company that went out of business for $1.50 a square foot. They are surprisingly easy to cut on the tile saw of I do it free-hand.
I'm not a big fan of Harbor Freight squeeze clamps, but these work great as spreaders. I got them for $3 each with a coupon. I don't think they sell these exact clamps any more, but they have comparable ones.
Day Two: I added the niche, waterproofed it, and set the rest of the tile.
Here is niche with the fiberglass tape in place:
I used Redgard for waterproofing. It goes on like a gel, and thoroughly seals the surface after two coats. It's pink when it's wet and turns darker red once it's dry.
I decided to do the entire niche in mosaics. I really like it.
There's an optical illusion in the mosaics - they look like they are waving up and down. They area actually dead straight and level, but for some reason they don't look it. Go figure.
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