16 Shower-Tub Combo Ideas to Elevate Your Bathroom Design

Spacious separate showers and deep soaking tubs might be all the rage in modern homes, but there's a case to be made for the practical shower-tub combo. They offer the best of both worlds in smaller bathrooms and are a more family-friendly option. "Shower-tubs offer the flexibility of taking a shower or a bath, and are also user-friendly for children and elderly adults," says Amber Guyton, principal designer at Blessed Little Bungalow. "You can easily make them look more custom by updating the tile to elevate the interior of the shower or by swapping out your plumbing fixtures."

Luckily, we're sharing 15 ideas — from simple DIYs to quick upgrades and eye-catching tile designs — that can make your shower-tub combo feel just as luxurious as a spa.

A shower-tub niche is the perfect opportunity to create a focal point in your bathroom with an impactful tile design. Bold green hexagonal tiles add dimension and draw the eye up to the ceiling in this modern space, making the room feel bigger. The tub's clean lines add to the contemporary feel.

A small shelf or ledge built-in to the end of shower-tub combo gives all of the pros of a walk-in shower without losing the tub. Designer Brian Patrick Flynn added this tiled ledge to this guest bath to serve as a shelf for bath bombs, candles and towels or as a perch to shave your legs. Just make sure to wrap the entire bench in stone or tile so that no drywall gets damaged.

Figuring out how to add natural light to a bathroom without compromising privacy is always a challenge, especially lots of square footage is taken up by a shower-tub combo. Enter, the skylight, one of the best ways to bring sunshine into a bathroom without having to worry about who's looking in. Designer Carmeon Hamilton installed this one that opens at the touch of a button for added air flow and vitamin D in the guest bath of the HGTV Urban Oasis 2024. Checkerboard tiles define the tub and give it playful personality.

Bathrooms are an opportunity to mix all different kinds of materials, and that applies to your shower-tub too. The designer of this midcentury home in Palm Springs, California, combined rosy pink glass tile, brushed brass hardware and a pink-tinted terrazzo tub to create a room that is both groovy and glamorous. The wood slat ceiling and floating white oak vanity add warmth to the cheerful space.

To make a shower-tub combo feel bigger, try extending the tile beyond the shower area to adjoining walls, like in the HGTV Smart Home 2024 guest bathroom. The space will look more unified and the shower-tub combo will have a custom quality. The variation in this blue glazed porcelain adds a sense of organic movement to the room.

Think outside the box of a traditional shower-tub combo and consider a tiled walk-in shower with a tub inside of it — also known as a wet room. Wet rooms, like this one with a soaking tub, contemporary subway tile and eye-catching floor, offer a spa-worthy bathing experience. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors make the space feel like it's one with the rest of the bathroom.

A simple color palette of sage green and crisp white makes this bathroom airy and elevated. Covering the walls and ceiling of the shower-tub combo in white marble gives it a luxurious feel and allowed designer Tiffany Brooks to add pops of muted color with the vanity and striped shower curtain.

Even affordable subway tile can look expensive when used in the right way, like in this simple, yet chic kid's bath. The designer chose to lay the white tile in an alternating pattern and even installed it on the front of the tub to make it look built in. Just make sure you consult a professional before tiling a tub since tile can't be attached directly to fiberglass.

A DIY piece of paneling gave this shower-tub combo a traditional-meets-whimsical look. Designer Jewel Marlowe built a wood frame to fit the outside of the tub then stapled on pieces of caning and attached brass trim for a bit of flair. She also painted the formerly white tiles blue using epoxy tile paint for a quick refresh.

Opting for a glass door over a shower curtain immediately makes a shower-tub combo feel more open. Luckily, you don't necessarily have to splurge for the full tub-to-ceiling door. A glass half door is a modern take on old sliding shower doors and works just as well. Designer Tiffany Brooks installed this door on a pivot so that it can swing open and closed. A rubber seal on the bottom of the glass keeps any water from leaking out.

One of the great things about shower-tub combos is they can fit into the most awkward of spaces — with a little finagaling. The lower part of this bathroom's nook was wide enough for a tub, so the designer took advantage of the opportunity for a shower-tub combo by waterproofing the angled ceiling with glazed tile. The result is a charming, surprisingly spacious bath worthy of a storybook house.

You know those retro pink tubs that every house built in the '50s or '60s seems to have? Well you might want to reconsider demo'ing it because this sleek black shower-tub combo makes a case for non-white tubs. Small-scale, geometric black tile and matte black faucets create a tone-on-tone effect that makes this bath feel upscale and glamorous. They key to a monochromatic look is variation in texture. The high-gloss tub contrasts nicely with the matte finish on the hardware and the rigidness of the tile.

Swapping your shower curtain is the easiest and quickest thing you can do to upgrade your shower-tub combo. "One cool hack is raising the curtain rod to the ceiling and purchasing longer, traditional window curtain panels to hang from them, with a longer shower liner behind it," says Amber. "This gives the shower-tub an elevated look, drawing the eye upward, and making the decor feel more custom." You can also try hanging two curtains instead of one, like in this chic bath.

A rustic and moody brownish-red wall color and coordinating glazed tiles give the guest suite bath in the HGTV Dream Home 2026 a family-friendly, yet upscale feel. A tone-on-tone color palette has an enveloping effect that can create a sense of rest and relaxation.

Pro tip: Place an accent table near the tub as a perch for your book, phone or glass of wine during bath time.