Say Goodbye To Traditional Shower Doors With A Stylish, Reversible Alternative

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Midcentury modern is having a moment, at least in the bathroom. If you've been seeing more brass fixtures, subway tile backsplashes, hexagonal tile floors, and colors like avocado green and turquoise showing up in powder rooms, you're not alone. Of course, the pièce de résistance of the quintessential midcentury modern bathroom is the reeded glass shower door. There's no need to go antiquing to find a piece that wouldn't look out of place on the set of Mad Men. You can order the MORVANO Matte Black Reeded Glass Pivot Shower Door from Amazon to start giving your bathroom its very own midcentury modern makeover. 

This pivoting door features a matte black adjustable aluminum shower frame, so it can accommodate slightly different wall spaces. It's also reversible, so you can install it so it opens either to the left or the right. Magnetic door suction and watertight seals along the bottom make sure it won't slam shut and prevent water from leaking out while you're showering. And the pivot automatically lowers when the door is closed, adding to its water-tightness.

But the signature feature of this Morvano shower door is the reeded glass finish. Reeded glass is made by pressing molten glass through a pair of rollers, leaving one side with convex ridges, or reeds. The reeds scatter and diffuse light, offering a modicum of privacy, and provide a more stylish look compared to traditional glass shower doors. Typically, the outward-facing side is reeded, while the inward-facing side is smooth. But what's the trade-off, if any, between reeded glass and plate glass?

There's nothing wrong with a traditional plate glass shower door. If your bathroom décor tends more towards 21^st century over midcentury modern, a reeded glass shower door would probably look out of place (or time). But, in addition to creating a textured surface that plays with the light and offers a bit more privacy than plate glass, reeded glass is also easier to keep looking clean. The light-diffusing effect of the convex ridges in reeded glass not only blurs shower occupants, but also helps to conceal water spots and fingerprints better than plate glass. The trade-off is that cleaning inside the ridges is a bit trickier than a simple wipe-down. By law, all shower doors must be made of tempered safety glass, so in terms of strength and safety, there's no difference between plate and reeded glass shower doors of the same thickness.

It all comes down to the atmosphere you want for your bathroom. Do you want spa-like vibes in the bathroom? Or something simpler? A Morvano reeded glass shower door could really shine in a smaller bathroom where space is at a premium. Plate glass shower doors expose corners, which can make small bathrooms look even smaller. If you have natural light entering your shower, plate glass does nothing more than let it through (and remind you it's time to clean up the soap scum), while reeded glass diffuses the light and creates a unique visual effect.