For each one kitchen in a house, professional designers are responsible for an average of 3 bathrooms. Which means over the course of a career I have designed hundreds of bathrooms. The goal is to make each one unique but there are tried and true elements that I consider and you can as well to demand a designer level bathroom renovation.
1) Recessed niches in showers - we all love a nice storage moment for messy bottles but I have some rules when it come sto my niches that make a huge difference:
Full tiles around the niche. No cutting into full tiles to make the rough opening work. Adjust the rough opening to accommodate full tiles instead. It may mean reducing the opening size by a few inches but it will be so much more pleasing to the eye.
No Schluter trim around the outside corners. Its a lazy installer move that tey will default to unless you ask otherwise. I demand mitered corners for tile cuts or a stone frame. It will make fora gorgeous finished niche.
2) Ledges - if you have room in the walk in shower for a ledge in lieu of a niche for storage, that's a nice touch.
3) Shower curbs - have the shower curb fabricated out of the remnants of the countertop material for a clean install of the glass and higher end looking design element
4) Specify non-bathroom lighting. There is no rule that says you have to use "bathroom lighting" in a bathroom. Install any style that captures your heart.
5) Consider adding radiant heat flooring underneath the tile.
