Bring the Outdoors In with a Bamboo Shower Wall

A stylish, yet inexpensive, alternative for a shower enclosure is a natural water barrier made from bamboo.

Necessity is the mother of invention here! After our enormous island home renovation, the costs to make, crate, ship and install glass panels to enclose our master shower was exorbitant! I created my own organic version out of lucky bamboo and areca palms.

Lucky Bamboo (or Dracaena sanderana by its botanical name) is not bamboo at all, but actually a member of the Lily family. It is incredibly resilient, likes warm places and requires little sunlight and water. It's an ideal, low-maintenance choice for a bathroom. I used it to separate the shower from the tub.

I bought 10 loose stalks from the Home Depot on St. Thomas. I cut the long stalks in half and placed them in a vase filled with a few inches of water until the freshly cut stalks developed strong roots (about 6 weeks).

I planted a straight, evenly spaced roll of lucky bamboo in 2, 24-inch plastic flower boxes (10 stalks per box). To dress up the inexpensive flower boxes, I applied a rich walnut colored epoxy paint inside and out, using a distressed painting technique which give the boxes depth and texture. I finished the boxes with a coat of polyurethane for shine. I planted the bamboo in good potting soil and covered the soil with island pebbles and stones we used for the shower. The bamboo does a good job keeping the water from splashing out. It is about 2 feet in height now, and is filling in nicely. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the areca palms at the foot of the shower entrance. I think I may soon replace these with a few extra-long, thick clusters of lucky bamboo. Perhaps in the future I may change my mind and install a glass enclosure, but for now I'm loving this pulled together, low maintenance outdoor shower feel!

CC