I bought a fixer upper home and it has a shower that was etched so bad with hard water spots, so bad that a steel wool pad and a drill with chemicals did not do the trick. I didn't want to replace the glass, had lots more money to spend on other things. So I went to a craft store and bought glass frost/etching acid. I bought a roll of painter's tape and stencils. Figured out a pattern that I wanted.
I put a "Fleur D'Lis" on the top of each glass pane, with the stencil that I bought (could be butterflies, flowers, etc.) and ran the tape along the edges of the glass panes (length wise). Then I striped the glass with the tape (horizontally), measured with little pieces of the tape below the fleur d'lis design and ran a piece of tape from edge to edge, using the little pieces of tape as guide to make the stripe level. Then more small pieces of tape at the bottom of the first stripe of tape then leveled off another stripe.
Standing in the shower, adjust the tape and stripe pattern so the personal parts of your body are covered by the frosted glass. I etched the entire part of the glass where the "never-you-mind" areas are, then I started striping again to continue the pattern from the top of the shower glass panes. In the middle of the glass pane, I etched another design but I had to tape that off to not overlap the frosting, which was a pain in the never minds, but it came out good.
You might want to try it. I saved myself a bunch of money and it doesn't look too bad for a cheap quick fix. Now I can concentrate on other things to buy for my new...older...home, and this will do until I can get another shower stall along with a water softener system! Good Luck. I am very happy with the outcome and semi-filled bank account.
Source: TOO frugal to get a new shower and had to come up with something inexpensive.
By Suzette from Ripon, CA
