Thank you everyone for all of your replies! Sorry for the absence...I have no internet here at the house yet. In response to questions/comments: kudzu9: There are areas of the grout that are missing, and the remainder has turned yellow. I would like to replace the missing grout and whiten the yellowed. We hope to rent out the home, so I don't trust tenants to wipe down painted walls. I'm hoping to find a complementary alternative. benjesbride: Unfortunately, the reason I have little budget now is that most of the original plumbing has to be redone. The drains are all old cast iron, and have degraded...there are lead pipes too. So, since they are replacing them, I figure that now would be the time to relocate. Thank you for your advice on "embracing the retro" and your link! nosoccermom: I cant really remove the shower head, as its the only bath in the home. I LOVE your idea of glass, and will research it. Have to figure out how to seal it from moisture and how to make area where it meets tile waterproof. Fori is not pleased: LOL!!!! I'm not pleased either! Thanks for the laugh and suggestion. I will def head over there once I have internet at the house, and am ready to make all the decorating decisions.polly929: I had considered having a company reglaze the tub & tile white, but the many opinions of keeping the original intact have made me reconsider. I am keeping the home, but am trying to fix it up to rent out for now. bpathome: Thanks for sharing your experience. I was considering adding 4x4 tile above the existing, but someone else said it wouldn't look good and hearing your experience too really gives me pause. I agree that the glass sounds like a cool possibility, but I need to research the installation issues. Would wallpaper hold up in a shower??? Yes, I absolutely need to redo the floor. Its a pier and beam home, so I am avoiding any real tile. However, I have looked at black & white LVT alternatives in both the hex and penny. jesshs: That is amazing! I cannot believe someone on here has actually had this tile! And its funny you mentioned grey....that is exactly the color I was thinking of going with on the walls! As far as paint on the shower walls, as I said above to kudzu9, we are planning to rent the home out and I worry about tenants taking the time to do that sort of maintenance. I want to go with something I don't have to worry about them taking care of. cpartist: Another retro vote! I'm coming around :) The grout is yellowed, and missing in a few areas. I'm hoping there is a way to bring it back to white. I agree with you, and everyone else, about the grab bars, as well as the shower head. And so glad to get another grey vote! I am absolutely redoing the floor. Just haven't decided what would go best. Again, THANK YOU everyone for your opinions and suggestions. Please, keep the ideas coming!

I just finished a remodel and replaced the shower/tub combination with a great shower. I really couldn't tell you how much it cost because your costs would depend on the cost of labor in your area plus the materials and fixtures you choose. My showers were expensive because they were taken down to the studs. The rough plumbing including the drains had to be replaced. Both the floor and the walls had to be waterproofed. I also opted for relatively expensive finishes - Encore tiles and marble basket weave floors with Phyrich fixtures. I live in a jurisdiction which required multiple inspections before work could proceed including flood tests for the shower pan. The work was done by a licensed plumber and the tile work was done by a really experienced tile setter so labor was expensive. The end results of the intricate tile designs were done really well and so I have none of the horror stories that are rampant on this forum. I love the end result and I also am as sure as one can be that my new shower doesn't leak or have structural issues. Getting rid of the tub/shower combination was one of the best things I did in my new remodel as the end result is both highly functional and - at least in my opinion - beautiful.

I guess you already know it is too high. Optimal height depends on you. Sorry to write this, but if you use the guest tub, how long before you stumble getting out? Do you want to have to depend on bars, steps? What if you fall?

Your plumbing may be different, but this should give you an idea. The shower head is threaded on to the shower arm. The shower arm simply threads into a fitting in the wall. You can unthread the shower arm from the fitting and thread a shower head and arm of your choosing back into the fitting inside the wall. Use teflon tape to make up the connection. The tub spout may be the same. In the drawing below, the "nipple" is what is shown between the tub spout and the fitting in the wall. Nipples are simply short pieces of pipe threaded on both ends. Some tub spouts are threaded on to the nipple. Some slide on and are held secure with a set screw that may be visible from underneath. Again, use teflon tape to make up any connections. The valve is the wild card. The valve body (the big hunk of brass in the wall) typically needs to be set a certain distance back from the face of the shower surface (typically tile, or in your case the plastic surround) to ensure that the valve cover plate will sit flat on the wall. There's a bit of leeway here. You will likely be replacing that tub surround with tile backer board (say 1/2" thick) plus thinset and tile (say 3/16th" thick). You might not need to make adjustments...or you might have to. If required, to move the existing valve in or out a bit, often time fasteners that secure the vertical runs of copper tubing to the wall studs can be removed. The valve (and the associated plumbing) can be pushed back a little, or pulled forward a little, and the fasteners can be reset to hold the valve in its new position. It's always a very smart idea to replace the shower valve when redoing a shower. A nice basic shower valve like Symmons Temptrol is inexpensive with replacement parts being easy to find.