I had two older homes. 1100 sq feet, 1000 sq feet with small bathrooms. The homes were in very good location, but dated and not exactly what people were looking for; i.e. vaulted ceilings, large bathrooms, large kitchen. - I gutted all four bathrooms myself. Hammer, wrecking bar, boxes I got from the local supermarket. I was messy but not so difficult. - The first bathroom I used Lowes/Home Depot tiles on the shower/bathroom walls, floor to the bathroom. Then a wainscoat and big dramatic chair rail above it. This bathroom was a real show stopper and the realtor loved it. - I hired a guy to put up the tile work, plumber installed the new shower head, pipes, drain. About 1,000 dollars total. - I set the new toilet, vanity, light fixture, sink, painted everything myself. - All done for about 2k and a few weekends, nights. - Second bathroom had a tub, so I just gutted the walls, floor, new tile, vanity, toilet, drywall, cement board etc. Paid for plumber, tile guy. 2k done. Second Home - Same deal, gut myself, kept the old tube that had a nick in it. Bought the repair paint at lowes, and special cleaning spray. Shined up perfect. New vanity, tile, lights, toilet etc..tile guy installed tile on floor and around the tub. I put in the chair rain, wainscoat, painted. Looked great. Last bathroom was the best. Went to tile shop and found a big selection and quality of tile. They were great and this shower turned out perfect. I hated to sell the house because this bathroom was so nice. It sold the house. large floor tiles, all around the shower, installed vent fan because it never had one. This bathroom was 3k because of the better tile, but it sold the house. I think a good price range with you doing some of the messy work is about 3k-5k depending on what you keep and what you replace. Checking craigslist you can find tile, vanity, light fixtures or go to the salvage stores etc... Bathrooms were a big selling point for those homes. Just look online for tile ideas etc...then copy what you see. I think hiring a good tile guy is best because it is harder than you might think and they know the tricks etc. Putting up the cement board in the shower/bathroom stall hire a guy that knows how to make it square. It's important for the tile guy. Looking back, I enjoyed the remodel and learned a lot about it. I live in a newer home down and have a few bad tiles in the bathroom, but I won't do any major remodeling. I think you can do it for a lot less than 15k. Good Luck!

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!

Thank you for all of your help and knowledge. I'm pretty new to this and you gave me excellent info and links. You also made me realize that the floor isn't the worst of the problems or the first thing I should focus on: it's those cabinets! I had no idea they were a known quantity. Ick! Regarding the cabinets: the easiest thing would be to temporarily remove the doors entirely as one blogger did, but honestly... I need somewhere to store my stuff. I already have about 20 square feet of open shelving and I've put everything attractive there, and used wire baskets with canvas lining to contain a lot of the less attractive. Even if I were to remove the doors 1) the gross interiors would still show; and 2) one of the cabinets is a deep corner one, which is just not going to look good at all (IMO at least). This post (a link from the brilliant Kylie link above sent by @nosoccermom--truly the best treatment of this subject I've found) is by a DIY owner who just painted the "wood" trim. Easy-peasy! But the white of her melamine was truly white, and as Kylie notes, it would be hideous to paint the "wood" white and leave the rest beige or try to match (matching to tobacco stains, omg whathaveigotteninto). Which leads me to two issues: I really need to use some heavy duty TSP/ammonia/OXY/goo be gone type cleaner to see if I can actually get them any whiter (not a lot of renovating experience, but I'm a great deep cleaner!). Part of the problem is that my landlord has painted all the trim white, which makes the beige-nic-whatever-ness so much grosser looking. I've cleaned them with regular kitchen cleaner and they're definitely not greasy, but maybe there is some level of filth that still needs to be stripped off. That's step one. If they're not white, I need to talk to my landlord about simply painting them white: just the beige area wouldn't be hard to do from what I've seen with the right product and some time/care (flat surface, right?--not the whole shebang including the "wood", and would definitely improve the look of the place. I think he'd be amenable. If not, maybe I could try finding some contact paper or adhesive to attach something that is either white or blue and truly removable. And clean well when I do move (don't worry @nosoccermom!). :) Question: is the "wood" on these cabinets actually wood? One blogger suggests that it is, in that she suggests a quick "helping" fix can be to use this product. It doesn't feel like it, and parts of the edges are crumbling. Even if it's not, is it possible to treat it like it is and stain it (after cleaning etc., of course)? Does anyone know definitively whether it is in fact wood on this type of cabinetry? The idea of adding hardware is great, thank you (@nosoccermom again!) I'm actually headed to Ikea this weekend and they have these pulls for (e.g. two 15" for $9.99). That's do-able! Larger pulls actually installed in the face of the cabinet would have a better "pull the eye away from the horror" effect per Kylie, but I know I can drill and then putty up these when I move. Maybe I'll talk to my landlord about putting in something more tho--if I pay for it he might be cool. They can't get worse. So in short, going to start with the cabinets, since I know that needs to be fixed and is the worst eyesore. As for the floor, I've said above I really don't want to put down any sort of rug, but I have found well-reviewed recycled plastic, reversible rugs from Fab Habitat like this one: (tried to make a collage lol--a link to the product here). NB: often listed at ridiculously high prices--a comparable FH 6x9 on Houzz is currently $329. They're machine made, out of plastic straws. But other stores (and the manufacturer) sell it for much, much less). And I already have an outdoor one that I've decided doesn't fit in my cyan-ized living room--just wish the nap was lower (can you seal a rug like a floor cloth so it has no nap? I bought it for a steal, I really don't care...), but maybe I'll do it :( If anyone has more advice I'd LOVE it! No Anglophile "pro" decorators tho, please! That elitist post bugged me all night :(. Thank you all so much. What a great community! :)

dcjv, do you have a crawl space under the house? much easier to move plumbing around if you have to. So you want to go totally modern? I'd say remove the tub and just do a larger shower. I see you have a heater in there. is that just an electric wall heater or is it hooked up to your HVAC? something else you'll have to remedy. I'd keep the pony wall to offer a bit of separation for the toilet. Realize too that your new vanity will come out to 22". You have enough room for it, so it shouldn't be an issue. What does the rest of the home look like, decor-wise? is it all modern or is there some mid century feel to it? I ask because instead of go full out contemporary, maybe try a little mid century modern? That way you still gel w/the home. here are some examples of using a bit of mcm : I love these elements. The warm wood vanity, modern lighting and mirrors, maybe geometric type of tiling another option is to replace the window w/something larger, and swing your shower around so that the placement is like this pic: your toilet could me moved over to the other wall, perhaps borrowing space from whatever is behind that wall. if leaving the shower it the same spot, see about doing a built in linen cabinet. (especially if you're doing a type of floating vanity. the closet offers a lot more storage) another shower idea, except this would be on the other wall.