Since my original post, I did buy the home, closed on the 29th, but that almost didn't happen - one of the main reasons was, tada, this bathroom! During the walkthrough the day before closing I came to find out that they had to replace the shower pan, which meant, they replaced the tiles in the shower, and with them being tiles from the 60s, not only did they not match, but as a repair, it was an AWFUL job! I was pissed and upset to say the least. I couldn't understand why the owners didn't offer me the option of a credit to do the bathroom over as I saw fit, instead of doing this on their own, it just made no sense. We finally got them to give us a credit and I'll be ripping out the entire bathroom. What they paid to have done in there was just a waste of money and almost cost them the sale of the house - and cost them more at the end with the credit given. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with this bathroom. I've taken off that gawd awful accordian door (Freecycle!) I'm looking at tiles, trying to find a 18" vanity base to free up some more floor space, probably put in bypass shower doors as I can't stand getting wet when I turn on the shower as it is now, and there's no light in the shower, so this will bring in natural light. I'm still not sure how to deal with the door. I haven't found a good door to put there. THe original door swong in, door handle on right when it was there. I'm still toying with the idea of a pocket door. I'm going to get an estimate on switching the toilet and vanity, still not sure how much of a difference it would make. Too many things and possible options. Want an elongated toilet - does anyone know who makes some really short toilets when it comes to floor space? Good source for 18" vanities? Vanity there now is 41" thinking about a 36" wide instead, will give a bit more room. So, that's my mini update on this bathroom. I've been almost 3 weeks doing non-stop cleaning. As clean as they people were/appeared, you have NO idea what I've found deep cleaning! This morning, I'm off to paint the closets in the master bathroom - they painted the bedroom, but didn't take the extra step to paint the interior of the 2 closets, so I have a tan bedroom and light green/blue closets!!!

Many thanks to everybody who answered, you have all been very helpful in clarifying my very muddled thoughts. Here is a hopefully clearer description of the situation: The house is a 50's ranch style, with 3 bedrooms and a hall bath (4.5x8.5 ft) clustered on one side of the house, and the kitchen, office/den and another hall bath (4x9 ft) on the other side of the house, with a great room in the middle. We plan to stay in this house as long as we can, but we are in this city for my husband's work, and if something happens (although unlikely with his kind of job), we know we'll have to move somewhere else; therefore, we'd like to make updates to the house while keeping resale in mind. Our (excellent) realtor said that for resale we should have an ensuite. After reading the comments, I have to clarify with him if he thinks a lack of ensuite will narrow down the market significantly, or if we 'simply' would not get the best price for the house. Most houses in the area are old (in the whole city actually), and we saw plenty without ensuites. We saw two of the neighbors' houses, and they did not have ensuites. This is what we considered: 1. Redo the bathrooms with the existing footprint (not that we have room to change anything inside), but we can go far into making them pretty, 2. Add a door from the master bedroom to the hall bath next to it, and close access from the hall. This I think would be a bad idea, not only because the people in the other two bedrooms will have to go across the house to the other bathroom, but also because the master bedroom will end up with windows on two walls, three closets on another, and two doors on the fourth side. Not restful. 3. Add another bathroom next to the master bedroom where the closets are, with one closet door transformed into a bathroom door. This bathroom would be 4.5x12 ft, although it could go to 5x12 if need be (but no more, because we'll hit a big window), which will have a shower but no bathtub. We talked to a professional who said it will fit fine with the caveat that the toilet will likely be the first thing you see in front of the door because of the current clearance requirements. 4. Build an addition. This again I think would be a very bad idea, since it would be blindingly expensive and the house is already on the higher side of square footage for the surrounding area. We will of course fix everything that is broken. The interior doors are the original 50s doors, hollow core dark wood look with lots of scuffs and holes, and they were cut short to fit the now non-existent carpet, so I would qualify changing them as fixing what is broken (and they bug me every time I look at them... ). The windows are a perk; we are still divided on those. I tend toward option 1, while my husband is going for option 3, although he agrees we do not need another bathroom. The reason I feel ill equipped to make this decision is that I'm originally from Europe, and even after so many years here I feel mildly perplexed about the North American love affair with bathrooms. Our previous rental was built in the last ten years and had a huge ensuite which I didn't like. I found it hard to keep as clean as I thought it should be, and it was so large I felt as if I was doing my business in public. Given the bathroom pictures on Houzz, I'm clearly in a minority. Your comments help ensure that I don't miss anything that might otherwise be obvious, so thanks again. And extra thanks to whoever makes it to the end of this post...

weedyacres, thanks for all the advice! :) I don't know why everybody thinks I'm jumping into this tomorrow but this is something I don't plan on doing for another 3+ months, maybe not even for another year. Who knows. But by nature I'm very proactive and like to start planning so I can prepare. The kitchen is a different story because I am literally moving into a house with ZERO appliances - I don't want to live off take-out every night, and not even be able to take home leftovers! I appreciate everybody looking out for me in terms of budget and experience, I really do, but there's a lot of (personal) details I haven't added in my original posts. My mom updated her bathroom all by herself, and has done MANY other bathrooms for other people. This bathroom is much bigger than mine (the photo doesn't show it all). All new flooring, wall tile, mirror, faucet, shower fixtures, etc. She did this bathroom for $600, so I think my 2k tile budget is conservative. Oh and she is a house wife (no job), so she just spends all day doing this type of stuff. My budget outlined above was meant to include everything that is required (additional materials and tools if I don't have them already - I also haven't mentioned that I worked for SB&Decker for 3 years and have literally a closet FULL of Dewalt hand and power tools). I also have other friends who have just completely renovated their entire home by themselves (and were in my shoes less than a year ago). They had help from their plumber uncle but other than that they basically gutted and re-did their whole house themselves. We're all Engineers too, so we have a sense of structures. I might not understand house terms but I have a good sense of math and physics and have done a lot of research, calculations, and budgeting that I'm confident in. My GC is also a great guy, and has even offered to lend me his tools if I want to DIY things myself. I don't get into these details though in my original posts because I'm just looking for design guidance, not necessarily how-to's. You're right about my lack of knowledge with home DIY and construction, I'm a total newb! But I've been reading, researching, and watching a lot, so I'm learning every day. Houzz has just been another great outlet for me to learn, especially coming from people with firsthand experience! Fori is not pleased, I definitely plan to now. That's great advice. I'll look into what current code is and how my bathroom (now) meets it, and what would need to bring it up to code. My GC called out a few things during the initial walk-thru and he seems very familiar with the codes in the area, so he can help. I'll do all this before I start any renovating. When I say "new layout" I don't necessarily mean moving stuff around. Maybe I should re-phrase and ask how to design the bathroom. Mostly I just don't know what to do with the inset wall. Do I put cabinets all the way from the (current) sink to the door or do I leave empty space underneath and put a bench? What's practical? What would look nice? etc etc.

I'm late to this thread, but I'm so glad you're going with restoration. The tile and fixtures are fantastic. A restored-height ceiling, better light fixtures, paint, shower door and a no-frill window covering (simple roman shade? )will go a long way towards making it a sharp, current-looking retro bathroom. I've been staring at the photos trying to decide what wall color would look good. We recently redid the bathroom in our 1912 (or so) bungalow and painted it a matte black, albeit with a white shower, floor and board and batten wainscot paneling. I was worried that black would be very dark and confining, but it isn't at all. I don't know if it would work with the pink tile, but it might look cool. Is the floor tile pattern off just inside the door?