We had a bathroom like that in our 1960s house. The tiles were a combo of peach and brown. Even the toilet and tub were that peach color. We found a great shower curtain and used those colors to determine the paint color. We ended up with beige walls, probably BM linen white.

You could try to match one of the tones in the tile -- and the overall room would appear to be more cohesive.

OR you could try a deeper richer tone of the tones .....

OR perhaps a chocolate brown that would work with the cabinets?

OR a green tone?

I had a similar problem with my "Santa Fe" bathroom circa late 1980's. Take a look at the photos in the galleries here. I did a very pale aqua, but my bathroom had a turquoise accent. If I had to do it again, I'd go a little bolder on the color, but I'm just glad it's done.

Can we paint the vanity and cabinet a color near the tiles and paint the walls some wild and great color like a pumpkin or a bittersweet chocolate.

Without seeing a photo we can only guess what might work, but it sounds a lot like what was in my folks last home that was built in the fifties. I feel you have three choices.
1. Embrace the color and paint the walls in the closest color you can find to the tiles. This will in a sense make the color your neutral and you can add a variet of colors for you accessories. changing from day to day or whenever the feeling strikes you.
2. Paint your walls an ecru or soft off white. Again you'll have a fairly neutral background to add whatever color accessories you'd like.
3. As teacats or kelpmermaid said. Pick out colors from the same era, minty green, aqua, or soft yellow.
Whatever color you choose have fun with it. If you can find some vintage style fishes, flamingo's or other fun decor of that era that would look sooo cute! There are some websites that sell vintage style decor.
Too bad you don't still have the vintage colored fixtures to go with the tiles. Having the tiled floor is a great plus though.

We could help more if we had pics! ; )

You could try using "Coral Cliche" by Glidden (HD). We used it because the original backsplash in the kitchen was peach tile, and I wanted a warm beige to almost trick the eye into seeing the peach tile as a bit more of a beige...don't know if that might work for you.

Here's a peek at the color, but I definitely recommend seeing it in real life:

***decorating disclaimer: we weren't done decorating when these pics were taken*** :)

Also, another view of the color in a different light:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k46/acoreana508/IMG_1319a.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful:

What shade of green is that? I love it!

Thanks very much :)!

It is "Tate Olive" by Behr. It is a fantastic color. I'm having to sit on my hands to keep from spreading it throughout the house. We're really, really pleased with it.

I would love to see pics!

Here's my peach & tan bathroom right after we moved in:

We've since removed blue wallpaper and covered the mess with a white textured paintable paper; replaced vanity with a wall hung sink & replaced ancient toilet with a basic lo-flow by Toto. The floor tile is in iffy condition, the tiles in the bath area have lost their shine and the tub has stains that absolutely defy my best efforts at cleaning. I'm ready for the gut rehab.

Hate to say it, but I vote for the gut rehab if you can afford it. You would love it if you could pick everything out for yourself and update it. It's easy to splurge a bit on bathrooms because we don't need much in the way of volume of materials. So you could put in a really gorgeous slate floor, for instance.

But if this is an "antique" house maybe this looks right for the house and is part of its charm? That's up to you. My inclination is if it's old subway tile it's priceless, so I'd work with it... but this... mmmm... not so much, sorry.

If you decide to leave it for now, how about picking up some paint color chips at the store and holding them up to the picture to see how they look to you?

Another choice is to beadboard over the wall tile, then redo your floor. You'd probably want to re-tile behind the tub in something neutral.

You can also have a tub professionally resurfaced, and a bathroom remodel place can advise about the cost. It's undoubtedly cheaper than a new tub as I've seen them do it on HGTV's "Designed to Sell."

You might want to take a photo to the hardware store and ask what they see as your possibilities and approximate costs for each thing.

One word of warning... when you dig into old bathrooms there is often rot in the walls and floor from years of water, and mold. Subflooring may need to be replaced as well as wallboard. I'd just expect that. That's an added headache, but it's also a good reason to go for the gut rehab, to make sure it's structurally sound and mold-free. Do you have another bathroom in the house if you need to tear this one down?

Whatever you do, please post before and aftef pics for us!

I saw a decorating show on tonight with your color fixtures. The original tile in it was a pretty green that actually went with the pink/sand fixtures. However, I'm still leaning toward a linen white or something along those lines to "brighten" things up.

oceanna: We do have another bathroom:

The wall above the tile is now white, and we replaced the vanity with a wall hung sink and upgraded to a new lo-flow toilet here too. It's tiny, with no storage. We removed a large mirror (in order to install an outlet near the sink), and discovered the old medicine cabinet opening. We put in a medicine cabinet and I just found a cool metal shelf at Ikea to put over the toilet.

I'm thinking a vintage-looking white with black trim tile job on the walls and floor for both bathrooms. One problem is the tubs. No local refinishers to be found. These tubs are circa 1950, and would have to be smashed for removal. They're not standard sizes either: one is 48" and the other is just shy of 60"--I know this because I purchased a standard-sized curved shower curtain pole and it won't fit either room.

Anyone removed a 50s tub and lived to tell the tale?

bump