Will subway tiles at a height to the bottom of the mirror between the shower and the corner next to the vanity really add that much expense to the project? After having neither in my last bathroom, I am tiling behind the toilet and sink to wainscot height. I think it is really practical and easier to clean than painted drywall particularly around the toilet. (Also you never have to worry about painting around the toilet and sink area again) Where is the extra expense? All in the labor? Basic subway tile has a fairly low/sq.ft. cost.

Armstrong and Mannington (there are more brands) make laminates are suitable for bathroom floors. We have an Armstrong 15" tile in our guest bath. It is warm to walk on compared to porcelain or stone. Backsplashes can be whatever you like. Distance to mirror is just a design thing. If you select tile, it will be determined by how many rows you want. Make a scale drawing to see how it will look. Placement of the mirror is important to determine what you want to see reflected. You don't have to have everything "match". -Babka (Edit) Be sure to check the specs to see which ones are suitable for bathrooms. Some are, some aren't. This post was edited by Babka on Thu, Mar 13, 14 at 21:12

We did not tile the side walls in any of our bathrooms because we aren't overly fond of that look, though I have seen bathrooms here and elsewhere with tiled side-splashes that look terrific. We made sure to use good quality, scrubbable paint in our bathrooms (we used BM Aura Bath and Spa paint; matte finish), and it seems to be holding up well*. Over the sink in the guest bathroom, we used our border tiles from the shower as a backsplash (3" high?). In our MB and hall bathroom, we tiled up to the ceilings--that decision was more for aesthetics than necessity. *I did end up scrubbing and touching-up (re-rolled) one small section of the wall between the vanity and the doorway molding in our MB after an unnoticed splatter of benzoyl peroxide gel/cream left permanent light colored spots on the wall. The section of wall next the sink/counter has been fine.

A 4"-6" back splash is a nice height range. You may want to consider the faucet or mirror height to help guide the decision.