Tile surrounds look so very nice. I really love the look. That said, I think I'm glad we have one-piecers in both bathrooms (one shower-tub combo and one shower only). These aren't new units, the house is 40 years old and they came with the house. One day we'll replace them, but there's no hurry. My daughter's rental has tile in both upstairs bathrooms, one tub-shower combo and one walk-in-and-have-a-stroll shower. We've used both on numerous occasion as she sometimes goes out of town on business and we babysit, or recently she had a new baby and I went to help out. The shower in particular needs all sorts of spot scrubbing to keep the tile and grout clean. My daughter is a bit of a clean freak (didn't get it from me!) and even she has trouble keeping up with shower maintenance. This really made my mind up for me for what we'll do one of these years - solid surface of some sort despite the fact that I love the look of tile.

I like your choices, too. I would continue searching for the right light neutral color, myself. I'm also not sold on blue in there... It does take time to get the right color! My usual procedure: 1) bring home about 10 different swatches from the store. Hold them up in the room in various places, sometimes right on the wall, sometimes holding it out at arms length so it's "bigger" in your field of vision. Narrow your swatches down to say 5 or 6 that look OK. 2) Look at them at different times of day, different weather, different locations in the room. Next to whatever different materials they will abut IRL. 3) Narrow it down to a handful. Buy testers of those colors or whatever the smallest amount you can buy is. Paint ~2'x2' blocks on various walls (or paint pieces of poster board that you can move around) and again, look at them in different light situations.

Wow!!! I'm so impressed with all of these ideas - keep them coming! I think each would work, but would make for a very different look - high contrast, traditional, MCM, etc. I shared all of these ideas with my husband and I think we're both leaning towards subway tiles in the shower - either light gray or white - and probably oversized as Nancy in Mich suggested. Each hex pattern is about 6 inches in diameter so they're quite large and we agree a larger subway would balance it out. Any ideas for grout color if we go with white subway? A light gray grout? My husband loves the idea of accenting the shower tile with black or graphite-colored trim and bullnose pieces to tie in the dark accents in the floor tile, so we'll likely do that, as well. Pricklypearcactus, we definitely want frameless glass for the shower but still waiting on our quote... scared to open that email. :) And I think brushed nickel is the winner in the fixture department, though I may throw in a little gold by way of accessories to warm things up a bit. We're still trying to decide between a few things: - Pickled wood, white or dark gray painted vanity and either floating or shaker-style - Solid white or marble-type (quartzite?) countertop - Light gray or gray-blue on the walls, but I think this depends on the other finishes. And jrueter - thanks so much for including photos. That really helped us visualize how the gray subway would look. We'd never even considered anything other than white! Williamsem - I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product, but you'll have to be patient with us. We're buying everything now, but not installing until after Christmas. :) Thanks again all! And please do chime in with any other ideas/suggestions - you've been SO helpful!

If I could just build a piece to hold the tile in front, what would anchor it if the tub has no side? What would the minimum thickness be for the front piece without tile? Is this doable? This would be the way to go, especially if you're going to have a showerhead. You don't want to do a drop in with a deck if a showerhead is involved. If you get a tub without a front panel, have your contractor frame it so as to be about 7/8" back from the finish, to accept 1/2" cement board and 3/8" tile and thinset, unless you're using natiural stone, in which case he want's to hold it back the full inch.