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!

I will disagree that the seam will be obvious. Not if the pattern is matched properly. Moreover, the curtain will be large enough to have some gentle folds in it so the seam won't be noticeable. The other alternative is to do a double shower rod. The outer one is for the decorative curtain which can be smaller than a regular shower curtain and hangs there to add color and hide the plumbing and the waterproof curtain. The inner rod is for a waterproof curtain (white, clear, whatever) which slides the length of the tub for when in use. Mom did that in her bathroom where the fabric she loved was a remnant and didn't have enough to do the whole shower curtain. By doing so, you aren't limited to shower curtains, but can either make your own panel or buy any drapery panel you want of an appropriate length. In this example, they used the decorative fabric on either side with a pullback, but note the other rod underneath for the waterproof curtain. Here, the panels hang straight. Here is an example of a panel on just one side. Note the outer rod doesn't even reach the length of the tub.

OMG. This is the color of my bathroom as well! And it's been very difficult finding pictures of other bathrooms with the same scheme. (The reverse -- pink with maroon trim -- is easy. But maroon with pink seems much less common.) The towel bars, toothbrush holder, etc. are all pink. The previous owners covered all the tile with white paint and I can't decide whether to strip it off or not. I'd like the room to be original but it's only 5'x7' and I'm worried it will be too dark and oppressive. For a few days I was sure I was going to strip it off, but the stripper I used on a test portion wasn't very effective, so now I don't know if I want to bother. And of course I don't know the condition of the tiles and fixtures under the paint. Unfortunately the original floor tiles -- which were very cool -- are already gone.

Since it's a rental, and the living room ceiling is in terrible shape, don't invest too much labor or money in updates that you won't get back. First of all, is the furniture in the photos yours? If you do a search on Houzz or Google for "log cabin," you'll see how others have furnished panelled rooms--usually in some light colors, complemented with earthy tones. Some ceiling to floor ivory linen or linen-like curtains in the living room would dress up the space. If you're handy with carpentry then a very low TV set up in the same pine finish and across the entire TV wall, would make the TV less prominent. This idea, but with TV over it. (You can do this with an unfinished sideways bookcase then stain it like the pine.)