Thank you cpartist. But my husband had an accident a few years ago with a fold down shower bench seat at his work gym.. I guess moisture had gotten behind the wall it was mounted to, and the whole bench fell off the tiled wall, taking a 3-4 foot section of tile with it, and collapsed on his back! He's had back trouble since then. (can you believe the BIG electronics company--think, the biggest one in the world!!-- he worked at, claimed no responsibility!!! Although they had it immediately torn down!) anyways, due to that bad experience, he wants nothing to do with fold down bench seats. Understandable. But yes, I think you're right about the tile up on the high ceiling. Easier to clean. Thanks.

Ok, so in order of the pics, we're looking at flooring, acrylic tub surround and marble (granite?) top? Are these all bought? Did you take a picture of these three elements in the same lighting? I ask because lighting is everything in how we perceive colour and on my monitor (which might not render the colours true), these elements aren't cohesive. The surround looks like a cool grey on my screen while the other two skew warm. All three have a pattern as well which usually makes a small space look busy. That said, you have two horizontal applications (counter and floor) and one vertical (surround) so that will affect how we perceive the colours as well. Will you have a glass shower door or a curtain? If a glass shower door, I'd be tempted to find a colour that relates to the surround (I'd pick the lightest of the swirls). If you'll have a curtain and won't see the surround, I'd pick the lightest colour in your countertop. Bringing a sample to the paint store and having them match your element is one easy way to find that colour. (Both Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore have phone apps that can help you identify their closest match colour to a hard surface.) A greige colour is a chameleon colour that skews both warm and cool grey depending on the light and I'd be tempted to look at those. Benjamin Moore's Silver Satin might be a good one to try. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tips everyone! Judy, thanks for that article! People keep telling me I'm crazy, we have city water so no way could it have mold in the pipes. Maybe it's time to get it tested, just to be sure. To answer some questions: We aren't touching the exterior of the home unless we have to due to mold issues. We are well-prepared to find mold, dry-rot, and all manner of issues once we rip the shower out. The good news is it's not in the attic, because we can get up there and see that. And it isn't in the wall behind the faucet handle. But I suspect we will have to replace subfloor, insulation, and maybe some joists and framing. The only thing that would surprise me is if it isn't as bad as I think it is. I can't start ripping it out yet though. We won't start the project until I've done a lot of research - demo may be 3-4 months away or more if we find major problems. I do my homework. And I don't want to be without a shower for 9 months or forced to move ahead with the project before I'm ready. But the shower is above the garage, so to your point...I think at least I'll drill some holes in the garage ceiling drywall and get a look underneath before we start this. The bathtub hasn't been used in years because it's one of those jetted-deals that spews black crud every time you turn it on. That's where the new shower is going. I can see under the tub, it's all good, so at least there we are starting fresh there. It's a good point that mold remediation may be necessary...We've done it in the past with my mothers house, so I'm familiar with that process and the lengths they go to to eradicate it. I'll be prepared for this. .I'll look into the dehumidifying system too. This is an avenue I haven't explored yet. Thanks everyone!

a good tile person could have tiled up to the ceiling without any issue. you could try having a new tile guy cut the same type of tile and fill in the space. Or, use a tile chair rail molding. I believe this is a type of Cap Molding Or, do a decorative piece of tile. Or, fill in the gap with a vinyl crown molding you could also see if a tile guy could use some quarter round tile molding on your outside edge since you don't like the metal. not sure if this would work though pencil liner molding