I agree that pedestal would be more appropriate for a retro bath-if you're willing to go through changing the vanity

I do hope you have a medicine cabinet..actually I'd look for any way to increase storage. If pedestal is possible-one can look for a narrow shelf/cart to keep in the bathroom...but it needs to be very tidy then.

Retro bathrooms are very popular with many right now, so while it might seem old to you others would find your tile quite enviable)) Clean the grout, and you'll like it more.

As for trash can, toothbrush holder, etc..nothing needs to match. unless you want it to.

You also don't have to buy "designated" cans and holders. Have a favorite mug, tumbler..in short a small and interesting vessel? Here's you toothbrush holder. A trash can might be anything from tightly closed thing with a pedal (Urban Outfiiters had some cute small ones..well many sites do) to, say, a small basket with a liner. You need things to function in a certain way..if they do, it doesn't exactly matter what's written on them.

You can definitely go with white, if you like clean look-or you can go with analogous pallette that you seem to like(lilac blue, turquoise..) you add accessories that are in this blue realm-if you love blue and don't mind seeing more versions of it. Just mind them being approximately same "temperature" of color.

or if you like more pop-you can go with contrast. You can bring it with small art for example. Very mcm. Or towels with vibe of the era..smth like Marimekko..

No, it won't be very "spa" look. But it doesn't have to be spa look either. I for example don't want my bathrooms look like a spa..like, at all. Everybody's different. Find yourself on that scale..

Think of what you love..what vibe you're after. And how to incorporate it into yuor small but pretty important(as every bathroom is..) space, that already has a certain character.

Try not to think "I'm terrible in decorating". If I spent more time mastering math instead of thinking "I'm terrible in math" I'd get better results)) Maybe never amazing,but better.

And decorating is easier. Than math. Or so they say on Quora))

Find fun in it.

A person with a jounal there? Signals creative to me..

Thank you so much Pam P. and aprilneverends! I appreciate all the advice :) I think I have a good eye for decorating but sometimes I overthink it lol!

HI -- Your personal items such as toothbrushes should be stored in a cabinet and not out in the open --- very unsanitary and no else needs to look at your toothbrush . Go with lots of whites for waste basket and towels and floor mat etc. I am not a fan of having magazines in there either . I can't imagine touching them after someone sat on the toilet reading them. If you need the storage ...keep the vanity and sink .

Thank you lefty47!

IF your shower doors bother you, you can remove them and replace them with a shower curtain (with a tension rod). We did this in our bathroom and I find it much easier to clean a shower curtain than the metal door frame. You'll have holes to fill with silicone in the tiles though. I like your floor and the blue tiles are not that bad at all. Blue is a heck of lot easier than many other vintage colours out there! :)

the damage to the tile in removing the shower door frame could well be minimal. we removed ours and the shower curtain concealed everything. just fill the holes as tartan suggests.

clean the living daylights out of the grout and fixtures. use an after shower spray after the last person showers each day, you'll never have to clean the grout again.

well, maybe not never. but the previous owner had the grout pristine when we bought our house 9+ years ago and it still looks pristine because we always spritz after our showers and we have good ventilation so it all dries quickly.

Just looked at mine again. There's also two lines of silicone (?) residue on the tiles that I haven't been able to completely remove. Hardly perfect but I'd rather that than the metal shower door frame.

ours did come off.... you tried a slanted razor blade on the (wet) tiles?

No, I didn't! Thanks for the tip. I'll add that to my to-do list. :)

make sure the tiles are wet.

It's hard to tell from the pics, but the grout looks like it was originally a tannish color. You can get it replaced with white, or if in good condition, just recolor it.

I had a similar older bathroom at my last house and from my experience, white is your friend when it comes to a soothing atmosphere in a small space. Although a pedestal sink is nice and period appropriate, you lose vital storage space that way. Older bathrooms that were higher end often had built in cabinets next to those pedestal sinks back in the day. If you don't I would not sweat that detail. One can judiciously mix time periods to adapt to changing needs. Our bathroom was so small we chose to keep the sink cabinet and focus on making everything just nicely functioning and comfortable while still looking good.

The previous owners of my house had the small bathroom decked out like a tropical aquarium with many bright colors, so there are many approaches depending on your taste but we found that a blue white grey and sand color scheme was soothing and reminded us of the beach dunes we love.

Do you have a medicine cabinet over the sink? Lots of vintage homes have the kind that fit in a slot in the wall, between the studs.

I'd steam clean all the grout and see if it turns white and recolor to white if possible. For wall paint, if you're up to it, I'd actually find a color that is more creamy than pure white. In my opinion the pure white makes such a stark contrast it makes the blue even bluer whereas a creamy tone will have the effect of toning down the blue.

Mimimomy makes an important point about whites. You want a white with a touch of warmth to it. Unfortunately I can't remember which white we used, but it was kind of milky. I think it was Behr snowflake or snow something or maybe Glidden.

And P.S. to say you can regrout. My SO did that at his house, the finished project looked great.

P.P.S. to say that I looked around online for bathroom pictures that
were from the time period of my house and also some photos of real
houses for ideas. Found some good stuff. That metal shower surround is
not period appropriate and I do not like them, particularly if you have
hard water like we did. I went all shower curtain and did not regret
it one bit. Kept the water in just fine and I could wash it with
bleach, much easier than keeping all those seams clean between the metal
shower door frame and the wall, not to mention filmy build-up and water stains on the metal.

I will recommend Vintage Tub and Bath as a great spot to find
functioning old fashioned plumbing fixtures. Yours are neutral so
again, I wouldn't sweat it, but if you ever find yourself needing
something, they were a great source for us. https://www.vintagetub.com/

Here's a link to a photo gallery from our redo. Very similar
bathroom. The inspiration photos are at the bottom, the top photos are
what we started with. Also, the redo is on the second page but I didn't
take any photos of the final project after we painted and redid the
rugs, towels, shower curtain, art, etc. We could have gone for a
pedestal, but we had so little linen storage space in our house we
decided to keep the sink storage cabinet. We spent our money on the tub
surround and tub fixtures, due to it being in the worst shape and
needing the most work.
http://www.pbase.com/lpink/bathroomredo

Regrouting and caulking would make a world of difference, not only brightening but fixing the voids. I did this in a retro bath overhaul with powder blue tub tile in poor shape. I added marble flooring and a white Ikea sink with drawers that goes great with the retro vibe. Definitely use white accents. The walls are SW Alabaster White. Not shown is the white fabric shower curtain