Ok, Rufinorox. Let's see what we can come up with... - Does your contractor friend have an account with a tile warehouse/dealer or do they know a tile sub with accounts that would be willing to pass his discount on to you? Some tile companies may have warehouse/showrooms in your area (Florida Tile has one in ours). Talk with the different designers/reps in the showrooms you go to--outline what you're looking for including budget and see what they recommend. This was the formula that worked for me--I went to too many tile places to count & in the end 2 of them were instrumental in pointing me in the direction that gave me the style & price point I was looking for. When you are with the right person, you will know it--they won't try to push you toward a different style or a higher price point or seemingly insult you with the very few plain boring options they present that you've already viewed at Lowe's. -A white or beige bathroom should help make things easier. I know you're also looking for a little wow factor-i.e. the glass tile border. So in this scenario, you will likely need to decide which is more important--a higher end tile with no border or a lower end tile with the border. Those glass tile sections are expensive as are listello tiles, bullnose tiles, chair rail etc. One thing you may want to consider is splitting those borders in 1/2 lengthwise--it will make for a skinnier accent, but you'll only need 1/2 as much to complete the job. - It will likely be considerably less expensive to only tile the shower surround & floor and just sheetrock behind the toilet & sink. Now if you're going for a period look in the house and the tile behind the toilet & sink is integral to that, I understand. Otherwise, the money could definitely be used elsewhere in the remodel. If the room is 5x8, then you're talking about roughly 70 additional sq ft to tile beyond the surround & floor--that's alot. - Budget sounds good. As it's you're only bath, you are likely going to want the remodel to go as quick as possible, while still getting as much bling & bang for your buck--I would want that too! Plus anyone who comes over to visit will likely be seeing your beautiful masterpiece!What have you set in stone so far that you cannot live without? Can you post brand & model & price you were quoted? Are you dealing with Lowe's for those, an online source or a plumbing distributor company? Are those retail prices or you were given contractor prices? Make sure you're getting the contractor prices especially if you're dealing with someone local. If you're not, then usually you can get them for the contractor price online. When you mention fixtures, I'm guessing you are talking about tub, toilet, sink/vanity & maybe faucets? So that puts you down to a budget of around $2K - $4K remaining for tile? -As far as tile brand, we had the best luck with Florida Tile as far as selection & price went. We were looking at their tile before we found out about their coprorate showroom/warehouse in our area. You may want to look at Pristine, Renaissance & Las Olas from them--cost efficient with a high end look (I can post pics if you would like). The first 2 were $2.00sqft for your basic tiles in multiple sizes and the Las Olas was being discontinued and was $1.72sqft. All come in varying shades of white, grey, beige & brown which would meet your criteria. The last tile pic you posted was actually very similar if not exactly what we wanted to go with in our son's bathroom. Like you are finding, the cost can be prohibitive. We ended up doing a combination of Florida Tile's Pristine 9x18 size set in a brick pattern in alabaster on the shower surround & Las Olas 13x13 tiles on the floor in a diagonal pattern in the Sea Oats color (diagonal setting with large tiles in a small room makes the space seem larger). I think it turned out just as nice if not nicer. We opted to go without the accent tile in the boys' baths even though we had fallen in love with one similar to the one you've chosen (ours was made up of squares though). DH made a good point that no one would be checking out the boys' baths & they won't be living here forever, so why spend the extra? In your case, with just the one bathroom, I think it would be money well spent. I hope this helps!

I got one from Penny's several years ago that works for us. Its a digital; runs on a 9 volt battery; one battery lasts for a year or more. The scale is about 15 inches square and 2 inches high. You tap it with your toe to turn it on; the display will cycle a few times while it waits for the vibrations to die away and zeros itself. When the display glows steady, step on and stand still. When it thinks everything has settled, your weight is diaplayed. Read it and step off. It'll turn off in about 3 seconds after stepping off. It seems to be accurate within 1 lb at 230 lbs. No tenths of a pound. Displays only to the nearest Lb. It has worked well for 10 years. It is a bit quick in automatically shutting off. You have about 3 to 5 seconds to step on the scale after the dispaly becomes steady. Go beyond this limit and it auto-shuts down. HINT: Weigh yourself soon after you get up and after you have used the toilet and before you slake your thirst. Weigh with no clothes. A good time is just before you step into the shower. This will be your minimum weight for the day unless you engage in extreme hard labor. Your weight can change by a couple of pounds during the day. Differenct in clothing weight can mask a trend. I have found this produces the most consistent measurement and that is important if you are graphing your weight on a daily basis.

I don't understand re-tiling being easier than re-grouting. You can use a grout scraper to get most of the old grout out, clean the tile and grooves real well and then just grout.... as opposed to smashing out the old tile and starting from scratch. Before I did anything, I would clean up all the grout and replace where necessary. I think white grout is best for resale...it will look so nice and clean. I personally think a gray and white palette is nice and classic, but your whites need to be whiter. Also recaulk the tub and consider the reglazing. Once everything is nice and white (and gray), then decide on your paint colors and accessories, etc. I think it's so cool that people have taken off the glass doors on their tubs with success....I would be so afraid there might be rust stains underneath or some kind of non removable adhesives or something, I wouldn't chance it.

swiss coffee sounds like it would be so pretty with that tile! post pics! if you still think the pink is too much, consider a pretty shower curtain that's closed all the time. one other suggestion (and I might get some flak for it here on houzz): if it's just the wall tile that bothers you, you can have it reglazed. a good company will do this with multiple layers of epoxy, clear coat, etc, so it's super tough. a side bonus is the old grout will be sealed. I wouldn't recommend this for a tub, but for wall tiles it should hold up pretty well. with close inspection, it won't look as real as normal tile and grout, but if you hate the pink tile, it would be an improvement. I find that white gives the most realistic looking outcome. FWIW: I like the pink tile though!