I faced this decision last year when we remodeled. I was set on not taking the tile to the ceiling but at the last minute changed my mind. I am so glad we did tile to the ceiling. It makes the shower look bigger and finished. Now when I see tiled showers that stop short of the ceiling they look dated to me and a missed opportunity.

Can you use the casing from the rest of the house on the sides of the bathroom trim, then do the top and bottom as in your inspiration photo? Then later if/when you would like to change out the trim in the rest of the house, you just cut off and replace the tops and everything would then match perfectly. Or, do the bathroom the way you want, then later cut off and replace the tops of the mitered trim and everything thing would then almost match. I too like the craftsman look and have mitered trim, so the above approach is what we are considering doing one day. DH says he doesn't even need to pull the casing off the wall to cut off the top! Replacing trim is expensive and wasteful, and painting trim is a PITA, and this would be a good middle ground :)

My inspiration for our last small master bath remodel was a very high-end hotel bathroom, with neutral finishes, light and shiny surfaces. I still adore it. Light neutral glazed Porcelanosa tile (large rectangles in the frameless shower, large squares laid diagonally on the floor), a furniture-looking vanity in a rich cherry with a matching large mirror, a built-in bench in the shower (which I use all the time), traditional Hansgrohe faucets in polished nickel. I kept all the fixtures in polished nickel, even the knobs on the vanity and the toilet lever. Used a light beige granite remnant for the vanity top and two shelves in the shower niche. A nice painting, soothing sage green walls. It feels like a spa to me when I walk in, even after 8 years. We had a limited budget, but I'm so glad I upgraded the fixtures to the polished nickel - made a world of difference. I did find a few items (like the Ginger grab bar in polished nickel) on eBay. We're now planning a move and adding a small master bath - I will probably take the same theme with me.

The Cook B Correct! Have to create a slope to the drain - curbless means you need to place the drain lower than the floor in the bath. Otherwise you get water everywhere. The reason this matters? You said keep costs down. A funnel drain runs less than $30. A liner drain - drain alone, for that size can be $300 or more - plus the cost to slope your floor. Have you figured out how to slope your floor? Jack hammered concrete slab to slope floor down to linear drain - curbless shower entrance is just behind crystal stone wall: