I had two older homes. 1100 sq feet, 1000 sq feet with small bathrooms. The homes were in very good location, but dated and not exactly what people were looking for; i.e. vaulted ceilings, large bathrooms, large kitchen. - I gutted all four bathrooms myself. Hammer, wrecking bar, boxes I got from the local supermarket. I was messy but not so difficult. - The first bathroom I used Lowes/Home Depot tiles on the shower/bathroom walls, floor to the bathroom. Then a wainscoat and big dramatic chair rail above it. This bathroom was a real show stopper and the realtor loved it. - I hired a guy to put up the tile work, plumber installed the new shower head, pipes, drain. About 1,000 dollars total. - I set the new toilet, vanity, light fixture, sink, painted everything myself. - All done for about 2k and a few weekends, nights. - Second bathroom had a tub, so I just gutted the walls, floor, new tile, vanity, toilet, drywall, cement board etc. Paid for plumber, tile guy. 2k done. Second Home - Same deal, gut myself, kept the old tube that had a nick in it. Bought the repair paint at lowes, and special cleaning spray. Shined up perfect. New vanity, tile, lights, toilet etc..tile guy installed tile on floor and around the tub. I put in the chair rain, wainscoat, painted. Looked great. Last bathroom was the best. Went to tile shop and found a big selection and quality of tile. They were great and this shower turned out perfect. I hated to sell the house because this bathroom was so nice. It sold the house. large floor tiles, all around the shower, installed vent fan because it never had one. This bathroom was 3k because of the better tile, but it sold the house. I think a good price range with you doing some of the messy work is about 3k-5k depending on what you keep and what you replace. Checking craigslist you can find tile, vanity, light fixtures or go to the salvage stores etc... Bathrooms were a big selling point for those homes. Just look online for tile ideas etc...then copy what you see. I think hiring a good tile guy is best because it is harder than you might think and they know the tricks etc. Putting up the cement board in the shower/bathroom stall hire a guy that knows how to make it square. It's important for the tile guy. Looking back, I enjoyed the remodel and learned a lot about it. I live in a newer home down and have a few bad tiles in the bathroom, but I won't do any major remodeling. I think you can do it for a lot less than 15k. Good Luck!

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.

dcjv, do you have a crawl space under the house? much easier to move plumbing around if you have to. So you want to go totally modern? I'd say remove the tub and just do a larger shower. I see you have a heater in there. is that just an electric wall heater or is it hooked up to your HVAC? something else you'll have to remedy. I'd keep the pony wall to offer a bit of separation for the toilet. Realize too that your new vanity will come out to 22". You have enough room for it, so it shouldn't be an issue. What does the rest of the home look like, decor-wise? is it all modern or is there some mid century feel to it? I ask because instead of go full out contemporary, maybe try a little mid century modern? That way you still gel w/the home. here are some examples of using a bit of mcm : I love these elements. The warm wood vanity, modern lighting and mirrors, maybe geometric type of tiling another option is to replace the window w/something larger, and swing your shower around so that the placement is like this pic: your toilet could me moved over to the other wall, perhaps borrowing space from whatever is behind that wall. if leaving the shower it the same spot, see about doing a built in linen cabinet. (especially if you're doing a type of floating vanity. the closet offers a lot more storage) another shower idea, except this would be on the other wall.

The wall tile is going have to be removed around the bottom perimeter and up to an area where there is no longer any evidence of water damage at least. It's possible that you could salvage a lot of the tile by careful removal and if you don't want to spend the money having someone else do this slow task, you could do it yourself in preparation for the contractor. My parents had to do this in a bathroom with a leaking shower and unfortunately had to replace some of the tile, they wove in a coordinating tile because believe it or not they could not find a white tile that matched in exactly the same size at that time. That repair was done 40 years ago and when the house was sold it was still intact.