Thank you everyone for all of your replies! Sorry for the absence...I have no internet here at the house yet. In response to questions/comments: kudzu9: There are areas of the grout that are missing, and the remainder has turned yellow. I would like to replace the missing grout and whiten the yellowed. We hope to rent out the home, so I don't trust tenants to wipe down painted walls. I'm hoping to find a complementary alternative. benjesbride: Unfortunately, the reason I have little budget now is that most of the original plumbing has to be redone. The drains are all old cast iron, and have degraded...there are lead pipes too. So, since they are replacing them, I figure that now would be the time to relocate. Thank you for your advice on "embracing the retro" and your link! nosoccermom: I cant really remove the shower head, as its the only bath in the home. I LOVE your idea of glass, and will research it. Have to figure out how to seal it from moisture and how to make area where it meets tile waterproof. Fori is not pleased: LOL!!!! I'm not pleased either! Thanks for the laugh and suggestion. I will def head over there once I have internet at the house, and am ready to make all the decorating decisions.polly929: I had considered having a company reglaze the tub & tile white, but the many opinions of keeping the original intact have made me reconsider. I am keeping the home, but am trying to fix it up to rent out for now. bpathome: Thanks for sharing your experience. I was considering adding 4x4 tile above the existing, but someone else said it wouldn't look good and hearing your experience too really gives me pause. I agree that the glass sounds like a cool possibility, but I need to research the installation issues. Would wallpaper hold up in a shower??? Yes, I absolutely need to redo the floor. Its a pier and beam home, so I am avoiding any real tile. However, I have looked at black & white LVT alternatives in both the hex and penny. jesshs: That is amazing! I cannot believe someone on here has actually had this tile! And its funny you mentioned grey....that is exactly the color I was thinking of going with on the walls! As far as paint on the shower walls, as I said above to kudzu9, we are planning to rent the home out and I worry about tenants taking the time to do that sort of maintenance. I want to go with something I don't have to worry about them taking care of. cpartist: Another retro vote! I'm coming around :) The grout is yellowed, and missing in a few areas. I'm hoping there is a way to bring it back to white. I agree with you, and everyone else, about the grab bars, as well as the shower head. And so glad to get another grey vote! I am absolutely redoing the floor. Just haven't decided what would go best. Again, THANK YOU everyone for your opinions and suggestions. Please, keep the ideas coming!

FYI Mapei rep was great and said caulk is best at that joint, plus they sell matching silicone caulks. He said many tilers still grout that joint, so it is common....but not best. He also said he'd be lying if he didn't try to cover up mistakes as my tile guy did in the past, and we had a good laugh. He recommended chipping out the tile with holes in it and re-doing it....but he also said most tilers out there have tried to pull off similar cover-ups...which I appreciate....it will help me in how I approach my contractor.

We still have half paneled walls in the living room, they were painted gray but kept the decorative brown trim the same color. The top half of the wall is popcorn along with the ceilings. No carpet thank God but we still have the original wall oven not in avocado green but brown. Needless to say we have our work cut out for us so I've been window shopping for furniture and decor so I don't feel overwhelmed. We're getting the popcorn removed professionally at the end of the month so that'll be one thing we can check off the list. This our third house and we tend to buy ugly houses (last one was a 90s HUD home with muave EVERYWHERE) but this is the first one that is damn near a total gut. Knocking down walls, completely reconfiguring the kitchen and master bath. Why couldn't we have bought a victorian with all original things still in place?

Well it'd be a big deal to me. I use my tub every day. If I check into a hotel -I ask for a room with a tub. That's how important it is to me. Then again, if it's a pretty free standing thing that wouldn't cut if for me. Has to be safe. I'd have a problem with a free-standing. Having said that-the house we bought didn't have a tub in the master, just a tiny shower, and we still bought it. (Then we remodeled, which is a whole another long story. No, it wasn't smart financial decision) We do have a big shower in master bath too now,. i use it as well, but on some days I'm really restricted to the tub. We built it all in a way so it's most safe to use for me. Frankly I cared less about future buyers. So you might stumble upon somebody like me, Or you might not. Or who knows. Now, absolutely no tub anywhere in the house..that'd be a problem. Maybe not for all, but for many. There are times when a tub can come very handy.