If you do opt for tile surround use a large format tile like 12” x 18” in a smooth porcelain. Your floor and ceiling tile will have to be the smaller coordinating tiles for safety,

I recently stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and was amazed to see the tile in the shower wasn't tile, it just looked like it and was very realistic. You may want to check out this option,

Might suggest a walk-in shower with all glass here but that might be too narrow in the space you have although I'm assuming you are using the shower in the tub now. It is different showering in a narrow space with a shower curtain instead of solid walls. There will be a lot more elbow bumping with walls. You need 15" from the centerline of the toilet to any adjacent walls. Using that measurement would that give you a slightly wider space to increase the shower?

IMO 12 x24 porcelain tile on the floor and on the shower walls is my choice very often. I think too many different tiles and finishes make a small space too busy. As for choosing tile or an acrylic surround I agree budget is an issue I think I would do the scrylic since you alreay have the floor tile , this will keep it simple then look at a nice glass shower screen with a door that folds to allow a bit better water control.I like the vanity I use Maax for tubs often and I must admit the acrylic tubs are sure easier to clean.Pleae make sure you get a much better light too and all LED 4000K bulbs .

For what it’s worth: we have removed 3 out of 4 (#4 to follow soon) one-piece tub/wall units in our current (hopefully forever) house and replaced them with either a large, tiled shower with frameless glass, or with a tub and tiled surround. I’m not a fan of these one-piece units, and on top of it ours were a lovely gray-yellowish color🤢. We did the primary bathroom almost 6 years ago, and so far we have zero issues with grout etc. Unfortunately, I have no idea what grout our tile installer used, but if your installer is good, he will be able to recommend just the right type. To keep things from being busy we made sure we chose tile that went well together and wasn’t too different from each other. (E.g. in one bathroom we did a 3x6” Carrara marble subway surround, and for the accent tile in the niche we used a Carrara penny tile.) Your decision, ultimately, comes down to personal choice.

I like your inspiration picture and the choice to do gray hex on the floor. I wouldn't bother doing tile on the walls aside from the tub surround unless this is a childrens' bathroom. If you do decide to go with subway on the walls definitely continue it in the tub surround. Obviously some people prefer larger format tile, but subway is classic and the hex is interesting.

I have had white tile shower walls and now I have a one piece Kohler surround in the house we moved into two years ago. The tile surrounds will build up some mildew where the tub meets the tile unless you're vigilant about cleaning it, but by vigilant I mean once a week unless you're in a humid climate with no exhaust fan (or the exhaust fan isn't used consistently). The rest of the grout doesn't require a toothbrush cleaning ever unless you let it go. No matter what materials you use you should have a good exhaust fan. We put them on a timer switch that turns off automatically after the amount of time you choose. That way you don't have to worry about forgetting to turn it off and it runs after you leave the room.

I like the Kohler acrylic surround better than I thought I would. While at first I thought I would definitely remove it, now I am not so sure. It's been there a long time (I would say at least ten years and maybe even 25 years, dating to when the house was built), still looks brand new, and it is easy to clean. I think one of the keys to liking an acrylic surround is to not buy the cheapest one. Cheaper ones are probably more likely to discolor over time.

My last recommendation is to include a handheld sprayer (you can buy shower heads that are also handhelds) because that makes it easy to rinse the surround after applying a cleaning product.

Thanks guys! This is my kids bathroom so I’m keeping the tub for sure (not converting to walk in shower). Your comments were very informative! Im still on the fence whether or not I replace the shower/tub unit with a different acrylic unit or tile the surround. QUESTION 1: If I do tile the tile surround with 12x24 porcelain tiles —would white matte tiles with charcoal grout or medium gray grout look bad? What pattern layout? Also if I tile the surround with the 12x24–can I still do the horizontal stacked subway on the vanity/toilet wall? (That would mean 3 types of tile in the bathroom—hex floor, 12x24 surround, 3x12 on wall). QUESTION 2: if I do the acrylic surround—would it be ok to stack the 3x12 subway on the vanity/toilet wall? Would I need to do opposite wall? Or ok to leave drywall.

Thanks (pic is a random shot I found where someone used 12x24 white tiles)

We just redid our sons’ bath in charcoal hex floor and 3x12 subway with a light gray grout - easy to clean and not too visually busy - we had to replace our tub bc it had been refinished poorly at some point and was impossible to get clean

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La-la girl! Love it! That looks great. Did you consider running tiles behind vanity? Do you have to scrub or spray grout every time he showers? I can’t be doing that!! I deep clean 1x a week max ;)

Hi! The bath has beadboard wainscoting behind the sink so I didn’t consider tile there (our house is OLD lol) - i have to be honest and say very little cleaning happens in the shower/bath - every 2 weeks at the most 😅

La-la girl—what bathtub did you go with? It looks nice 😊

Aimee: use use good grout (contractor can recommend) and you will not have to scrub all the time….don’t let people scare you! Maybe white grout shows use more, but I guarantee you we have never scrubbed our shower after each use….however, we do use a squeegee on glass and tile after each use…so easy!

I'm neutral on acrylic surround vs tile surround. EXCEPT, I think it will look really odd to combine an acrylic surround with tile walls outside the tub. The contrast is going to look "budget" in a bad way, like you ran out of funds for tile, or you covered up old tile with a quick acrylic refit. Tile everything, or do an acrylic tub surround and regular painted walls.

Yes. I think I’m coming around to the realization that I can’t do tile on the walls with the acrylic tub surround. It’s gotta be one or the other. I’m leaning towards white tile with gray grout. Now just trying to figure out if I do horizontally stacked white 3x12 subway…or something bigger…..love a more modern look

I looked at tons of photos on Houzz….you can search for very specific images and styles. Then comes the hard part: settling on something! Good luck.

Patricia Colwell Consulting—if I went with 12x24 on floor, tub surround, and on wall with toilet/vanity——would it look ok to have dark tile on floor and white on wall? Or would all one color look better? If all one color—do you have tile/color recommendations? I like modern—so I’d do the stacked look. Thanks