We chose really large tiles; 24" x 24" on the floor and 12" x 24" on the walls with a 6 x 24 "border" throughout - and it looks great! Before we did our bathroom I had only seen this kind of tile in magazine pictures or in a large showroom. So yes, I was a bit scared if we made the right choice for our much smaller bathroom. But even my very old fashioned stepfather who tried to discourage me before he laid the tiles for us was amazed by the effect and loved it. That is a really big tile so I wouldn't recommend to lay it on the diagonal or you'll have a huge amount of waste. This is a picture of the wall tile.

Love the shower curtain but I think that perhaps these rooms are way too small to carry off such a large print. Would my black sheer drapes used with my plastic opaque shower curtain liner for the hall bath work if I leave the walls white and use the floral prints in there? The smaller bath (pink tiled shower, no tub) I think I might paint the walls a warm beige to match my towels and shower curtain and have black accents in there. The art will somehow incorporate 3 or 4 colors, like the beige, black, pink and something different like copper. Hmmmm. Fun! Thanks for the great advice!

Many thanks to everybody who answered, you have all been very helpful in clarifying my very muddled thoughts. Here is a hopefully clearer description of the situation: The house is a 50's ranch style, with 3 bedrooms and a hall bath (4.5x8.5 ft) clustered on one side of the house, and the kitchen, office/den and another hall bath (4x9 ft) on the other side of the house, with a great room in the middle. We plan to stay in this house as long as we can, but we are in this city for my husband's work, and if something happens (although unlikely with his kind of job), we know we'll have to move somewhere else; therefore, we'd like to make updates to the house while keeping resale in mind. Our (excellent) realtor said that for resale we should have an ensuite. After reading the comments, I have to clarify with him if he thinks a lack of ensuite will narrow down the market significantly, or if we 'simply' would not get the best price for the house. Most houses in the area are old (in the whole city actually), and we saw plenty without ensuites. We saw two of the neighbors' houses, and they did not have ensuites. This is what we considered: 1. Redo the bathrooms with the existing footprint (not that we have room to change anything inside), but we can go far into making them pretty, 2. Add a door from the master bedroom to the hall bath next to it, and close access from the hall. This I think would be a bad idea, not only because the people in the other two bedrooms will have to go across the house to the other bathroom, but also because the master bedroom will end up with windows on two walls, three closets on another, and two doors on the fourth side. Not restful. 3. Add another bathroom next to the master bedroom where the closets are, with one closet door transformed into a bathroom door. This bathroom would be 4.5x12 ft, although it could go to 5x12 if need be (but no more, because we'll hit a big window), which will have a shower but no bathtub. We talked to a professional who said it will fit fine with the caveat that the toilet will likely be the first thing you see in front of the door because of the current clearance requirements. 4. Build an addition. This again I think would be a very bad idea, since it would be blindingly expensive and the house is already on the higher side of square footage for the surrounding area. We will of course fix everything that is broken. The interior doors are the original 50s doors, hollow core dark wood look with lots of scuffs and holes, and they were cut short to fit the now non-existent carpet, so I would qualify changing them as fixing what is broken (and they bug me every time I look at them... ). The windows are a perk; we are still divided on those. I tend toward option 1, while my husband is going for option 3, although he agrees we do not need another bathroom. The reason I feel ill equipped to make this decision is that I'm originally from Europe, and even after so many years here I feel mildly perplexed about the North American love affair with bathrooms. Our previous rental was built in the last ten years and had a huge ensuite which I didn't like. I found it hard to keep as clean as I thought it should be, and it was so large I felt as if I was doing my business in public. Given the bathroom pictures on Houzz, I'm clearly in a minority. Your comments help ensure that I don't miss anything that might otherwise be obvious, so thanks again. And extra thanks to whoever makes it to the end of this post...

Lots of companies make fixtures compatible with older valves. I would look into changing all the fixtures (tub, shower, vanity) and a frameless shower door. Changing out baseboards and window sill/framing to something more modern (e.g 1x4 or whatever). Changing the door and doorknob will help as well. If you wanted to get more extensive, replacing cabinet doors with shaker or flat front and modern hardware and countertop material (80/sq ft so on a vanity not much $). All these types of changes are incremental and most can be done yourself without too much effort. Toilet is a standalone change. Some of these changes can be pulled and reused when you remodel. The main thing you get with a remodel 1) pull and get a modern tub 2) new floor 3) completely new shower 4) new cabinets 5) new layout But a lot of what makes modern is the surface stuff and your shower marble isnt terrible..