Bathroom- tile advice

[TheGreatWoofington]

Hello all, this is my first thread on here.
I’d like to replace my current bathroom suite. We currently have a slipper bath, washbasin and toilet.
As it’s the family bathroom I’d like to add a shower but need a new bath to accommodate one, it’ll be a shower over a bath. Because I’m replacing the bath I’d like to get a new toilet and washbasin too.
However to limit costs I’m thinking of keeping the existing wall tiles. The bathroom is tiled from floor to ceiling and I think it would be expensive, not least because of the horrors removing the tiles might reveal.
I would really appreciate objective advice and opinions please.
In case it’s relevant we have no
plans to sell.

Just bumping for any opinions please.

If you’re only doing it for a shower, would you consider installing it over your freestanding bath with a shower curtain? A rail like this: www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/old-london-chrome-oval-shower-curtain-rail-with-middle-mounts-lda010?campaign=googlebase&gclid=CjwKCAiA3pugBhAwEiwAWFzwdUm8u2Lb35DH-vOHa2o3k-i7ohiU6mZiNtlf2WzTJbJxlZs2hEB-TBoCah4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Or if that’s not for you, you could keep the tiles but have charcoal or black “stuff” - towels, bin, dispensers, etc - to tie with the black tile border. Would you consider a Crittal style shower screen too? It might give a black / white /shiny chrome scheme.

You could use shower panels over the tiles, but imo they might look pretty plastic and rubbish if floor-to-ceiling.

Personally I don’t find painted tiles or tile stickers convincing irl.

Thanks for the reply. I did wonder about keeping them and accessorising with black.
I like the idea of a Crittal shower screen to tie it all together, I hadn’t thought of that.
I’m not a fan of shower panels as worry they look a bit plasticky and would also scratch easily.
I think I’m just worried that I’ll be spending money on a new bathroom suite and the 20 year old tiling might let it down but don’t have the budget to retile. However with the right accessories and shower screen it might just pull it all together .

Can't wrong with white tiles. What's going on with the border, it looks like there is white and diamante on it at the end?

It’s a black border tile with a smaller mirrored tile underneath.

The diamanté you see is a reflection of the light shade in the mirrored border tile .

I think you may be hard pushed to change bathtub, washbasin, toilet and install a (fixed?) shower head without damaging existing tiles. In fact, I’d say it can’t be done.

It’s quite extreme to replace everything (and probably tiles) for the sake of a shower which will only ever be over the bathtub anyway. Can’t you just get a shower attachment to fit your existing bathtub?

Do you mean mixer taps with a shower attachment? We have that already but our water pressure is poor. We’re hoping having a good shower will help with that .
The bath needs replacing as it has gone very yellow with age. It’s an acrylic slipper bath over 20 years old. I’ve previously investigated getting it recoated but it’s very expensive and only guaranteed for a year.
It’s also really difficult to clean under, and don’t get me started on trying to retrieve things that drop down between the wall and the bath!

I too think removing part, will end up damaging tiles and need entire ripping out anyway- but I'm not a builder!

The tiles you currently have are almost identical to my old house, complete with the black trim. I'm far from a stylist, nor know what is the 'in' look, but feel they are already very dated.

I've recently renovated a previously derelict property, so needed new bathrooms. We have larger tiles now- less grout to clean and actually makes the room feel larger. Our tiler said that floor to ceiling tiles now are also very dated and make the room more like a public shower block!

IF you could get away with just replacing the current taps and making an in bath shower, go for it. If you can revamp the tiles, it will ease cleaning and might make the room appear larger and fresher, along with making it more modern.