I generally agree with your desire to tile all the way up.

On my current home plans I am going all the way to the ceiling.

In the master shower we are doing the ceiling as well.

Same here. But of course, I'm just a little bit biased, too. :-)

One thing you might think about, though-- what I'll be doing in my own bath is tiling up to a wainscot height in one tile, capping it with a chair rail, and then tiling the rest of the way up with a soft accent color.

To the ceiling.

I made a mistake in one of the bathrooms that i remodeled and went only a third way up and used a marble tile with a chair rail. Next time I am either tiling or paneling (bamboo etc) all the walls all the way up.

I greatly prefer an 'all the way to the ceiling' look myself.

Of course, if your ceilings are horribly uneven, a foot and change of wallboard at the top will make that less obvious.

Just to offer a contrarian (but layman's) POV,
a) wouldn't you need to screw through the tiles when installing all fixtures such as mirror/s, towel bar, pictures etc greatly risking injury to the tile? also might limit flexibility to move around things like pictures???
b) doesn't it give more of a "commercial establishment" look to the bathroom?

Yes. Personal preference, but for any kind of resale I would make a clean look.
I am tiling up to the ceiling in the shower of the three baths I am currently redoing. I think it is a better look and you do not have to worry about cleaning the top edge of the tile or water or painting. It might even make the room look larger depending on your choices.

Just for fun, check out the dream home on hgtv.com. They have custom tiles, but show how they are used on walls and the fireplace. The casita has an entire wall behind the bed tiled.

a) wouldn't you need to screw through the tiles when installing all fixtures such as mirror/s, towel bar, pictures etc greatly risking injury to the tile? also might limit flexibility to move around things like pictures???

That's what grout joints are for! :-)

b) doesn't it give more of a "commercial establishment" look to the bathroom?

Only if you use standard looking tiles, such as 4 1/4 bathroom tiles floor to ceiling-- but even then if you do some sort of design, even with 4 1/4's you can still give it a very nice custom look.

Thanks for the comments so far; keep 'em coming!

Bill, you mentioned tiling up to a chair rail, then using a different tile above. We were definitely thinking of a mid-wall break with some decorative tile, but then continuing above with the same tile. But I was considering having the tile above the rail in a different pattern than below. (I was thinking both above and below would be 12-13" tiles.) For example, perhaps straight set below and bias/diamond above. Is there any reason something like that isn't a good idea? Is this again purely a matter of aesthetic preference?

also might limit flexibility to move around things like pictures?
Good point; I hadn't though of that, but in both our bathrooms, there are only a couple places possible for pictures, so I don't think that will be a problem. but I can see how it could be in a larger bathroom with more open wall space.

-- Eric

For example, perhaps straight set below and bias/diamond above. Is there any reason something like that isn't a good idea? Is this again purely a matter of aesthetic preference?

You mean like this?

Or this?

Nahhhhh-- I'd NEVER do that!! :-)

We tiled to the ceiling on 1 wall and inside the tub and I love it. It was the tile guy's idea and the GC never mentioned any concerns with it. On the wall we chose to be tiled all the way up, we have a lot of interest/relief (such as window, sinks, medicine cabinets). I'd think twice about doing it on more than one wall, as I think it could create a closed-in feel to the room. Also, it's a lot of tile and it will be eye-level, so choose tile wisely. We chose a handmade tile that varies and so your eye doesn't tire of it. Here are some pics of our bathroom. You can also see how we transitioned to chair rail, which I was worried about but worked out quite nicely:

Wow!! Bill V. and jm_seattle's pictures are so-o clever and imaginative! I like the mix of straight and lattice/diagonal patterns in simple white, and that nice archway and shower niche relief in white on lime green!

We asked for a quote on tiling to the ceiling in the shower area alone and upto the chair rail in the rest of the bathroom (a 9x8) and got asked about 1200 more for labor alone with the comment on the trend in our 'neighborhood' - "that everyone is tearing down their tile in the non-shower areas; tiling up to the chair rail was a 60's thing" ???!!! is that true??

Ofcourse we still think we'd tile upto chair-rail and shower ceiling anyway, (even if not with that particular bidder) but I would still feel uncomfortable doing all four walls - jm's comment about feeling claustrophobic is about right.

what are people's thoughts about painted wainscoting w/ chairrail in bathrooms? don't know what the price difference is...wonder if it'll look better entering into toilet room, etc.....