Oh wow! I didn't even know that was an option. Thank you. I'll have to look into that.

The only time you see the tub with a shower curtain is if you are taking a shower or visiting a house and snooping while using the bathroom! So let's ignore the tub color and concentrate on white walls and yellow tile. I would go pretty with a busy pattern like in photo one! Or go crazy. Embrace the colors and have fun with it... Hence the octopus and birds. Or go graphic with black and white to acknowledge black tile trim! White bath mat and towels! You are on your way.

I love those shower curtains! I am definitely into the quirky style sort of thing so I expecially love the little birds.
Just to clarify, you'd recommend painting over the blue walls and making them white? I think that might be the easiest option to make it less insane but I also know that covering that blue with white will take more than one coat of paint.

Thanks again for the reminder that I can dress it up with a pretty shower curtain.

Also, not to drag you away from Houzz, but there is a site called Retrorenovations.com and it is all about retro/vintage homes, decorating, etc. They specialize in this kind of retro tile type of thing. They also do a little advice giving, if you send them pics of your bathroom, they will write up a whole blog post with several decorating suggestions.

Yes, I'd paint the walls white to help the floor out (which looks like a bad DIY install). then when you stumble across anther crazy shower curtain you can buy it and not worry about wall color!

@miacometlady The house itself was built well back in 1948, but there are a lot of poor choices made since then and quite a few DIY mistakes.

Luckily the downstairs bathroom isn't so offensive and I actually don't mind the very retro vibe.

@Terri I think you meant retrorenovation.com (no s at the end) but I found it with a google search! Thanks! It looks like a very helpful resource.

Refinishing the tub and tile is an excellent idea, it is certainly less expensive than remodeling. The cost of refinishing the tub and tile should be close to $1000. If that's not in the budget, I would paint the walls a color close to the existing wall tiles. Make sure to prime the walls before you paint them. Primer is less expensive than paint and it will hide the blue in one coat. With a coat of primer, you should only need one coat of paint. (Kilz Original is a good brand and it costs less than $15 a gallon.)

Hope this helps.

Thanks! $1000 is very reasonable. I could be able to save for that in a fairly short time. I'm not certain I want to cover the tile because I kind of like the color, but the tub is just strange. I might try to get a quote from someone to just redo the tub.

The tub should be less than $600.

I love the tile. I hope you keep it. But the tub...yes, refinish it white. But know that the new finish has to be babied a bit--no abrasives for cleaning--and only lasts about five years.

I do want to keep the tile. That's good to know about the tub. Five years could make it last long enough that I can save up the money to fix the bathroom up properly.