I'd stick with medium tones as both very dark and very light will be your enemies, especially the floor. Patterns will show less than solid colors.

Joanie is correct in choosing medium colors, but I'm of the mind that if you wipe things up immediately they won't get so dirty that you have to spend a load of time cleaning them later on.
Simple things like placing a squeegee in your shower and using it on the walls, door and floor after each shower. Rinsing the sink and wiping with a damp wash cloth after each use. Things like these take just seconds and will save more time then you can imagine.
As for materials to use, solid wood cabinets whether painted or stained will last much longer than anything else since its more easily repaired. Integrated sinks and counters for less seams to clean around. Removable toilet seats for easier cleaning. As for floors, I prefer marble or the link as the color is all the way through.

Thanks for the tips. I should probably clarify that we're not really that gross; I just feel like it looks slobby since I can't stand the look of things that are banged up or have visible hairballs on the floor and obvious coffee cup rings on the counter or soap scum on fixtures. Seems like it's never ending and some materials make it more obvious than others.

The one decision we've made so far is white subway tile in the shower since I really want something classic that won't be out of style in two years. HOWEVER - gray grout though, since white would need a lot of upkeep to stay clean. Open shower wouldn't work well in the area so we're planning a frameless glass door since it would hopefully mean less grime than one with tracks or a shower curtain.

Everything else is still up in the air.

One thing that surprised and disappointed me about some very expensive things I put in my bathroom remodel a few years ago, is how much stuff that looks like metal is actually plastic. Like the trim pieces in the hansgrohe hand held shower assembly. They became water spotted almost immediately and cannot be made to look new again and I have naturally fairly soft water! So I would choose chrome that can be scrubbed and I would touch every single piece to determine if it's metal or plastic. (it's attractive, just not durable for cleaning).

One of the best decisions I made was porcelain tile in the shower with epoxy grout. To clean, I just squirt some mild chlorine solution and let it kill any mold spores, wipe it down and rinse it off. I also decided to wait on a glass door for the shower until my bank acct recovered and found that I really love having a shower curtain that I just throw into the washer with a load of towels, bleach and hot water and it looks like new again. I don't have to spend my time squeegying a glass door and there is no angst over water spots on it. It hangs to the side, very much out of the way and I can enjoy the beautiful shower as much as I would with a glass door.

I thought you sounded like a typical family with children. I know when our kids were young things didn't seem to keep that "new" look as long. I thought the slob thing was a purposeful exaggeration as one often does to get a point across.
I know when I'm not on my game, either because I'm sick or pulled in too many other directions by other family members that need my time to do what they can't because of work, things get looking real bad very quickly around here. But when I'm on my game and do what I mentioned above. things stay looking pretty good.

Another idea to help keep the toilet clean is use KaBoom. Since you can't buy refill tablets, at least not anywhere I can find, I buy the chlorine tabs for hot tubs and use them as refills. My toilet bowls are always perfectly white. Granted one still has to clean all the other parts on a regular basis, but having a clean bowl all the time is really nice.

If you get a glass door for the shower get one with a pattern to it...you should still squeegee it after use but it won't show every spot and drive you crazy.

If you're into rustic, our master bathroom floor and counter top are wonderful in the regard that you're referring to. We used Indian Autumn Slate for the floor and shower and it only requires the normal sweeping or vacuuming when I clean the bathroom. Our counters are a granite with lots of color and movement. This is the floor as the bathroom was being done, a top view of the granite and a view from the door. The shower is the same slate but we used 12x12, 4x4 and 2x1 brick tiles along with some noir black travertine but the photos during construction are all I have available. If you're interested in seeing a pic, I can post it. We were warned about using slate, but it's been 5 or 6 years now and I'm extremely pleased with how it's held up.

I knew my son's bath would be challenging to keep looking pristine. He has white subway tile in his shower, dark grey tiles (looks like slate, but ceramic,) espresso cabinets, brushed nickel fixtures, and typhoon Bordeaux granite on vanity. It gets deep cleaned weekly, but looks just fine in between. The typhoon Bordeaux is very forgiving, and the floors & cabs look great.

My husband is responsible for cleaning his own shower. I now I wish I'd gotten him a one-piece acrylic alcove shower. With a shower curtain instead of a door. It's not upscale but it sure is easy to clean and no caulk or grout to worry about. His condo shower had rather large format light beige Satin finish porcelain tiles on the walls. It was pretty darn bulletproof.

[This houzz article might be of interest.[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/design-an-easy-clean-bathroom-stsetivw-vs~2001491)

I chose large format floor tiles with a good COF number for slip resistance and epoxy grout, all in a medium grey, for our recent hall bath remodel. I also chose coved wall tile for the baseboard for easier cleaning. For our master bathroom I used Marmoleum, no grout at all. Both have a bit of random pattern to them, which helps hide dog hair and such in between cleanings.

For the master bathroom, we went with a shower curtain. I got a plain white one that doesn't need a plastic liner and can be washed as needed. For the hall bath, dh was adamant about wanting glass. Everyone I talked with was clear that frosted glass is impossible to clean. The bathroom forum here was strongly in favor of showerguard to reduce water spotting and my glass guy concurred. Everyone said the other coatings aren't anywhere near as good.

I wanted to go with a wall mounted toilet, but it was out of budget. So I went with a skirted model and it is much easier to clean.

Slab doors are easier to keep clean than shaker, etc.

Hope that helps.

Some things I picked...Wood look porcelain plank floor tile in a mid tone with dark grout ( stick with a mid tone because real dark shows water spots), Toto toilet with smooth sides (no side intestines), and a wall mount paper hand towel dispenser near vanity. My husband is extremely hard on things but really wanted off white cabinetry which I was in great doubt about. Maybe it's because we built and installed them ourselves from high-end RTA's that he is more careful but careful he is and it has worked out nice. I painted the wall mount paper hand towel dispenser the wall color, husband uses it every day by wetting a few with plain water and wiping down his part of the vanity, mirror and countertop. It takes 10 seconds. The only PITA is the glass shower doors which must be squeegee'd after every use. I spent a lot of money on a good fan that continually runs on low but kicks into high once you trip the sensor. We bought the kind that can be installed directly above the shower. That was a great buy! You mentioned white subway tile, I bought the biscuit color with matching grout and have no trouble keeping it nice with a very minimal amount of effort.

Oh and...My master bath has a door going into the tub/shower/toilet area and I have the towel bars on the back of that door. The towels that are often in a messy arrangement are hidden behind the door which is open unless one is in that section. I do not have to view that on first entry. Edited to add: The other great thing is single lever faucets mounted close to the sink with a gap behind that fits a hand for easy cleaning and commercial grade under cabinet built-in vanity soap dispensers that fill from the top. Get the kind that have a spout long enough that it is slightly over the sink to catch any drips. It's hard to tell in this picture but the gap behind the faucet fits a pretty good sized hand.

Large format tiles for the floor really work well and are easiest to clean, especially if laid in a simple pattern. You already know you want a dark grout, which is smart.

Good choice too on the frameless shower door. You should invest in a good squeegee which has been mentioned. Also, using a magic eraser to clean the glass once a week works great.

Toto makes a great toilet with the Sani-gloss finish,and do get the one with the skirt to save on cleaning all those 'side intestines' (I still laugh at that term justterrilynn invented).

If you want granite countertops, get a small bottle of granite cleaner (Method is pretty good) & keep it in the bathroom & use a squirt every day or so with a microfiber cloth to clean the top. Or at least wipe the counter & faucets with a damp wash cloth or microfiber to keep water spots down.

Get the best (highest cfm rating) & quietest exhaust fan you can.

lukkiirish - Your bathroom is gorgeous!

Justerrilyn - Your pics are nearly identical to my/our ideal style choices. Love the shower, vanity, countertop - all of it. I would go with wood-look tile in a heartbeat except that we're planning to install wood floors in the adjoining master bedroom so I don't think the two would look right next to each other. Is your countertop marble, or granite that resembles marble? I love marble but have heard it's soft and porous so maybe not a good choice for us.

I was leaning toward a Toto toilet but it sounds like I should narrow it down to a skirted model to make cleaning easier. That's one of my least favorite tasks - cleaning the hair and dust and "ick" that accumulates around the sides of the toilet. :P Skirted toilet it is!

I'm also hoping that if we have more cabinet storage space we'll both have less bottles and containers of miscellaneous stuff cluttering the counter so it will be easier to wipe down daily.

Love all these tips!

Hi Jess I would have to look up the name of the countertop because I'm blanking at the moment but on some sites it's listed as quartz. On further investigations it's a marble but has quartz in it. It falls at the beginning of quartz strength and at the hardest of marble catagory. It is very durable. We ran the same porcelain wood look floor throughout the master bedroom and bath. That was ideal for me as we have sliders out to the pool area. I have a big area rug but you can see the plank tile in the walkways. Losing the battle for a free standing tub worked out for the best because I don't have to clean under or around skinny open sides. Plus, this one has arm rests and is cozy. I made sure I got a sprayer on my faucet to rinse the tub out (didn't have that on last tub and it made cleaning a pain. Also bought this EBay Cart on wheels to cart up to tub for girly stuff. I now have nothing on tub surround but a glass of wine:)

Jess, consider running the hardwoods into the bath. If you have a Swedish or poly finish on them, they are SO easy to clean and show nothing (as long as they aren't espresso colored). Water doesn't harm the poly finish at all. Concerns about leaks are valid, however, if you have a leak that would affect the floor, it would also affect any floor, if it got down into the subfloor.

While not a popular option, our kitchen cabinets were formica covered plywood and those things wore like iron...they looked like new when we moved in and still looked just as good 30+ years later. The people who bought and since sold the house hung onto the cabinets as well as they were so incredibly sturdy and easy to clean.

So depending on how form over function vs. function over form you are, it might be something to consider.

I second the corian with the integrated sinks as the best counter top option for durability and cleanability.

Yes to the cabinet storage. I had the electrician put in an outlet behind a pull-out drawer for my hairdryer and any other electrical appliances I needed to plug-in. I love it and it certainly cleared the countertop. I use it for charging my Clarisonic too. The drawer is shallow but also holds my brush, comb, and other hair stuff.

Since the kids came along, I gradually let go of the idea of having a clean, white, shiny bathroom. Now, all our bathroom furniture is grey or black, we have adhesive mats near the sink, so there are no toothpaste stains, dark colored mats. The only thing keeping this bathroom from looking too depressing are bright towels, my plants and bright bathroom accessories