White subway tile is a good way to go; nice choice!

Taking the tile up to the ceiling will draw the eye up and offer the illusion of a higher ceiling and, thus, a larger space. A little extra material will make a huge impact in a compact space!

Best of luck with your project!

To the ceiling is the way to go, but make sure your ceiling is level - otherwise you end up with a wedge.

I would take the tile all the way up, it would lengthen the height and paint the ceiling white about the same tone to create continuity of visual space. I would use a small quantity of blue or acqua tiles as an accent on the horizontal line because it makes the cabinet warm tone wood more elegant

trying to decide if we should stagger the tiles or do a straight stack. What do you think? Bull nose is a much brighter white so may not be using it. metal edging thoughts? thank you again!

Make sure you put your tile on the right structure. So put some slits in your insulation; install cement backer board...I hope the plywood in the picture is just temporary...tape and thinset all the joints and then apply a waterproofing membrane before you tile. FYI I used white subway tile in a running bond and it is a classic and good if you like something minimalistic. It can be dressed up a bit more with borders and different colors. Also you can do different patterns like 33% overlap, but I would stay away from lining up the joints if you use a small tile. Definitely go all the way to the ceiling and be aware that a light in the bath will highlight any tiling errors. I just used bullnose at the edges...I don't like the metal bead with traditional tiles....it's ok on large format tile modern designs. My tile is pretty well laid and level and with the glancing illumination of the light in the bath the tiles still cast small shadows and look a little rounded.

wow, nice! Using 8x20 tile. Husband is using Kerdi system. They plywood is temporary for sure, took out a window.

OK then Kerdi up to the ceiling and tile up to the ceiling too. Make sure you waterproof at the tub flange too. There are some youtube videos showing how to do it with Kerdifix. With large format tiles the manufacturer will have pattern recommendations and watch out for the flatness of each tile. I would also use a leveling system as an overhead light and large format tile can be a bad combination if there is any lippage.

ok. Bought the Kerdifix already. Looking into getting leveling system. Husband doesn't like the one offered at local lumber yard. What did you use?

My bath has 3x6 subway tiles and no leveling system was used. But even with no lippage the slight edge bevel of the tile casts a shadow when there is a light close to the wall a grazing incidence. With large tiles a leveling system almost always used today.

Definitely take it to the ceiling.

To the ceiling, it will make the ceilings look taller.

All the way to the ceiling!