The light is the bigger offender over the vanity. Wood and white, and gold, is back as a popular design style. Especially paired with a rich navy or green. So keep the vanity, and just put a new white top on it. Or paint it a blue or green if you feel up to it. Find one of the new gold faucets to go with it, and a new towel bar. If you can afford the loss of storage, change the medicine cabinet to a framed mirror. If you can’t, try to find one in a metal. White walls, and new towels in a color, and it will be fresh and new to you!

Thank you! You’re very aligned to my thoughts... the vanity’s front makes it look nicer (it’s barely holding together on the opposite exposed side), so while I’d try painting it a nice deep blue or navy, a new top wouldn’t be worth it.
Maybe we’ll take a phased approach and get rid of the mirror and light first, paint and get new towel bars, hooks, and bath accessories? The vanity can be the final piece in a few months perhaps.

That's a great idea. I think you'll be amazed at the difference you can make even without spending much money. Painting your vanity navy, new lights, gold mirror and hardware, with white walls would look great! Something similar to this:

Have you looked on Craigslist? You may find a vanity there that works fine for several years and is nicer than the one you have. People will change their minds or get the wrong size and have to resell new ones, or have ones in a box that you have to build that they bought but changed their mind. Your local Habitat for Humanity Resale shop may (or other resale shops may) have donations of floor models from bath suppliers at times. Then, if you are in the Northeast, there is always Green Demolitions/Renovation Angel where you can keep your eyes open for something good to come in.

These are all very good thoughts! I’ve been looking on Facebook Market and Craigslist for used vanities or floor sample sale items, and I’ll continue to do that. We’ve been by a couple of warehouses that have items from demolition, but nothing has quite worked yet. Habitat for Humanity May be a good place to look though - we haven’t been there!
For removing the shower door, I didn’t think of that for a full shower. Can that be done? I figured doors were necessary, and my husband didn’t like the idea of just covering the doors with a shower curtain. Getting rid of it could be good..
I think changing out the mirror, light and paint could be the first step to take sooner than later.
Complication to white is that this tile is cream colored. See this pic to see the difference... still neutral at least! I think I can move forward with navy and gold accents, right?

Oh yeah, you are free to do navy and gold with this.

Shower curtains can be used with full showers very well. If you want a heavy one, I use one from the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. It is antimicrobial and has a clear section at top to see out. You may be able to cut it to fit your size if it is too big. Next time I am in the bathroom, I will look, if you are interested. Mine has been up a year and a half with no mildew, but I do sometimes semi-squeegee it. Mine only handles about 8 - 9 showers a week and I open both ends after use to dry out.

BTW, I would keep your toilet if it matches the shower tile, unless it needs replacing. I would not paint the walls actual white because I don't use real white on any walls. I like color. Even a warm off-white would be nice. White can be so harsh. But, JMHO!

We finished a mini update! Used Sherwin Williams Sea Salt that we had leftover from another room. Changed out the towel bars and toilet paper bar, his the shower door with a curtain (Target), bought a new mirror (target) and light fixture (Wayfair). It’s not exactly as we want it, but for $350, it’s great for now!

In the future I think we’d like to update the vanity and toilet.