But Houzz has.

Without an in-person look, hard to say if this was the best solution to the uneven ceiling. Alternatives include: cut tiles to the top; cut tiles and a bullnose; or a less water-sensitive top piece.

Put a four foot level up there and determine if its the tile or the ceiling that's not level. If its the ceiling you would need to cut the tile on a slight angle (probably not that easy to do for a line of tile), or scribe and cut a piece of wood trim.

In most older houses the tile does not go to the ceiling and there is a sheetrock wall above it. Its vulnerable to moisture buildup, but usually works fine.

Bruce

It's fine.

I would take it down it looks weird. Have them cut the tile to match the ceiling.

In the total picture - it is fairly benign. I'd have perhaps gone with a synthetic wood product, though...

I think that you have there looks fine.

Just say no to whit tile and dark grout.

IMO the tile could have gone to the ceiling but now I think just paint it the exact same color as the tile I honestly do not think anyone will notice especailly after the shower screen is installed .That tub looks really short it must be the angle of the pic

I don't mind it at all. I agree with just painting it the same color as tile with maybe a semi gloss paint.

Its is good, Because you can use it on another way to use things in talking shower.

Echoing what Amy Lynn wrote above - this is NOT AN EASY INSTALL - the niche, the dark grout, the layout - it all looks even, consistent and WELL PLANNED.

Overall, I would say you should be very pleased. My guess now, pondering it, is that they went with the different material there because had they done it in the tile with the dark grout - the unevenness of the ceiling would have been exaggerated - think of the accentuation of half height tiles or tiles that tapered framed by that dark grout - no... very bad. Changing the material avoids that accentuation.

Well done by a pro.

I would have floated/leveled out the ceiling of the tub/shower and tiled that too.

I think it's fine, once you grout it shouldn't be noticeable. It's not grouted yet is it? Do white grout.

Yes, it is dark grout

It's not too late to level the ceiling.

why wasn't a full tile used on the top row? seems like the wood piece is covering another half of a tile that could have been used. have them redo the top row. or live w/the trim piece. up to you

Looks good to me. Chances are it will not effect your ability to get clean in the shower or tub.

I don't get how a strip of wood is an easy fix for an unlevel ceiling. Either you have to scribe the tiles to the uneven ceiling, or scribe the wood to the uneven ceiling, or put the wood it as-is and scribe the tile to the wood trim. I can't tell from the photo which they did.

I would have tiled all the way to the ceiling, then caulked the tile/ceiling joint with white silicone.

That said, now that I look more closely, I'm guessing that a full tile instead of the wood would have left slivers of tile against the ceiling. They didn't plan properly from bottom to top when they were figuring the layout, so when they got up high, they realized the last row would be slivers. So they put the wood in in lieu of tile slivers. That's my hypothesis.

You are spot-on with your assessment of what happened. The tile people chose to fix the problem with a wood strip when probably the main issue is a combination of the ceiling being a little out of square and them not preparing from the bottom up correctly. Pretty frustrating at this point because the true fix would be a major redo.

I would probably have them take out the top 1 - 2 courses of tile and simply paint the wall above that "datum" line. This way you'll have a decent gap so the non-level ceiling won't be so noticeable and no strange wood molding where it doesn't belong.

I looked at this again - and I think this is the best compromise answer.

I don't think that you'd want partial tiles for the top course OR the bottom course.

And - the using grout (or caulk) between the tile and the ceiling - in the dark color - would totally accentuate anything other than both straight-line perfection or partial tiles.

"They didn't plan properly from bottom to top when they were figuring the layout, so when they got up high, they realized the last row would be slivers. So they put the wood in in lieu of tile slivers."

These guys were hired to set tile, not float a ceiling to level. They did a fine job. It's not too late to fix the ceiling. Get out your checkbook and do it, right after you pay them for a fine job please.