" Maybe the foamboard is thicker than the 50-year-old cement board was? "

50 years ago was drywall, no waterproofing and most likely should have been demo'd/gutted not renovated or added on to.

I think it's clear from my question that I'm not a professional. The idea was to hire professionals who know more than me. Had they said they needed to demo the wall up to the ceiling I would have done it. In retrospect, that certainly makes sense.

Oh - maybe I wasn't clear. They took the surround down to the studs where it had been tiled, just not any higher. Removing/rebuilding the wall above the tile was not discussed, bc I don't know what I don't know.

And then they installed what after the cement board?

Looking up close after enlarging the first picture, I can see that the cream tile above the green has a larger short piece at the corner than the short pieces below the green. I can barely see that the green tiles in that corner were cut at an angle. I just might be the low light, but to me it is less obvious than it would be if he had done it anywhere else, like on the cream tile. It is absolutely no big thing for me, especially if this is an older home. I like your tile colors and the type of tile you chose. It is very pretty.

Maybe I'll get used to it then. I've lightened up the picture. The tile is white subway and an aqua stripe. There is no window in this bathroom, so it's really dark without the vanity light (and I'm leaning into the light colors.)

@Stephanie I’m really going over pic with magnification & can really not see an issue. I read what Nancy said & looked again. I will admit that I am in the ranks of fussiest of fuss budgets over details and I think the tile work is good. Do know that when surround is complete & plumbing fixtures installed, points that jump out at you now will recede and disappear. I know this from experience with my kitchen reno! I love your tile colors and love the stripe!!

It is hard to see after I lightened the picture. I'm hoping that means it's jumping out at me because there are so many shadows in the room right now, The aqua tile is glass so should be very reflective, once there's something to reflect. Thank you!

...I stood my ground over the fact that the new corner where the sides of the foamboard met did not align with the old untiled corner above - it was off about 1/2 inch. They tried to convince me the tiler would make up for it with mortar but I insisted they replace the foamboard on the shower head wall so the corners aligned

Not clear what was going on^^^.

But the tile work is almost perfect. The only flaw I see is that bit where the shower head wall isn't plumb. The tile layout/ niches are great, the spacing & grout lines are consistent & there is no readily apparent lippage anywhere. I would accept that flaw and move on.

ETA: I would, for sure, hang onto contact info on the person who set the tile.

Yes, I looked at the job again this morning, now that the grout is dry, and I have to say the tiler did a much neater job (no lippage, neat grout lines, clean cuts) than the guys who tiled my other bathroom several years ago. I guess the 8 days(!) he took were worth it. The only things that bug me are where the wall takes the 1/4" jog, and that he installed the mosaic floor ever so slightly off-center so the grout line grows to nearly 3/4 inch on the short wall by the door, but there will be a 1/2" baseboard and then the vanity so it won't be visible.

What I was saying about the first corner redo is that initially the new corner formed by the waterproof foamboard did not align with the old corner above it. I found a picture I took at the time. Also the metal fasteners were still exposed, and there were gaps between the tub flange and foamboard. I'd seen online that the foamboard was supposed to extend over the tub flange but the contractor said I didn't have enough tub edge to do it (which appears true, seeing finished job). The contractor said the tiler would fix the crooked wall and I was skeptical, so they reinstalled the foamboard on the shower head wall, installed waterproof tape at the tub joint, and sealed the fasteners so I could see the job "tile ready". I remember the tile guy was surprised to see all this done. So he may have been more meticulous about smoothing out the wonky wall had he not thought it had been done for him. And maybe the main contractor thought the tile guy would still check that the wall was plumb, I dunno. But I suspect if I say something about the 1/4 jog in the wall, which can't be fixed now, they will say it's my fault for having made them redo the wall (bc that's what they've been like - they roll their eyes when I ask questions.) All of you are saying it's not that noticeable anyway.

I AM going to ask them about a small gap where the hardwood meets the marble threshold. The old floor was an inch higher so there used to be quarter round between floor and threshold. Now it's level and that would be a tripping hazard. Just caulk?

Original job

"Fixed"

Gap I know I'll never see

Smaller gap but I'll see it every day

You will see that smaller gap for about a week and then forget about it.

All of the "gaps" should be filled with a flexible sealant, not grout.

UPDATE: The contractor showed up this morning, took one look at that corner and said it was unacceptable. Said the tiler should have seen it coming and smoothed out the wall. So he made the tiler come back and redo the top 3' of the shower head wall. He restored my faith in contractor humanity.

That's a great outcome. I hope, however, that they re-did the waterproofing on the wall before re-tiling.

Oh, of course not. He chipped the tiles off the wall, smoothed out the wonky part with mortar, and put new tiles up.

Now that the left side is fixed, I noticed how much out of plumb the right wall is (which they built from scratch, floor to ceiling, so it's really inexplicable. At least it isn't abrupt - the whole wall is just out of square both top to bottom and left to right. I'm pretty sure I'll stop seeing it after a few weeks.

Today we discovered that the vanity arrived cracked, and that the contractors broke the granite I'd intended to reuse (they're providing a replacement.) . Quite the adventure.