Well, you are right!

Are you interested in the tub area only? How much $ do you have to spend?

Free or almost free

1) Remove all of the stuff in the tub area. Add some rolled towels and

2) white vanity does not work with the rest. suggest painting it.

3) Shower curtain that is hung high.

4) Remove large towel bar. Rolled towels instead.

Can't really see anything else.

If you don't think you're going to use it, take it out. But that is major construction. Is it open to the bedroom? I see a sofa nearby. Green looks good with natural wood that color if you do decide to paint the vanity, or charcoal gray if you want to tie it into the tile wall around the tub.

I need more info. IMO a total gut job but please share with us what it is you want to do.

" And inexpensive thoughts to freshen it up? "

I would say she wants to "freshen" it up, does not sound like a gut job to me @Patricia Colwell Consulting

I'm not often a too much wood person... but that's too much wood. 3-4 kinds on the floor, and one of them is also done in two styles on the walls and on up the ceiling.

It kind of looks like over the shower it's the knotty pine painted white. So maybe paint your knotty walls and the drywalled walls light to bring all the walls together in one color. Not sure about that roll up ceiling, it might look odd to paint wall up to ceiling height and leave it, but might not. A light color that compliments your lightest tiles will brighten, freshen, and tie your walls better to tiles. Not sure from the photos if those tiles are really creamy, or has green tones in them. Either color could probably work after the fake plants are removed.

The floor, that's tougher. You might need to do some replacing to make it one kind of flooring instead of looking like the tail ends of many floors. And the knotty floors are also on the walls and ceiling thing.

Depending on what's in the spot where those plants are, and how tall that wall actually is. You could put in LED strip lighting where the plants were to create an illuminated top to the wall. Something that comes in dimmable and color options is nice, you can do daylight bright white or candleglow yellow dim.

I'd get a set of swimming pool exit grab bars, screw them down, and enjoy all the retro cheesy luxury. CDR has good ideas to freshen it up.

(The photos are kind of blurry but aside from the faux plants, nothing there seems amiss. As long as you keep calling it a "70s chalet tub", it can be exactly that and enjoyed as that because there isn't really anything wrong with that.)

Keep the tub and transform the area to look like a spa. I would kill to have a deep tub to soak my old bones. Remove the finishes around it and create something zen-like.

Thanks all. Helpful ideas. I do use the tub several times a week. Getting rid of the fake greenery and painting the knotty pine seem like great first steps. And some rolled towels.

You can also paint the tile walls. You could paint just the dark brown, or paint it all. Google for how-to. I wouldn't try to paint the tile around the tub because it gets wear and tear.

Our house had diagonal knotty pine wood like yours, and we removed it. It had only been nailed on, not glued so there was surprisingly little damage to the drywall behind it, and fewer nail holes than we had expected. Removing it might not be much more work than prepping and painting the wood.

It sounds like you want diy cosmetc changes only. All those brown tones date the space alonfg with the sunken tub. I'd paint as much as I could white with ery faint blue undertones.Add some fabric art hung on the tile walls to brighten up the space. Get rid of the small decor (lanterns etc. Too many little things add to a cluttered look. Keep it simple and calming.

Remove the plants and everything else. Paint the wood wall. I'd consider painting it to match the grey tile so it is more of a cohesive look. There are so many pattern and color changes happening already. Glad yo are enjoying the good soak.

Press and place tiles are super easy.. large spa type may (white?) wicker chair in corner with White robe draped over it. One large real plant ..

Dynamite. I see at least three different flooring levels in the immediate proximity of the tub. Four is you count the tub ledge. Five if you include the bottom of the sunken tub. Six floor levels when you add in the vanity and shower area. Bonus levels including some stairs out of frame in order to get to the tub area. That really, really needs to be sorted out before you are ponying up to pay an orthopedic surgeon.