Looks vey noisy, have you asked your FIL ?

I wouldn't go too multicolored. But how about trying to match the dark blue, sorta?

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I think I would stick with plain white, since the toilet is white. Then you could tie the orange and blue elements together using towels, bath mat, or art if there is any wall space.

Solid grey or solid white. Don't try to over think this and pull too many things together. It is going to look chaotic. As simple and subtle as possible is best.

if you're going to redo the shower, then all of that blue/white square tile on the walls will have to go too. you don't have to retile the walls. you can put in drywall and paint, or do a beadboard and paint. But whichever you choose, do not leave that bluish tile along w/the floor tile.

In fact, I'd remove the tub and do a full shower. I'll show you pictures.

the white toilet is fine.

not sure what the steel shelf thing is, but why not take it and the pedestal sink out and do an inexpensive vanity. you'll get the storage that is really needed in there.

if you remove all of the wall tile, drywall, paint, you could decorate many diff ways to add some color. here's one w/a wood vanity instead of that old pedestal sink that has no storage

the problems w/just doing the shower tile that you've picked, is that it will make everything else look really dated. Put in an extra 1K for a new 36" vanity (you can find all-in one options. check craigslist and fb marketplace for good deals) a new mirror/light and redo the drywall.

If you do all of the demo yourself, you'll save about $500-1K.

at the very least, get rid of that metal thing and do a tall tower cab. you can find used pieces and paint them yourself. lots of diff ideas.

if you want to save a bit and can do some simple DIY, spray the mirror black, get a new light and a white oak vanity w/white top

another idea for the walls is this nickel gap paneling to go on the walls. they have it in vinyl. you may be able to put it right over the wall tile to really save you money and time

or, find a vintage table,chest, oak cabinet that you can paint, and try something like this w/new mirror and lights

heck, you can even do something like this if you don't want a full vanity. and this color blue is perfect w/the tile floor

if you want more neutral, do the white, white oak vanity, gold accents

if FIL has mobility issues, maybe something like this

earthy tones look nice w/the terra cotta tones.

an black looks awesome. you could do the shower tiles like this, but in the black color

Paint the walls a creamy white, get an oak vanity w/white quartz top

I think if you did a beadboard or some type of vinyl wall panel on the lower portion, and painted the top part a charcoal or black, got a wood vanity

and did these matte black thinner subway tiles for the shower, with a patterned shower floor tile, it would look really nice w/the terra cotta

Celine matte black 2X6

maybe something along these lines for the shower floor tile

something else to look into. getting a sprayed epoxy paint coating on the all of the wall tiles as well as that tub if you must leave it.

if you can replace the tub, great. here's how those shower tiles would look

Thank you all for your comments!! We are in Spain so I am finding things are a bit different...getting rid of the tile for dry wall is not an option. We have to tile over it for budget reasons related to the way things work here, as far as I can understand. Perhaps we could look at the cost of retiling the entire bathroom in something more neutral like white tiles, or the look of the black tiles suggested above. I really, really appreciate all of your help!!!

"We are changing a tub to a walk in shower for my father in law. The entire shower area will be re tiled to freshen it up, up to the level of the toilet more or less............

WHAT????

The entire tub area, floor to above fittings is a rip and re tile. Waterproofing ensured as well.

You are asking for a disaster any other way. You are inviting a schlock job and a bad look. White, all of it. Sorry.

I agree by the time you rip out tha whole tub wall and do the shower poroperly you might as well rip it all out . Any contractor witll charge extra for trying to keep tiles and work around them .There is no way to do the shower without ripping all that tile out and having the waterproofing done everywhere in the new shower space you do not just rip out some tile you do it all

Just make sure whatever tile you use for the walk-in shower has enough grip to help prevent falls.

I would not want to have to clean a lot of grout lines on shower walls. So that speaks to using large tiles or solid surface rather than all those patterns and tile work in photos.

Would you consider a fiberglass or Onyx shower system?

In your picture it looks like the tile in the tub surround is continuous all the way around the room. Given that, I'm not sure how you could replace only the tile in the tub area. As far as I know it's impossible to only demo tile to a point and leave the rest. Even if you could, you would have new butting up against old and I can't imagine that looking very good. Why have you been told you can't have drywall? Is there some code that requires tile throughout?

She is in Spain, with no budget/low resources.

Do what MUST be done and only that.

A nice white shower, ( all of it) waterproof and a safe floor IN that shower. Or a shower pan, and not sure what is available in Spain.

Thank you again for your answers.

My understanding is that is common here for these partial and low budget bathroom update projects here to tile directly over the existing tiles. There is A LOT of tile in Spain. So far I have not seen a bathroom that has dry wall in it, here walls are plaster or something else, I am defintly not an expert. I do appreciate the comments though about waterproofing, I am checking with the contractor who is a serious professional specializing in updating bathrooms for older folks with mobility issues. We bought this place for my father in law and are trying to make it safe and also nice on a tight budget. I asked him to quote me for doing the entire bathroom in tile to avoid having three colors. Thank you all agian :)

Suggest you don't do tile and go with a preformed walk-in shower with a seat and grab bars. Something like this one:

Update: they are ripping out the tile in the bathroom so it seems like that addresses the waterproofing issue. They are saying they plan to tile on top of the rest of the existing tile but gave me a quote to remove it all. Is there any downside to tiling on top of existing tile outside of the shower area?

no it's fine. I had a tile tile over old tile in my shower and it held up just fine. outside the shower shouldn't be an issue