I have to say it....your baby is 5' tall?

I like the older gray tile on the walls. If keeping it can save you $, then do so and use it as inspiration for the new bathroom. For instance, paint cabinets the color of the tile.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/10-reasons-to-consider-4-by-4-inch-tile-stsetivw-vs~117631161

We did a house swap in Ireland and they had a folding tub for their toddler, to use in the shower. https://well.ca/products/stokke-flexi-bath-x-large-white_182578.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwpbi4BhByEiwAMC8JnSicWBy2P5V8F4QiK_-8Ym3dMvCiwiHiZm4E4d4g-F5_89fpuNMYBxoC-HMQAvD_BwE

Hi, thank you! We do have a folding tub for him we just also want a tub for ourselves too :)

Thank you so much! That was very helpful! If we gut, which we probably will, we want a more modern bathroom with gold hardware and some sort of tile in the tub area. :)

Good luck, Kira, there are SO many options for a beautiful, functional bathroom!

I think your bathroom is charming and a hell of a lot nicer that that black and white thing in one of the comments. I like the way the shower curtain goes with the wood. Add in some matching towels and curtains and you'll have a wow!

Babies don't stay small long and baby tubs are cheap. I wouldn't demo my bathroom to make room for a (probably plastic) baby tub that baby will grow out of within a year or two.

Nothing and no one could ever make me remove that blue/gray tile. The weird white tile in the shower yes, but the wall tile...is perfection.

I am not in the keep it for keeping sake in bathrooms or kitchens . You will need a gut job becuase as soon as you begin to fit in a tub htta is larger than the space you have all tiles will be not right anymore. I think a nice modern functional bathoom can be done and still keep a nice feel but function always before form. I use 12 x24 porcelain tile on both bathroom floors and shower walls it makes it simple I even match grout . When you do that that background is simple and allows you to add things to make it what you love. and also allows you change as time goes on without a huge gut job again. So do a nice tub/ shower use a hinged glass shower screen and then maybe add some fun wallpwper to fit what you love right now . BTW I love my tugb every night no way would I live in a house without one

Is this your only bath? I ask just bc a gut will take it offline for quite a while and it’s good to know if it’s feasible - FWIW we gutted a bath in an older home and as @Diana Bier Interiors, LLC suggested we used the opportunity to install new plumbing, which was much needed

Removing the wall tile to replace with sheetrock is the last thing I'd do. I see sheetrock as vastly inferior to ceramic tile in a bathroom. You've even referred to it as "charming blue" (altho admittedly you may have only been referring to the arch and not the color).

Why must you have a 60" tub when there are 56" tubs available?

Painting the floor tile is an exceptionally bad idea, full of headaches to accomplish, and thereafter, wrought by the fact that it won't be long-wearing. Consider a floor tile a darker shade of wall tiles. If your floor tiles are in the same color family as the wall tiles, you're bathtub tiles can be different while looking like a a feature rather than "a third" tile.

Agree with Diana. There's nothing worth saving in that bathroom. You could go in an Art Deco direction, as Diana has shown you, or you could do more of a mid-centruy modern look (assuming the rest of your home fits that bill.) Some options:

Mid-Century Bathroom in El Segundo, CA. · More Info

Mid-Century Modern Primary Bathroom Remodel / Alexandria, VA · More Info

Note the Scandinavian-style legs on the vanities. You could have thse custom built, or you could convert a piece that you find in a flea market or dealer of authentic mid-century modern furniture.

My parents' kitchen settee had Scandinavian style angled feet like that. Many people stubbed their toes on those legs - you don't expect legs to stick out past the body of the furniture and then - owwww!!

The tile shows as more gray than blue on my screen. If you are definitely going to reno and get a tub, then you will likely have to lose that whole wall area. I would not do anything with the floor mostly because of the expense. However, it may be more costly to remove all those tiles on the walls! So for the final vote-Keep the blue/gray tile on walls. Lose the shower wall and install a tub. This picture would be my inspiration if this were my bathroom-https://www.tileideaz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/blue_grey_bathroom_tiles_10.jpg

If you don't have unlimited funds you may want to get estimates for each type of remodel you are considering. I'm remodeling both my baths and found that bathrooms are extremely expensive to remodel these days! I had to delete removing a bath in my guest room and replacing it with a shower.

Regarding the above comment, kitchens and baths are indeed the most expensive areas to remodel because they require ALL the subcontractors: plumbers, electricians, framers, tilers, glass and countertop fabricaors, etc. So, yeah, it won't be cheap but it's a greeat investiment in your home.

You gut it.

First? You draw and measure that bath to the exact inch. Walls , window doorway all of it. Show what rooms, are next door and their dimensions. Upload that drawing here in a jpeg format.

The blue tile.....and the other tile.....it doesn't need that much going on! There are zillions you can love.

The so "updated" oak vanity and it's drop in sink isn't all that updated : )

In the meantime? Even if if means you bath a baby in an inflatable tub? A folding tub? Save money while you wait, plan it well, and that baby will still get clean.

A really good bath starts with inches, then it can be about finishes: )

This is a 1980's remodel - they had better taste back in the 50's than the 80's - too bad they did not leave it. It will save time and labor to remove all the shower stall walls. And I would remove the floor tile and use something softer like VCT by Armstrong, or maybe the original wood floors are under the tile. Removing tile from floors is not easy if it were installed correctly, but well worth doing. They are best not used anywhere in a house - very 80's like - hard on the legs and hard on glass items. Anything glass that hits it breaks and it is cold in the winter. Do not use laminate flooring either - besides looking cheap it has a fiberboard base under the plastic fake wood and does not do well with water, and offgasses toxins also. And for a tub, even tho some do not like them, I like the metal/steel tubs, if you do not want to go to the expense of a cast iron which is also heavy to move into place. And use real tile on the wall - not one of those cheap plastic liners like are meant for mobile homes and apartments. And definitely not a plastic/composite tub unless you want it to look cheap and get worn out with use and cleaning. Personally I like staggered tile rather than all lined up line in the photo, but that is just me - I like traditional rather than modern looks. Have fun!

The black vanity in one of the photos is ugly, but the other 3 photos that are traditional along with that one with the black are all good choices.

I no longer tile all the walls in the bathrooms. Tile just the shower area and the floor. Paint or wallpaper the rest. I disagree with lazidazi. I live in an upscale town where there is million-dollar homes replacing the older homes. i’ve yet to see all the walls tiled in any of the new builds.

This bathroom for me in a gut job. However, I lived with a 50’s hall bathroom for 30 years.

If you afford to, do it now.

Kira,

Although your 1950s-ranch bathroom may still have its original slate colored tiles, a great deal of that bathroom was redone in the 1990s, and the materials unfortunately were not selected to match the original tiles. I think it could be possible to save that original tile, because it is very neutral for the era. I see some real issues though to consider:

#1: dimensions. If the shower is 54", and the wet wall is about 6" thick, and the door is 24", then you have a bathroom that appears to be about 7'6" along the sink wall and 6' along the window wall. I can't tell if the entry door is opposite the window or opposite the sink, and if it is the latter, IDK how you plan to expand the shower bay. I think that if this is the case, you are planning to move the faucet to the outside wall, but I bet this is a cold-winter region, because none of the fixtures are against the outside wall to prevent pipes from freezing. But you also will have a problem because you will no longer have an alcove for the tub so you can't use an alcove tub. Speaking from experience, tubs that do not have a tile flange are going to leak along the walls, meaning mold and wood rot.

If you are dead set about installing a tub, find a 54" alcove tub. They exist, and not all of them are the cheap ones for mobile homes.

#2: finishes. Whether it be the out of style oak window casings and vanity light, or that fiberglass shower insert, or even the floor tile, door and cabinet, the surfaces are mismatched and dating the room. I do think that although they are 4" square, the wall tiles make a good base for improved surfaces. Plus the plaster and tile system are certainly the strongest part of the house! I can definitely see the tile working with a floating vanity and alcove tile that is either glass or handmade subway tiles - one offering a sharp, crisp contrast to the existing and the other contrasting by offering an bespoke and human feel.

#3 old plumbing. The condition of 70 year old supply and drain lines behind the vanity can doom the tile anyway if they are failing. Moving the shower supply and drain for a 60" tub may not be worthwhile because in that wall will be the small diameter hot and cold and probably a large diameter vent for the drain. It might not be possible to put that vent on another wall without adding 2" to the thickness, and whether the house is on a slab or over a basement will need to be considered.

If this is your first experience ripping walls apart, you may get quickly overwhelmed. I would suggest not rushing or feeling pressured by a growing child. First thing is to know what is behind the walls, where, and the condition. That includes the floor. Finishes are easy, but worthless if you have to rip it all apart to make repairs on important things that got ignored.

Not trying to be a naysayer. I would really like to see the awful 90s-ness erased and a cohesive style brought in. But if this goes poorly, it could sour you or kill your confidence and also become expensive.