Can you post a picture of the bath? We might be able to give you ideas on how to work with the tile. I worked with ugly green ones to create a neat art deco bath.

Our tile popped off with a hammer and a prybar. We were even able to reuse some to repair damage elsewhere. The walls were a little messy, but mostly from the thinset being uneven. I would see if you can remove the tile, then cover the damage with beadboard paneling painted with high quality semi gloss white latex paint. But don't put the wood too near the shower or sink, the water will destroy it, especially with little ones. White subway tile is easier to install then you might think.

Now about those arborvitaes out front.....

A little hard to get a pic of the bath as it is tiny- 3x6- but the attached should give you some idea. The bath has 2 doors, one leading in from the kitchen and the other from the playroom, so it was basically a walk through. And when I say "bath," I mean toilet in a little room. No sink, which means washing your hands in the kitchen sink or not at all. Ewww. I have 2 small children, which makes this even more unacceptable, so I decided to wall off the door to the kitchen, leaving just the one door to the playroom. This allows me to put a small sink where the door to the kitchen was and then install a built in dishwasher on the other side of the wall rather that the roll away one I have been using. Of course it makes the room feel even smaller, but I feel it's worth it as it better meets the needs of my family and I don't feel so bad messing with it since it wasn't original to the house.The outside wall of the bath is a window, so at least there is some light.
The tile ship has sailed...the guy removing the door and closing off the door for me broke some of them in the process, which I took as a sign to make them all go away. They wouldn't have been behind the sink anyway, but would have stopped where the door had been...I went at it with a hammer and pry bar last night and got almost a wall done, but the wall does look rough. I don't know if you can just mud it to get it smooth, or if you'd need to replace the drywall...hence the thought of wainscoting. So you don't think beadboard would be out of character for the house? There is no shower, so that isn't a concern. Was it always painted white, or are other colors an option?
As for the arborvitae, the ink wasn't even dry on the bill of sale before those suckers came down. In December. In Wisconsin. That's how much we wanted them gone. The house looks SO much better without them. I will try to remember to take a pic and post it. :)

We did wainscoting in our bath. I think it is a very classic look. I also ran it behind my sink AND I have two little ones, but I didn't go with the cheap thin paneling and did go with the thick 3/4" wood. I primed it, painted with 2 coats of semi gloss. When I price shopped it, it was minimally more expensive also for a fairly large bath 8 x 10.

The only place I went wrong was not using BIN to prime and had to re-prime and paint again when the knots bled through (live and learn)---- BIN in the red can in case you don't know also ---- should have sealed the knots with BIN, then primed, then painted.

Our house is too old to be trying to go period so I am not worried about fitting the bath to the house or I be putting an outhouse in our backyard, but if you hate the tile, I see nothing wrong with classic wainscotting if done right it has been used throughout many periods of history. There are also many types of wainscotting, we used a wider plank instead of the thinner beadboard (only because I was using some beadboard in my kitchen and didn't want it to be overwhelming beadboard house). Look around Home Depot in their pine pre-cut wood section, you will see a bunch of different profiles.

Since the walls are later drywall there is no particular reason to save them, just pull the drywall down, tiles and all, and replace the walls. It's far easier than futzing with creating a decent surface and then you can finish it however you like. You can spend countless hours trying to save $20 bucks worth of drywall-- life is too short! For an upgrade use blueboard and get someone to skim coat it with plaster to better match the rest of the house.

A little hard to get a pic of the bath as it is tiny- 3x6- but the attached should give you some idea. The bath has 2 doors, one leading in from the kitchen and the other from the playroom, so it was basically a walk through. And when I say "bath," I mean toilet in a little room. No sink, which means washing your hands in the kitchen sink or not at all. Ewww. I have 2 small children, which makes this even more unacceptable, so I decided to wall off the door to the kitchen, leaving just the one door to the playroom. This allows me to put a small sink where the door to the kitchen was and then install a built in dishwasher on the other side of the wall rather that the roll away one I have been using. Of course it makes the room feel even smaller, but I feel it's worth it as it better meets the needs of my family and I don't feel so bad messing with it since it wasn't original to the house.The outside wall of the bath is a window, so at least there is some light.
The tile ship has sailed...the guy removing the door and closing off the door for me broke some of them in the process, which I took as a sign to make them all go away. They wouldn't have been behind the sink anyway, but would have stopped where the door had been...I went at it with a hammer and pry bar last night and got almost a wall done, but the wall does look rough. I don't know if you can just mud it to get it smooth, or if you'd need to replace the drywall...hence the thought of wainscoting. So you don't think beadboard would be out of character for the house? There is no shower, so that isn't a concern. Was it always painted white, or are other colors an option?
As for the arborvitae, the ink wasn't even dry on the bill of sale before those suckers came down. In December. In Wisconsin. That's how much we wanted them gone. The house looks SO much better without them. I will try to remember to take a pic and post it. :)

{{!gwi}}

Kia, my house is 1908 frame foursquare with heavy Greek influences....my first task after removing carpet and tiny pieces of felt pad underneath, was to work on my kitchen and bath. The kitchen had a dropped ceiling, 70s fluorescent lighting and cabinets...it all came out. Now the ceiling is back to original height, with a period fixture, I built the cabinets myself using the original doors found in the garage, and wainscotted the walls to a height of 4'--the base is 1', so the panels are really 3' plus the caprail. All is stained to be a close match to the original finish on my trimwork.

The upstairs bath was next...sand-textured finish on the plaster, so I despaired after trying to sand, and covered it with a thin layer of drywall above, and below is wainscot to the height of the windowsill. It circles the entire room, behind the sink, clawfoot tub and commode--all original. It too is stained, has been up for 20 years with no damage from either the sink or shower. The floor's carpet (from 1968), revealed newspaper, then two layers of hard-board one pink the other grey. Below that was oak flooring, alas too worn to refinish, so I covered it with checkerd black and white vinyl.

So, yes, wainscot is very appropriate...and you DON'T have to settle for a painted finish--stain will work fine with a protective varnish as mine had mixed in.

This post was edited by columbusguy1 on Wed, Jul 24, 13 at 4:18

Thanks, all. Your comments were very helpful. I think I will do the wainscoting. The room is so tiny it won't be too expensive and I think it will add some interest to the room.

Kali- I'm glad yours turned out well and thanks for the reminder not to be tempted by the cheap stuff. I'm sure it would cause nothing but problems. Often not worth it in the long run in terms of time, frustration, and finished look...

rwiegand- I will talk to the wall guy about the option of just replacing them instead.

Columbusguy- Thanks for the pics. Your house looks beautiful.It's always the kitchen and bath that are awful, huh? It's the same here. The house was owned by an older woman who was born here 90 years ago, so she hadn't messed with the woodwork or floors in the rest of the house (thank goodness!), but the kitchen and baths were "improved" in the 50's and 60's. I'm super impressed you built your cabinets. I have no such skill. I've included a pic of our kitchen when we bought the house in December. Since then we have ripped up the hideous olive green linoleum and refinished the maple hardwood floor below and I stripped the wallpaper and painted. I can't afford new cabinets and these are solid wood, but the finish has a lot of damage from years of water and sun. I plan to gel stain them when I have the time. I did this in with the vanity in the upstairs bath and it turned out pretty well. The maple floors extended into the bath I'm current working on off the kitchen, so even uglier flooring came out of there. The floor has nail holes, some water damage around the toilet, etc., but I'm choosing to call that character. :)

1/2" vertical cellular PVC beadboard with a horizontal bullnose cap is a good choice. Azek is one brand but there are others.

Here is a link that might be useful: Azek beadboard paneling

Kia, you are so right that kitchens and baths receive the most drastic changes...which is a real shame. So many people think that a kitchen only works if it has every fad currently on the market like granite counters, stainless appliances and can lights. Ditto baths...my house has never had a shower until I put in an attachment to the faucet to convert the tub...I am seriously considering getting a new tub faucet with a hand-held shower attachment, that way I can just dispense with the hose which connects my current arrangement to the old faucet. :)

Regarding the kitchen, I am lucky to have my original pantry with a china cupboard, two lower cabinets and a flour/sugar bin...and three large upper cabinets over a cast iron sink. Building my cabinets in the kitchen was dead easy: you basically build a frame of 2x4s, sheath it with wood, accounting for the door openings and set it in place. I based all my measurements on the doors found in the garage, allowing about 2 inches above and below, and about 6" between the two doors and at either end to fit the cast iron double bowl sink I found by a dumpster! Besides this, I have an upper cabinet at one end of the sink, a bank of drawers at the other upper end, and two cabinets to the left of the chimney next to the stove, which used to be wasted space. That gave me five cabinets in the kitchen, with one door left over which I used for a medicine cabinet in the upstairs bath!

Total cost for the kitchen: probably about $200 for stain, wood and hardware (latches with porcelain slide knobs). The bath was about the same, the biggest expense being the wainscotting and vinyl flooring. All the labor was mine.