Sounds like a very stressful situation! If there is absolutely no way the builder will allow you to change things (even if they did, I imagine they would ask you to foot the entire bill of pulling the tiles down and replacing all water proofing in addition to new tiles), I can make a few suggestions for improvement. Firstly I would suggest replacing the tiles above the vanity with a white mosaic, a patterned or a textured feature tile/strip. You could also use this same tile to replace the vertical feature in the shower. There are some beautiful shapes and sizes available to choose from. Secondly I would address the grout situation in this way: Floor - dark colour grout & Walls - Light colour grout. Lastly if it does not prove too difficult or expensive, maybe replace the tiles below the vanity with a plain white tile (could be similar size). Good luck and I am sure once you have a lovely mirror up and some crisp white towels, it will look just wonderful.

Yes I agree not to paint or add an faux type treatments as over time they will deteriorate and the bathroom will look tacky. My suggestion would be to hang two large rectangular framed photos. Use a light gold colour for the frame and almost silver looking one but you can just see the gold. Keep the framed photos light and classical, not to busy. On the vanity add a tray the same colour as the photo framed or with a mirrored look. Use white fluffy towels and a Scandinavian style light colour timber towel rack. Possibly a gold colour pot containing a leafy green plant. My

My bathroom, powder room and laundry are all 80's and are salmon pink with exact same bath and cabinet as yours. I have been wanting to update since moving in and don't know where to start either. I got a quote from those transformation places that paint the baths/basins and cabinetry for $2800, but thought that amount of money could go to a proper renovation as the bathtub is so shallow. As I haven't had the money or made up my mind, it was good to see people's suggestions. I added black accessories in the powder room and was going to paint the tiles and cabinet black with a white vanity top to tie it together, however, the toilet and floor tiles are still the salmon colour!

the narrowest walking space would be about 60cms (and there won't be a lot of traffic in the space and with 3800 (not 3400) the ens doorway can be pushed towards the front of the house, not centred and makes more standing room in front of the shower and easier access from the bedroom to the ens but also depends on the distance from the new wall to the side of the bay opening and that was probably centred when the house was built and before the wardrobe was installed so you need to carefully measure the room again... we now have three different widths for the room and the hall is shown as metres wide!!...is the master bedroom 3400 or 3800 or 4460 wide (ignoring the bay window) and what is the length of the whole room (ignoring the wardrobe) and what is the depth of the wardrobe from the outside and also measure from the outside of the architrave around the bedroom door to the front of the wardrobe ..could you gain some space by moving the bedroom door closer to the wardrobe and/or hinging the door to open towards the wardrobe to feel less cramped? ...we can make lots of suggestions but need to start with precise information about what you already have and based on new information and the size of an average king sized bed and the wider room my suggestion would be to place the bed in the centre of the room, lined up with the centre of the bay window and then measure how much space is available on either side for the ens and for wardrobe and bedroom door and you'll probably find that even if the bedroom door is moved there would probably be about 60-70cms between the bed and the new wall and minimal space between the bed and the door on the other side so try losing big bedside tables and use hanging lamps and mismatched side table or shelves ( a cut down stool makes a tiny side table) and keep in mind that, unless you remove the whole chimney (big job but will supply a huge number of bricks if you need some paving) the thickness of the brick walls will decide how much space is available in the chimney alcove for the vanity so measure inside the chimney not outside wall spaces but, despite limitations imo the ens is well worth the effort, cost for the improved resale value and quality of family life.. but, why not move the bed and add something to create a barrier to represent the proposed ens wall and see how it feels as something like this could work but depends on accurate measurements