I know I’m not the only one that dives head first into something without weighing all the possible situations. This is one of those times. We’re working on getting all the areas of our house updated so that we can possibly sell it sometime this year. One of the areas that needs lots of love is our bathrooms.
They’re still rocking the original beige paint and blah tile. So this weekend we dove head first into updating it. We demo’ed and installed new tile and primed everything, only to step back and see this.
Do you see what I see? The tub and surround are NOT white. SON OF A!!! NOOOOOOO!
We’re not ripping out the tub. This is a budget update and the thing has to stay. That being said, what in the crap are we supposed to do!? I’m not sure if its yellowed over time or if it was actually that color to begin with.
There are lots of concoctions that came up on Google, and obviously I haven’t tried cleaning it yet, but I thought I would ask the brilliant people in my life (that would be you guys!) if they’ve ever had this situation come up? How do you de-yellowize a bathtub? I for sure don’t want to paint it because I feel like long term, its not a solution. And its not horrible enough to inflict a peeling bathtub on someone if the paint doesn’t hold up.
Am I overreacting?
The plan was to paint everything white, but I’m thinking that might not be the best solution now. Hmmmmmmm.
What would you do?
Hang a really long shower curtain that effectively blocks the view of the tub and tile if you aren’t actually showering?
Long shower curtain, colorful art work . Basically disguise, distract, and divert attention
This happened to my mom except her tile turned out to be secretly peach. She painted the walls olive green and it somehow made everything work.
For yours, the contrast isn’t really enough that you need to abandon the white plan. Once there’s more contrast in there, the white/cream will get closer together on the light end of the spectrum. You could try dark grout in the shower to up the contrast, plus white and cream textiles to make the tub part feel more intentional.
The dark grout is great idea!
It’s not that bad in the photo! If it’s really unbearable in person, then paint the walls. Maybe a softer white? Or black? I wouldn’t mess with changing the tub surface. Let the next owners deal with it 🙂
I’d do a really light gray. It will help keep everything light but it will provide just a bit of contrast for your tub and tile, so it looks lighter. Good luck!
Try those daylight LED bulbs that Thrifty Decor talked about in a recent post, it really seemed to help her situation.
Definitely leave the tub and tile alone. It’s not bad at all, it just doesn’t work with stark white. We have different styles, but if it were me, I would go with a warm greige on the walls and add that bright white in smaller doses (accessories, Roman shade, etc.) instead of making it a major player. I think that color palette would look pretty with olive and blush, too!
Do not change the tub surround in anyway. Get a really long shower curtain so you can’t see tub when curtain is closed. Do not paint the walls white or any cool toned color (like a cool gray) as it will accentuate the warmness of the yellowish tub. The gray tile isn’t doing you any favors for this issue but you can disguise that with an area rug. You got this!
If you want to look into fixing it…There are companies that resurface fiberglas fixtures. We had a MAJOR crack in ours with a bad patching job done by my husband, plus a broken towel bar. I think we paid $200 to have it fixed before we put our house on the market, and it only took about an hour. Much better than replacing the unit (which I’m not sure we could have gotten through doors). That said, the whole tub/shower unit was discolored from heavy use over 20 years–kind of yellowish like yours–and I just kept the shower curtain closed all the way for showings. I don’t think ANYONE ever pulled it back to look. You might try finding a company that does this to see if they have any ideas about your problem. They may even suggest something you could buy and do it yourself.
I used Rustoleum Tub & tile refinishing kit to paint the awful beige and pink speckled tile in our bathroom and it worked wonders! I refinished the tile about 4 years ago and its still holding up just as good as the day I painted it. The fumes are strong so beware, but it’s a way better option than regular paint. I haven’t personally used it on our bathtub or surround, but a coworker used it to refinish hers after she saw my simple tile refab and she said it worked great! Worth a shot since its only about $25!
I think you just need a different paint color that bridges the gap between the new floor tile and the tub surround. I think a warmer gray might work, but a color (maybe a very pale robin’s egg blue) could also work. Textiles and lighting will even out the rest, as others have said.
Paint the walls a soft grey! Or very pale grey blue! Something that balances out the warmness in the surround but the overall effect makes the tub combo look whiter. Then, get a super long shower curtain that has a pattern, so the white of that textile doesn’t derail your hard work.
We hired out to remodel 3 bathrooms. The one most used is where we made this mistake. I chose a “white” Kohler tub and some bright white large tile (12×18) tile for the surround. The problem? The tile is a cool “ice” white and Kohler’s white is more of a gray/yellow/porcelain white, which makes it look yellow. Our solution? keep the curtain closed, because no way in hell am I spending more money to redo tile.
Anyhow, if the tub/tile at least basically match each other, then I’d just choose “warm” whites/grays for the bath rather than cool ones. It’ll be less noticible in the room if it’s all warm white vs mix of warm/cool.
I’ve noticed (after the fact) Kohler and Am. Std whites seem to be “warm” and Toto and some other brands are cool/pure white.
I’m so glad you’re not considering painting. I followed another great DIY blog’s instructions for painting bathroom tile (Kilz primer, glossy oil-based paint top coats with ample cure time), and it looked awesome for a couple months, and then started peeling horribly. The other blog painted the bathtub surround tile in a guest bath, which presumably go much less use than my bathroom, so that might explain why it held up better for her than for me. I ultimately had to pay a painter to use Cintrastrip and at LOT of elbow grease to remove all the peeling paint. Even if you use the epoxy tile paint, that only lasts 3-5 years before it starts peeling, so while it’s a longer term fix, it’s still only temporary.
I agree, with other comments, try a cool color for the wall, like a nice grey, so that against a grey the cream would read more like white than it will against a true white.
I did use Home Depot’s Henry concrete (per your suggestion!) to refinish my vanity’s top and used Annie Sloan chalk paint to paint the base white and that project turned out great! I just used a matte cement sealer and the concrete darkens when wet and it has had some minor staining over the past two years, but in my opinion the patina looks good, it doesn’t look damaged. I get compliments on it all the time!
I have no experience with this, but on an episode of Flip or Flop, Tarik breezed over his similar situation with a nod to his contractor, saying “Epoxy”? And the contractor nodded back.
Hmm, yes I see it too…
If this is an option, you totally could paint the tub and tiles too.
There are so many beautiful paint colors out there.
Or you paint the walls a different color and leave the tiles white and hang a long shower curtain…
But I painted my moms tub too and now she is perfectly happy with her grey tub. 😉
I think what you have done so far looks great. Once the bathroom is finished, this will not even be on the radar. I could hang a very tall curtain, it looks great and will cover up any of that yellow(ish) color. I bet that the tub color can be corrected with a nice scrubbing of baking soda paste.
This should not deter you from your path. It looks AHHHMAZING ♥
You can buy a great tub refinishing kit in white for around $40. I did it on my apartment bathtub and it worked wonderfully!
Just like some suggested I would have it re laminated. Mine is crisp white. The DIY paint kit that you can get is crap, the paint never fully dried in mine. The profesional work was quite affordable for the results.
Going with a slightly warmer white than your usual should help it blend in, and keeping the shower curtain closed.
I am so glad you’re redoing your bathroom!! We just painted ours white and I’ve been wanting to do a Mandi inspired thing with lots of hanging plants… Can’t wait to see what you do!
You could always paint the tub with Rustoleum tub and tile paint. I just used it recently and was super impressed with the result 🙂
I’d probably just nix the idea of painting it white, white. I’d pick a warmer white that’s closer to the tub “white” or a light gray or other color all together, leaving only the white of the tub. If there’s nothing whiter than the tub, the tub shouldn’t look as yellowed. Good Luck! 🙂
We paid like $100 to have our tub and surround resurfaced. It was totally worth it and looked BRAND SPANKING NEW! I would highly recommend it! We used Tub Doctor in Utah. Good luck!
Why don’t you use a fabric for the shower curtain that uses the grey and cream?
Something like this?
https://www.fabric.com/buy/0406984/orbit-metallic-large-circle-dot-silver-cream
$6.59/yard and 13 yards in stock
Put up a shower curtain! There is a tun resurfacing kit (prob similar to paint) that can work but is super fumy and requires masks and gloves….out tub shower is alsooff white and I didnt realize it until we redid the bathroom and painted trim white and bouggt a white shower curtain. Super annoying!
I think you just have the wrong shade of white paint, which sadly means repainting. I’d go for a colormatch to your tile, or a soft blue or green – or go wild with a bold color. It will be amazing how white the tile and tub will look next to a different color.
Hon, have you thought about walking into your bedroom, turning out the lights and closing the curtains, and taking a nice long nap? Works for me every time… Get a shower curtain that matches the white and the color of the tub. It’ll make it look like it was done on purpose.
Could you put wood on the front side of the tub? Perhaps even reclaimed gray boards? Or, even faux decorative stones? This would make a more spa-like feature having a ledge for candles.
Martha Stewart used to mix all sorts of whites together. Drove me crazy. You can get the surround and the tub re-porcelainized, (this really works!), replace the sink with a whiter one, or you can take advantage of the mistake. Paint the vanity one of the white colors. Get a shower curtain in all shades of white and cream. Do not try to hide this. People might figure it out and it might backfire. Pick all shades of white and cream towels to hang. Add some white chippy wood stuff. You can do it! Looking forward to a fresh canvas for you to decorate.
I agree with the light gray! Will still look updated & clean lines. Longer neutral shower curtain(target good choices) & artwork.
A nice plant and new towels & u will be good to go. Bar Keepers Friend really good cleaner. My sink has never looked better along with bathroom shower. Check to see if u can use on your tub. Paint & new towels make a world of difference. Less is more$$
I think perhaps a great wallpaper would take away from the yellow-ness of the tub… or try a warmer white paint if white is really where you wanted to be. Anything you do always turns out great! I can’t wait to see what you decide!
I actually like that it is slightly different. It gives it a subtle contrast, and makes it not so overwhelmingly white. Plus it’s a nice even color, so it doesn’t look dingy. It looks like it’s supposed to be that way! And really, by the time you get everything else in you won’t even notice. Especially when there isn’t sunlight shining in.
I just can’t imagine that so many people are up for painting the tub instead of the walls!! So much easier to do walls, and no possibility of peeling ickiness down the road. It’s worth it to get a white paint that’s closer to the tub color. My sister-in-law had this same problem, and it is VERY apparent – no hiding it.
Swiss Coffee.
I would paint the walls to make it read white and not bring in any true white elements that would show it’s truly off white.
Do a tub and surround liner! Something like bath fitter, or a comparable.
When we moved in to our house they had painted the kitchen cabinets and all the molding in the house an off white color…way to warm for white paint to be on our walls. I wanted it to be bright since we don’t have a lot of natural light coming in. I went with a very very light grey. It gives the clean light look I was looking for but makes the off white seem more white instead of highlighting the creaminess.
I’d pick a nice, light warm grey and carry on.
We have the same problem but the tub is much darker yellow and the shower boasts a yellow faux marble surround – truly incredible… We can’t do anything about it in the short-term and everything else in the bathroom is white (board and batten, vanity, toilet) so we put up a white shower curtain and mounted it just a smidge above and outside of the shower surround. It’s long enough to cover the entire tub and you’d never know there was some thing ugly behind it.
Also, we have a very light grey/blue (BM Stonington Gray) on the walls and it really helped tone down the yellow too.
This happened in my old condo. My dad builds home and is also a fisherman so he came up with a funny (but successful) way to solve it. We cleaned the tub really well, used an electric buffer to polish the tub with a light abrasive, then we used a gelcoat (made for the fiberglass sides of boats) to give it a great, glossy sheen. Don’t put the gelcoat on the bottom of the tub – it might make it slippery. The glossy finish will reflect more light and emphasize the whiteness once it’s all done 🙂
Couple ideas
1. Get a warmer white than you anticipated it might blend it enough to make it look pure white.
2. It looks like the new tile you installed has some grey in it. Perhaps a pale grey paint that compliments the tile would be another option. If that window has a ledge add some cute mini plants and it won’t be as noticeable if the plants hang and break up where the bath tub tile and wall meet.
3. This photo is take when daylight looks to be at its brightest. The daylight is hitting more of the walls than the tub tile combo. That might also be making it look more worse that it is? How does it look when the bathroom lights are on and not natrual light? Does that make a difference? Show the house with the lights on in the bathroom. It will help disguise the slight color variance. I think with all the tips and shower curtain added most people won’t even notice the slight color difference. Probably worse since you know how different it is.
You know what, it couldn’t hurt to have someone come in and give a quote for reglazing the tub and surround. Since it’s for resale, it’s worth it. Professional job, not DIY this time, since all the DIY kits have a limited time that they last.
I love the idea of reclaimed wood on the front of the tub–you might even use something like Stick Wood, then you could use a warm darker gray for the walls
I wouldn’t touch the tub. Benjamin moore’s gray owl has been my go to in many of our renos and may be a good blend between the tub and the floor tile. I would also find some fabric with beige, grays and then some bright colours for an outside shower curtain.
If you’re set on a white paint, I would go with a soft white so the contrast is not so harsh. I used Benjamin Moore White Dove on my kitchen cabinets, and wanted it to look white but didn’t want it to make my almond/off white appliances look even more off white. I’m pretty happy with the results. You can see it here: https://allthingswithpurpose.com/2016/02/my-fixer-upper-inspired-kitchen-reveal/
But why are you even asking?? Everything you do turns out amazing!! Good luck! <3
-Sarah
I agree with the others about getting a long shower curtain and distracting with colorful art, etc. I definitely wouldn’t paint the walls gray tho as others have mentioned. I tend to think grays actually bring out undertones in whites, and it would make the yellow seem yellowier. So basically the same situation you’re in now, except the walls would be gray and not white. I don’t think I’d do a warmer white either cause then your cool white floors will be the odd man out instead of the shower. I really love the idea someone had of painting the walls black! Or…easy way out – long shower curtain and leave it as is!
If you want to try cleaning just to make sure it’s not yellow from being dirty, we cleaned our shower surround with oven cleaner. We sprayed it on and left it sit for a while and it worked soooo well. We used Easy-Off Fume Free oven cleaner (blue can!! Not yellow!)
Oh no!!! I don’t have any de-yellowing tip unfortunately. My suggestion is to maybe raise the shower curtain hanger up and do an extra long shower curtain that reaches the floor like YHL have done in their bathrooms. That way you aren’t taking on any major tub makeovers buuuuut you can still get the look you want.
What about tiling the front of the tub with that air stone tile?
I’d change the wall color. Do a grayish denim blue or something, to make the light tile and off-white tub play nice. I have a lot of competing yellow, beige, and white tones in my bathroom so I used a statement wall color (jungle green, Behr’s “arboretum”) to make them jive.
Maybe there’s away to tile the wall surround with soft multicolors pull the ‘yellow’ of the tub and the white from the rest of the room together with something ( include grays or maybe something pastel combo)
Possibly small tiles instead of lage so the eye can’t see the color difference but a blending of complimentary colors.
If it really bugs you, have it resurfaced – someone else commented this as well. Not very expensive for a brand new look.
Otherwise – shower curtain to the rescue! 😉
Don’t fret, it will all work out. I don’t have time to read all of the comments right now, but just a friendly reminder that there are over 100 shades of white, so you can say it’s white. 🙂 You are so talented, you got this!
If it really bothers you, you should pay a professional to reglaze both the tub and tile. It’s not cheap, but it’s less expensive than all new. Most companies guarantee their work for a substantial number of years – so you won’t have ‘peeling paint’ as you said. We had our vintage clawfoot tub reglazed and it looks brand new.
If the tub has yellowed with rust, Barkeepers will bring that right back to new! We have the highest iron counts in the country for our (well) water and Barkeepers is the only thing that will clean it.
A cute shower curtain that is always closed. Just keep it hidden.
I’ve done that before! I painted the bathroom white, only to discover that every fixture was a noticeably different shade of white! Go with a color on the wall. Not white or beige. Once you do that and hang a shower curtain, the overwhelming whiteness won’t force you to notice the different shades of white.
You pick the exact (off-) white of the tiles!! Match the paint to whichever white it’s going to be touching -it may take several testers to find the perfect white but it will read whiter once the entire room is done and Choose the color that leans toward the whiter spectrum not the warmth of the tile. You can cheat it ever so slightly because the The average person will not distinguish the difference only people like you and I i!! f you’re worried get it exactly color matched or put a thin break of skinny gray tile that matches your floor between the wall tile and the paint color and the slight 1″ away Will be enough to separate the two colors but make them read as one…worked for me several times… If your floor tile cuts well i would cut long thin strips to outline the whte. Tile, or a similar grey edge tile…Hopefully your sink and toilet are within range!
P.s. there are some beautiful warm whites that should work! If it is actually a finish problem w aging Oxyclean works well on tubs But if the tile & the tub are still shiny there’s no fix with cleaning -bleach has worked for me on older types but that just seems to be the color that was chosen… I would deal with the color instead. Good luck!
Oh goodness…it’s not that bad lol!!! Just hang the rod out from the surround and it will be hidden. Plenty of us do this ??
I think gray and cream are a beautiful combination. I would treat the tub as cream and proceed from there.
Dang! I think I would look into epoxy paint. Or maybe try to incorporate an antique white into your design/color scheme.
Shower curtain! And maybe mix in some other tones in towels or something?
You can totally resurface it, but sometimes the cost of doing that is way more expensive than just replacing it with a whole new tub and surround from Home Depot. I don’t think it looks that bad, but I know you love white! I think it really just depends on the wall color you choose too.
I’m thinking that your tub was that color to begin with, sometimes it’s really hard to discern between different shades of white. As you said, this is a budget makeover, so make the best of what you have. I think sometimes if you try to do too much “fixing” on something , it only makes a bad situation worse. If you get a really cool extra long shower curtain, maybe a great rug in front of the sink, a great (nexpensive) piece of wall art and a couple of bright accessories, the only person who will ever know there is a color difference is you. All of the other fun stuff you do in the bathroom will not allow a person’s eye to rest any place too long, so they won’t notice. Good Luck anf Have Fun!
If you don’t to/can’t refinish it (I know some tubs aren’t made of the stuff you can do that with) I’d work around it with the paint colors… of course, in my house we are doing very budget makeovers with our bathrooms/kitchen so I am ALL about working with what I have right now. If you can’t use white, maybe get creative with using a more fun paint color for trim… something that pairs nicely with linen/cream/ivory colors? I have been really wanting to use a blush/coral color (very light) on door or window trim lately, and just haven’t been able to work up the courage!
https://danielleandco.com/blog/2016/design-around-bold-sheets
I would paint the room sea salt and try to find a shower curtain/rug that incorporates whites/greys/creams/mints. Then it would all work fine! 🙂
I’d re-paint walls a darker, warm grey/greige and add a long shower curtain. Good, natural (non-yellowy) light bulbs too. Would try to avoid anything with blue undertones since it will bring out the orange of the tile.
Being a budget upgrade, I’d just choose a paint color that would make it look white (just like with the original beige it looked deceptively white!). I think that going gray and then using wood touches and plants for warmth and texture could be a nice solution. Maybe you could even color match to the same off-white some other piece in the bathroom.
The dark grout that others are suggesting looks like a great solution to me, too.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
I have a beige tub that’s an insert. Its not in my budget to replace it. I painted the walls a soft blue-ish gray, and got an extra long white shower curtain. It works out as a gray-blue/cream/white color scheme in the bathroom and actually *almost* feels spa-like. It’s workable!!!
I would NEVER change the tub color when the wall color could so easily be changed. I would not want the expense or the possibility of surface flaws that might occur with resurfacing the tub. If it is the floor, how about a faux stone front on the tub? Or maybe add some reclaimed wood wainscoting which would tie the warm and cool tones together. Honestly, like everyone else, I think a shower curtain and a bath mat will work wonders.
Oh no! I totally get your panic. Obviously a good scrub down would be the best place to start. But it is totally not worth ripping out. I think if you paint the walls a cooler tone (Silver City by Behr is my go-to bathroom color – it is just perfect and bright and makes your skin look better…just saying) and stick with a cooler color theme, you can totally pull it all together and no one will spot the off-coloring. BTW – Target has an amazing blue ombre shower curtain I am drooling over but totally don’t need. It would look bomb in this space.
Mimi
https://thisdomesticateddiva.com
I totally understand your concern with the sell-ability of your home! I sold my house about 6 months ago and I spend a good six months bringing it up to what I thought was “sellable”. But as people looked at the house, I realized they didn’t give a crap about all the hard work I put into my house to make it cute. They were looking at the basic floor plan of the house and all the rest, like ugly countertops, paint, etc, they just saw as “easy fixes”. So if I were you, I’d get a shower curtain, area rug, and cute decor (stuff you can take with you when you move) to distract from the tub color. That way you won’t be investing a lot of time/money in someone else’s house that they’ll probably change once they move in. Love ya! 🙂
I’d match a white paint to the tub & tiles and paint the whole room the same colour so that it’s all the same shade of yellowish white, then put some nice bright lighting in there and with a few colourful accents you’ll never know that its not as white as you’d hoped. 🙂
You’re selling, so don’t stress. it’ll still look great.
Girl, I’m having the same situation in my new (to me) house. I painted my main bath BM Super White and tiled the walls with white subway and the tub and surround look yellowy. For now, I just hung my black & white striped shower curtain higher and pretend like it’s not there. I may look into getting it reglazed by a pro at some point but for now, living in denial is suiting me just fine. I would just paint the walls the white you want and then list it. Let the new homeowners deal with it.
Professional tub refinished….or a pretty shower curtain.
Do NOT paint the tub. You will guarantee a bathroom remodel for the next owner in a few years. Once tile has been painted, you can’t just repaint over it. We lived in a house that the vintage tile had been painted. It started to peel and we ended up having to rip out the half tiled walls and fix it.
I’m surprised you’re even updating it! It’s totally fine! The next person will get to choose what they want 🙂 I agree with the rest of the commenters that just using a warm white or a warm gray would be lovely and preserve your initial plan. On a bolder note, a bright, warm red could be great. You could just paint the bottom half of the wall so that it doesn’t feel so overwhelming (it is a small room). That cream will look way whiter next to a bright red.
The primer usually has a bit of a blue tint, so it’s making the tub seem more yellow. When you choose your paint choose something slightly warm (check the formula to make sure there is a little bit of deep gold). The slight warmth of the paint (even a warmer blue or green) will take the edge off of the yellowing of the tub. Good luck! In my situation, my “white” tile turned out to be “pink”. take comfort in the fact that 99% of buyers don’t notice undertones =)
Mandy, I’ve always LOVED VR but the ads are out of control. It makes the page load so slow and the videos/gifs in the middle of your posts are so disruptive. It makes me not want to visit your site 🙁
Here’s what I would do. Relax and paint the walls a warm neutral darker than the tub surround. If you plan to replace the vanity, choose your paint last. You can pull everything together with the right paint and artwork.
Personally, I love the contrast of warm and cool tones together! It hasn’t been long enough for the ’80s “matchy matchy” to be cool again, anyway.
What you lost when you replaced the floor tiles was the value contrast. You need a new focal point.
If you regrout the tub tile with gray, you will create a strong grid pattern there. Busy texture equals focal point. Maybe artwork would be a better idea.
Right now, you could get away with almost any decorating scheme:
Pale wood and marble vanity with pastel florals and Victorian rosy cheeked children, sepia prints, or a sunfaded beach theme.
Chrome, glass, warm charcoal, navy, touches of vermillion red. B&W architectural prints, NYC skylines, or old movie stars.
If you keep the existing vanity, you could play with Zen garden inspired accessories like bamboo, river polished stones, sand, bronze, copper.
So, I know this is over a month old, but I’m going to go ahead and throw in my two cents. I did not read through every comment. It’s possible this has already been said.
I say, if you want white, do whiteS. I think you have two really good options here if you are able to be OK with a small shift in your white choices.
1) Go with the “problem” color by painting the walls to match the tub and surround color. It appeared white before because of the contrasting wall color. One way to create that same appearance, but maintain a whiter shades is to go with the same color throughout. You could also paint a contrasting small outline border (using color or a different sheen) where the wall meets the surround to lessen any small color difference.
OR
2) Mix your whites with subtle or obvious differences in shades and/or sheens. I like to do this with an uber-subtle ombre mix. The flooring which appears pale greyish-white, and the surround color which seems much warmer – at least on my screen…. I would search for a white or whites between the two. I think perhaps a candlelight white might work.
Barring those, and knowing how I deal with these types of uh-ohs, I would likely throw out the entire white idea and go greige.
Whatever you decide (or have decided), I’m sure it will look amazing! Best wishes on finding your perfect solution!
I am going with white tile and white tub…The Toto color chip looks off, so I decided to do a search on a different tub, say Kohler. I can’t believe how many people are having issues that the white on white are totally off. Contrast. Doesn’t blend.
With all the pictures on the interest showing how nice a white on white bathroom is, I am surprised on how they did that. Maybe photoshopped to fool the eye.
Anyway, You tile and tub looks slightly off white, not bright white like your walls.
I would paint the walls a light gray to match the tile floor. ..Curtains to me makes a small space smaller. Oh by the way, I had my tub and wall tiles painted. BIG MISTAKE. Cost me $6,000.. Only to hate it… I had to have a TOTAL Remodel done, Ouch! Learned my lesson.
I am thinking of bordering the tub with grey mosaic tile to break up where the tub meets the wall tile. Could you have a tiler come in and do that for you?