Just a year ago, I shared our tiny DIY bathroom makeover. It was a bit of a nightmare of a project but we summoned the courage to try it again on our much larger main bathroom! You may have seen me post a few photos on Instagram of the process. My husband took a week off work to complete the project and it shockingly went very well! We of course had a tiny budget, just like last time and we were able to completely gut and renovate the bathroom for just a small fraction of what it would have cost to hire it out. Continue reading for the horrifying before photos and tons of tips
Ok, so lets back up to the beginning of this DIY bathroom journey. This is what the original 1960’s bathroom looked like when we bought our house. Yikes!!
We had been living with it in a slightly better state for the past few years:
Let’s face it, it was just all around bad and we knew the entire thing needed to go. Quite the undertaking and super expensive to get someone else to do it. We were quoted $10,000 for our tiny bathroom, so I don’t even know what this one would have cost.
The first step was to basically gut the entire thing. The tub is in really good condition, so thankfully we were able to salvage that and not have to get a new one. That saved us a bunch of money right there.
We also decided to take out the random half wall next to the toilet. I had the exhaust fan wiring in it, but Reid was able to easily just rewire it into the back wall. This really opened up the space and now it feels so much larger!
Backerboard was put up everywhere that tile would go. Since part of the wall got damaged in the demo process, we decided to save some money and time by putting up bead board instead of tile or drywall.
We used the same subway tile in the tub and floor tile as our master bathroom since we had a few tiles and grout leftover. I love the clean and classic look. If we were ever to sell our house, the tile would go well with someone else’s decor preferences. It’s amazing how just changing out that tile already makes the bathroom feel so much more modern. Also, white subway tile is the absolute cheapest option. It may be more time consuming than buying the walls you can just put up or sheets of fancier tile, but it saves so much money and I actually like it best anyway!
After everything was grouted (is that a word?), it was time for the vanity. We went with this one from Ikea. It was again, the cheapest option but also one of our favorites that we looked it. Simple and modern but will go with most decor styles. We got the sink and faucets at Ikea as well. We wanted it to be floating, but were nervous about the studs not lining up, so we went back and purchased the legs to go on it.
After putting the toilet in and finishing the beadboard and trim, it was finished! Oh yeah, and we painted. I went went sea salt by Sherwin-Williams and it’s perfect. Slightly green/blue/gray but still neutral enough not to be overpowering.
All the details were found on sale at various stores! The artwork was on clearance at Hobby Lobby and I scored the mirrors for just $20 each at Target (SO excited about that).
The towel hooks were another Target clearance find and I just love that they offer a little more character than the expected towel rack.
I was also excited to find wooden soap dispensers also on clearance at Target for $5 each and 2 sets of gray towels at T.J. Maxx for super cheap. Seriously, nothing was bought for full price. I had to go back and forth to tons of stores, but it was worth it to stick to our budget!
We decided to just use the same white shower curtain that we had before. I actually purchased a patterned one from World Market but decided it was too busy.
So there you have it! I will be back to share more tips on how to renovate a bathroom on your own with virtually no previous experience. It can be done and you will save thousands of dollars! Be sure to check out our tiny bathroom project for another amazing transformation!
