It has finally happened. We have finished our FINAL BATHROOM. For those of you who are new here, my husband and I have spent the last year and a half renovating our entire home. Our final bathroom was a labor of love. It was our last BIG thing. We had been traveling. It was the holiday season. So, so busy. Because of all of this, it took a little longer than we had planned. But it has finally happened. Below you can see the before and after photos.
The topic of this post is how to renovate on a budget. Let me start off by saying, I am so fortunate that my husband (Andrew) is super handy. If we weren't doing this together, I would have had to hire professionals to complete this job. Please consult with or use a professional if you are not confident in your abilities to complete certain jobs. Know your limits. We had to do some rewiring of electrical and some plumbing. Thanks to my husband and Youtube, we did it!
We were able to renovate this bathroom for under $2000. Yes. UNDER $2000. Keep in mind some of these tips if you decide to take on a bathroom reno and I'm sure it'll help the wallet! The fixtures were all new from Lowes or Home Depot. We waited for some sales and utilized our Military Discount. ALSO - we had the majority of the tools already to complete the job. So that you are not going out and buying brand new tools, keep in mind that Home Depot has some locations that allow you to borrow tools for a fraction of the cost of buying new.
The original bathroom had TERRIBLE tile half way up the walls, the shower, and floors. It was so satisfying chipping away at that brown and green tile. I highly recommend this for stress relief. Because they used a tile glue, the walls were pretty ruined once we took down the tile. We replaced some of the drywall. But we also got creative and made the ship lap look to cover the uneven walls.
The walls. We made the fake ship lap using PVC. This is ideal for bathrooms. It can handle moisture and is easy to wipe down in the event something gets spilled or...peed on (Thanks Uncle Mark for the tip. Little boys using the bathroom... not always easy to clean). The PVC comes in big sheets and Andrew spliced them to make it look like panels. Andrew shaped the top piece for molding. I had some fun with the brad gun and BOOM- the walls look great.
The tile. We bought ALL OF OUR TILE for less than $200. Home improvement stores tend to put out products in the center aisle for a discounted price. Guess what? Everything is negotiable. We bought the shower tile for 30 cents per piece (normally $2.50). We bought our floor tile for 15 cents per piece. We asked to speak to the manager to see the best price they could give us if we bought all of the inventory. One thing to consider. Make sure you buy enough to have a few extra pieces. Typically if the product is on sale, they are getting rid of it or it is no longer in production. So if you buy just enough, and make a mistake, you might have a hard time finding it elsewhere.
The bathtub. The new tile looked AMAZING compared to the old Avocado colored square tile. However, the tub was still that avocado green color. The tub was perfectly good and functional, except for the color. We decided to paint and seal the tub, rather than replace it. Ours is heavy and would have been a pain to remove. We bought a tub reglazing kit at Lowes for $50 and within 48 hours, we had a lovely white tub to match our shiny and new walls.
**SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND. We will not be using this tub as a primary shower. It is in what we consider our powder room. Although the tub looks great and is sealed, it can't hold up to scratches and rough use. We used to wash our dogs in this tub. We no longer do in efforts to try and avoid nail scratches. But if you plan on being careful and not dropping anything heavy/sharp (or wash your pups), this could be a great and affordable option for you.
I hope this was useful information for ya'll. Happy renovating! Check out the before and after photos below. We love it and hope that you do too!
Before:
After: