Budget Bathroom Redo

Sufferers of renovationism do tend to get carried away with spending money on their projects. We were determined to be more budget conscious as we needed to redo every room in our house. Besides, frugal is the new black! The upstairs hall bath was the full bath that guests would use, particularly those that were staying in overnight. Plus, we knew we had a big renovation in the master bath coming up and wanted to ensure that we had a full bath to use during that project.

So, here is what we started with:

This is the real estate listing photo. The tub is to the left of the window. There is a linen closet to the right of the vanity.

In order to be frugal, we'd have to avoid tearing out the tub, the tile around the tub, the tile on the floor, and the toilet. It wasn't too bad, beige tile and off-white tub and toilet we could live with.

The wallpaper, vanity, sink, mirror, and light fixtures had to be addressed.

After stripping the wallpaper--one of the rooms where it did come off easily, we found suitable vanity and countertop with a sink in it at The Home Depot. In fact, they were running a special where you could get more of a discount if you bought more. Works for me. We bought the vanity for this room as well as the one in the powder room downstairs along with the mirror, and both faucet fixures all at once to get the maximum discount. We have a two car garage that has served nicely as a staging area for our projects. We hope to again park the cars in there soon. You know, it snows here.

Here is where we ended up on this project. We continued the crown molding and baseboard trim work in here and replaced the doors with the same six-panel doors we have used throughout the house.

We replaced the ceiling fixture with one that is also a vent fan. The shower curtain is a custom drapery with grommet top. That little splurge in an otherwise very cost conscious remodel gives the room character and color.

We also added this vanity light. There was not a vanity light fixture in here before.

With the proper paint and accessories, the existing toilet and floor looks great in here.

New doors and hardware complete the look.

Another feature we added to this bath was an air conditioning vent. We replaced the upstairs air system which allowed us to add vents in rooms that did not have them as well as add return air vents in all the upstairs bedrooms. This allows the system to run better.

We've been using this bathroom for three months as we did the renovation on the master suite. Aside from being a bit snug for two adults to use on a daily basis, we found it very comfortable and attractive. We know our guests will enjoy it.

My next post will be about the living room. It still lacks accessorizing, but the construction and furnishings are complete.