With the new baby arriving in March, I’ve set a Spring deadline for the upstairs of the house to be finished. Which means I’m starting to plan the kids bathroom update. I’m thinking next month will be a good time to get going.
Our last house had one bathroom on the main floor (and one in the basement, which doesn’t really count, because no one wants to run down to the basement every morning to take a shower), so when we renovated that bathroom, it had to be perfect. We moved a wall to add a much needed 30″ of space to the width, so we wouldn’t have to stand in the tub when brushing our teeth.
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The previous owner had covered the shower and tub with a bath fitter rather than having it reglazed, so the tub wasn’t salvageable and had to be replaced. The entire renovation was around $10K (thank God for that first time home-buyers tax credit) because we had to gut the entire thing and hire a contractor. For a house that really only had one bathroom, a gut renovation was necessary and paid for itself in the end.
Our new house has three and a half baths, though, so we don’t have to worry about prospective buyers walking in and immediately worrying about the day their entire family has a stomach virus. We just need to get the bathrooms updated, so their first reaction isn’t “Ugh”.
This was the bathroom before we moved in:
I’ve already painted and replaced the 90’s mirror:
The vanity is bulky and dated. I’m probably going to replace is with one from Ikea. Home Depot and Lowe’s have inexpensive vanities that look nice, but the reviews I’ve read so far aren’t great. The last thing I want to do is replace a vanity only to have the veneer chipping a year later. This is what I have in mind:
Modern Bathroom by Louisville Architects & Designers Rock Paper Hammer
I priced it out and the Ikea vanity and top come to a budget friendly $350. Here’s another example:
Modern Bathroom by Calgary Design-Build Firms Copper Brook Homes
Every time I look at the floors in Grant’s bathroom the Tetris theme pops into my head. It also has a strange sheen, like there’s glitter baked into the glaze. I tried to capture its essence, but photos do not do it justice. Here’s a close up for reference:
The grout is stained to the point that I can’t get it clean, so Tetris-tile’s days are numbered. I’m still debating between penny or hex tile, but unless I can find a budget friendly option I’ll probably go with a wood-type.
The shower is in good condition, and while I’m not crazy about 4 x 4s, it’s offset to the left side of the room, so it doesn’t stand out. I don’t think we would recoup the investment if we made any changes here.
Sum total we can get the bathroom renovated for less than $1,000. That’s including tile ($300), a new vanity ($220), sinktop ($130), faucet ($100), toilet ($100), and replacing the molding when we remove the current vanity ($30). I’ll probably start chipping away at the tile in the linen closet this week to see what’s underneath. From what I understand the tile removal will be the hardest part, so we’re in for some fun! Go Ravens!
