How to renovate a bathroom on a budget
- If able-do the demo, design, install and refinishing all yourself
- Utilize facebook marketplace for typically expensive fixtures
- Use items you already own
- If possible-refinish the original battered flooring instead of buying new
- Buy mostly classic-less expensive tile, and use more fancy-expensive tile for accents
DIY Demo, Design & Install
I won’t pretend that this was all a well thought out project. We started demo on a whim one day. We knew we were going to renovate this bathroom eventually and had grown very tired of it’s bleak/dark existence. I think my husband or I accidentally knocked a tile off and then the rest is history. Those tiles came off so easy that we couldn’t stop ourselves. The rest of the demo wasn’t as easy, but there is something about taking a room down to it’s studs. It’s fun to see what’s behind the walls and find clues to what used to be in the space. Like we found that there used to be a window in our bathroom, and we ended up putting one back in.
Anyway, the point is for the most part demo doesn’t take much of any skill and is usually the easiest part of renovation. Obviously when it comes to electrical, and removing plumbing fixtures know your limits. There’s a youtube video for most everything these days, but I’m not suggesting you take those things on yourself unless you feel comfortable doing that. Install is a bit more involved than demo, but oh so rewarding. It’s amazing what an impact just fresh paint can make. Again youtube can be your best friend if there’s something you are unsure of how to do. There’s nothing like learning on the job, and you can use the skills in the next room you take on.
I will do a separate post on my design thought process for this space. I think that’s the most fun part is to imagine what you want your room to be in the end, and picking out the materials and finishes.
Buying Used Fixtures
From day one I knew that I wanted a claw foot tub in this old farmhouse bathroom. I didn’t know how I was going to afford one since they can be thousands of dollars, but that was my dream for the space. One day I happened to look for clawfoot tubs on facebook marketplace, not really thinking I’d find much. Lo and behold I found one 15 minutes away for I think it was $500. I could not believe it. Of course at this point I don’t think we had even started our bathroom demo, but I couldn’t pass this up. My birthday was coming up and I asked everyone for money that I could put towards this beauty.
Picking up this cast iron claw foot tub took a team of people, and a family member’s pick up truck. It was a little adventure, and the seller even threw in a matching sink for free. Moral of the story, search facebook marketplace early and often. If your project isn’t even started yet start searching, it can take time for the perfect item at the right price to become available.
Shop Your House
It’s amazing how much bathroom vanities can be. I didn’t want to drop a thousand dollars or more on some cheaply made vanity. Thankfully we had an old dresser a neighbor had given us. The finish was starting to fail, so I decided to paint it and attach castors to the feet of it. Paint is so easy and can really transform a piece of furniture.
If you have an old dresser, buffet, sideboard, sofa table…you can very easily transform it into a bathroom vanity that may even hold up better than one that’s available at a big box store. You might need to use your imagination a bit, and figure out what kind of sink you can get away with using. The bowl sinks or ones that sit on top are usually easier to install. Or you may want to replace the top of your piece of furniture with an integral sink. There are so many options to make a one of a kind vanity for your bathroom without breaking the bank. Don’t be afraid to shop your own house for items.
Refinishing Flooring
Obviously this won’t be an option for everyone. We were lucky enough that after 3 layers of plywood/linoleum there were decent hardwood floors. While we were excited to find this hardwood flooring we had family members who were vocal about thinking we should install tiles over this old wood floor. To be fair the floor is not even close to being level, and there were small holes where the old sink and tub plumbing were originally. Our house is 100 years old though so none of our floors are level, we figured it would fit right in. As far as the small holes we just patched them in with some extra pieces that were going to be covered by tile around the tub area.
Refinishing flooring is just a matter of time, mostly just a lot of sanding and waiting between coats of stain and poly. It does help if you have a husband willing to put in most of the effort on this project, but I have helped refinish old flooring before. We refinished all the downstairs wood flooring in our old house. If you think it’s something you can do I think it’s well worth the savings in the end. Just take your time, and aim for better not perfect.
Choosing Materials
I’m all for picking the super pretty, dream-worthy tile but instead of breaking the bank by having to buy a ton of this pricey tile to cover the entire shower space think about using it as an accent. You can always use it as a border, but I think a more timeless application is using it in the back of a niche or just the floor. This way it makes that area pop more and if you have a neutral/classic tile surrounding this dreamy tile it really makes it stand out and alows it to be the star of the show. I find this to be a win/win for the wallet and the eyes.
If you missed our move in day house tour you can find that here. If you are looking for help while designing your own space you can find information on my design your space ebook here.
I hope you stick around for future blog posts on how I designed this bathroom and eventually our small farmhouse bathroom reveal. Thank you for stopping by our farmhouse, talk again soon!