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Finally Finished - Barb's Budget Bathroom

11 years ago

Finally finished, well almost. Just some little things; artwork, towel bar, TP Holder etc. But the construction is finished. 100% DIY.

No before pics here. This bathroom was created in a space that used to be a closet and part of old porch, which a previous owner closed in. First we had to repair the outside walls, because the PO used regular 2x4's and laid them on concrete. Not sure how many years it took to rot out, but they were. Now everything is properly built and waterproofed.

Budget:

Lumber, Drywall and Backerboard & door; About $300

Tub; Home Depot $115

Tile; About $40 (leftover from kitchen project)

Toilet: Ferguson; $140

Redgard; Home Depot $46

Thinset; Restore $10

Flooring; Allure Ivory Travertine $76

Mirror; Restore $25

Vanity; Home Depot; Reg $149 On Sale $99

Light fixture; Restore New in box - $40

Misc trim; pipe etc $200

Here is how my faux tile trim turned out.

I am so glad we did the seat! I created that small piece of bullnose for the outside corner by slicing a piece of pencil tile in half

The floor:

So glad to be finished and have a bathroom on the first floor!!!

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Comments (18)

stolenidentity
11 years ago
Congratulations and well done! DIY done right and beautifully :)
mtpam2
11 years ago
Love it! We are also DIY our small bathroom. We picked up a tub and shower wall kit, but looking at the beautiful tile job you did, I wish we had tried for wall tile. You did a great job. Enjoy your bathroom!
Pamla
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Our DIY remodel on a 7x9 bathroom ran about $5000, a month of work with a few weeks prep beforehand and a month finishing afterwards (handles, baseboards, minor details). We closed off a doorway, replaced vanity and floor, re-enameled the tub and replaced the tub surround, kept the toilet. All in keeping with our compromise between too many ideas, and avoiding being the fanciest house on our fairly basic street. - $250 materials + 7 days to close off a door, reframe that wall, and drywall; also fix and skimcoat the manky old ceiling. - $550 lighting: $200 vent fan/light, $40 can light, $200 vanity lights, $75 or so on various outlets, switches, a timer switch for the fan, electrical boxes etc. - $500 flooring: adhesive, grout, and tile, Armstrong Alterna (powdered stone in a vinyl matrix, I love it!) - $1300-1400 Miracle Method: ~$500 for tub re-enamel, ~$800 for fiberglass tub surround fit/install. - $1800 for vanity setup: $950 60" vanity (RTA bamboo from Domain Cabinets Direct), $450 Swanstone top from Lowe's, $100 Delta faucet (internet order), $250 Kohler medicine cabinet, $50 handles - $350 finishing touches: $175 hardware (towel/shower bar), $100 soft goods (shower curtain, rug, towels), $75 paint and art. Add to that, another $500 in contractor fees for my father-in-law: several bottles of wine, and dinner at a good restaurant!
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Thanks pharaoh, oh high priest of stunning bathrooms! For both upstairs baths, we ordered white Toto tubs, white Toto Soiree toilets, and the smaller Sonia sinks (as I'd mentioned above). All faucets and hardware will be satin or brushed nickel. For the vanity in our tiny MB, I'm leaning towards cherry with a black stain; either black-black, or black with a hint of dark purple or dark blue undertones, and for the hall bath, I'm considering cherry as well, but with a light reddish-sunset color stain (if such a stain color even exists!). Originally I'd wanted the MB to have cool colors for accents; blues, purples, some greens ("sea colors"), but now I'm thinking more white on white tones, maybe some MOP, so we'll see what inspiration hits me when it comes time to choose tile and paint! For the hall bath I want sunset/hot colors; fiery pinks, reds, oranges and yellows, just not sure if I want to bring those colors in at all with the tile, or stick with whites there, too, and then bring in my colors with the paint, shower curtain, towels, and accessories. Of course, if I go with the whites in the MB, I could scuttle my hot colors in the main bath and put my sea colors there...! Totally up in the air re: flooring material, so colors for those haven't even been on the radar yet. Might go with wood, or stone, or ?????
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jjaazzy....the contractor most likely installed extra wall studs, vertically and horizontally behind where the vanity would hang, both on the back wall and the side wall. He may have also purchased a metal horizontal floating cabinet mechanism (for the life of me I cant remember the name right now), where you attach one strip to the wall studs and attach the other to the vanity cabinets (after they have been screwed together side by side) and then the strip on the cabinet slips into the strip on the wall, then thats screwed into each other....very similar to the hanging mechanism used on IKEA cabinets (but I dont recommend theirs exactly). I said "he may have"... because in the drawings, I specified different techniques and those are typically the two I suggest, used in conjuction with each other, for this size vanity...no, I dont recommend this for an entire wall of kitchen cabinets...just had to say that just in case someone interprets it that way..LOL! The grain is the not continuous on all surfaces becuase these are stock cabinets, just moldified for this application and custom cabinets with the continuouse grain just didnt fit our budget, but would have been lovely! kimgill, those shelves are actually wall filler boxes from the cabinet company that were cut down to width, and then filled with filler stock with the opening was. Its hung from the wall by simply installed a wall stud horizontally, then the filler box (with its open back) is slipped over the stud and screwed together. Fairly easy install, since its only meant to hold light wait items such as towels, etc....heavier items will require more support. Thanks for all your responses!
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treasuretheday
11 years ago
Very, very nice! It's amazing to see how much you accomplished on a budget. Congratulations and enjoy!
writersblock (9b/10a)
11 years ago
Nice job! I especially like the floor. What was the allure like to work with?
barbcollins
Original Author
11 years ago
The Allure was a piece of cake.... once we got the right kind.

We started with the new Allure Ultra, which is a click and lock. It was terrible. We spent about 2 hours fooling with it and finally gave up. I called Home Depot to complain and she gave me a Return Authorization Number. We took it back and got the regular Allure (which they now had in the same color) with the glue strip. I had the floor down (all by myself) in about an hour. And it was half the price of the Allure Ultra.

It's a breeze to work with and you cut it with a razor knife or you can use tin snips on tricky cuts.

And I think it's beautiful in IRL.
sochi
11 years ago
Great job Barb! I really love the floor, it is gorgeous. Enjoy your wonderful new space and congratulations on an incredible DIY job! I so wish I was that handy. I'm considering *mostly* doing a DIY job on my kids' bathroom over the next year. We'll see if I manage it!
barbcollins
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks everybody.

Here is proof it is REALLY hard to take good pictures of small bathrooms. I took this one STANDING on the shower seat :)

Picked up the picture at Ollie's for $6. Repurposed the basket from the kitchen where it has sat empty for several months to temporarily hold toilet paper until I can get a holder. I think it's a perfect fit though and will leave it there.

Need to figure out where to put the antique curling iron. Thinking on the wall to the right of the sink, but also have towel ring to put up.
writersblock (9b/10a)
11 years ago
Thanks so much for the info on Allure vs Allure ultra. Very helpful.
sochi
11 years ago
Barb, I'm so stealing that basket on the toilet tank idea! I say keep it, it looks great!
beeps
11 years ago
Great job! Creative idea for the bench. I've never seen one with a tub like that. Your faux trim turned out so well!! Enjoy.
cat_mom
11 years ago
I hear you about the difficulty photographing small bathrooms! Our mb is ~5x7.

You did a great job! I love your floor tile!!!
williamsem
11 years ago
Looks great! The tile trim turned out very nice, can't even tell it's not the same. And even though I know it's not even from your earlier post, I cant tell now and wouldn't notic at all.

Congrats!
enduring
11 years ago
What a fantastic job. I love the floor tiles and you did such a nice job of installing all of your tile. Your "crown molding" is still perfect. Your tab comes in at $1091, if I added the numbers correctly. Well done sister!
barbcollins
Original Author
11 years ago
Well, I had help. DH was very patient as this bathroom moved in my plans 3 times, and then was revised several times. First just a shower stall, then larger shower stall, then a tub, then a tub with a seat :)

He did the framing (with me as a helper). He set the tub. He hung most of the drywall (while I was at work). I finished the drywall, did the tiling, painting, flooring. He put up the trim, set the toilet, vanity & hung the door.

Now, we are on to the next project.. a bedroom.
enduring
11 years ago
Bedroom; piece of cake right?
barbcollins
Original Author
11 years ago
Ha, Ha, Enduring. Should be compared to this bathroom.

My biggest problem with the bedroom is talking DH into letting me put the Allure down (wood style) on the floor. He wants carpet.
mabeldingeldine_gw
11 years ago
Myrtle_59, this is an example of the Allure vinyl plank flooring.

The flooring I purchased is similar, but a Shaw's product.
suzanne10023
11 years ago
Beautiful! And I love the tub seat.

What did you do with the ceiling? Is that textured paint?

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