Based on these pictures I'm not seeing why taking out the vanity would require replacing all the wall tiles. If you're concerned about not finding a linen closet to fit in the space and cover the gap between tile and wall you could only take out the counter and leave the closet in place.

The floor is very cool.

Don't bother doing any updates other than a coat of paint. You'll never see a return of the money, and new buyers will want to put their own style in the space. Chances are anything you do they'll rip out or pass on because it's "updated" but "not their style".

I think you're bathroom could pull off this minimalistic look really well.

Brooklyn Heights Glam Apartment · More Info

Play up the black and beige by painting the walls to match the wall tile, add a double vanity that is just a tidge darker than the walls with a lighter marble top, and add some glam hardware. The black outline around the top of the shower really sets it off if you can accomplish that.

To Lindsay: Sorry if it is unclear in the pictures but it appears to us that the vanity and the closet are all one piece. We thought the same thing initially but I'm pretty sure that it's all all or nothing option!

Clean well, and put fresh paint on the walls,make sure the grout is cleaned, and leave it. Its not unattractive, and someone will be happy with it, or will rip it out and put it to their own taste. You wont get your money out of a partial remodel.

i would not remove the vanity or cabs. the most I would do is replace the countertop w/a modern type of quartz, the faucet and some cooler hardware. that's it. some people like the retro look. Oh, and major declutter. Maybe a fresh coat of paint,,,a little lighter than the tile.

it's really not that bad.

you could even do a new laminate, or a concrete overlay,,,,i'd still change out faucet

Do what others have said - clean, paint, do NOTHING more! Waste of time, money and the mess. The new buyer won't pay you a penny more and will gut that bath, or at least they'll have a nice clean one if they must just live with it.

PLEASE do NOT do anything other than clean and paint. PLEASE! If you change anything other than maybe paint you're just going to draw attention to the things you did not update.

I'm in a pretty hot market, so realtors strongly suggest just cleaning, repairing, decluttering, repeat. That's it. Updates are pretty much a waste of money unless you're some kind of buy low -sell high flipper.

Here's an example of a bathroom in a professionally staged home in my area right now. The home is on the market for $410/sf. Clean, simple chrome accessories, white paint, white towels, done.

good point. that picture above is just nice enough. OP, the only thing that would bother me as a buyer is the sink/faucet. maybe it just needs a really good cleaning,,,don't know. the inside of that sink/counter looks funky and discolored. if you can't clean that, re-caulk, then take out the top and do a new one for a few hundred. if you do that, don't do the 4" faucet. do the widespread or a single hole.

If I moved in to that house I would probably only replace the countertop with white quartz with an undermount sink or white Corian with an integral sink.

If the price you would get for your house supports that, that's what I would do.

Clean, clean, clean. Make sure the baseboards and shoe molding are spotless as well as other parts of the bathroom. Then stage the bath with pretty towels. Take everything off the vanity and add a tiny vase of fresh flowers. People notice the level of cleanliness and are turned off with any trace of dirt or stray hair. Pretty bath art might be a part. If you have "fixed" non-movable items, distract the eyes with pretties.

I completely agree with the majority - do nothing except clean and paint.

Thanks all for you input. Ok, plan "b" - leave the laminate in, will def clean off all the countertops when it's time (we're still 2 months out from putting the house on the market), paint, clean and replace the countertop and sink. While I'm doing the countertop, worth it to put in a trough sink and two faucets or forget it? Also, change the pulls?

Or put in a double sink?

Unless you have damage to the counter leave it as is. If you change to a new one it just dates the bathroom more. I would put a new cover plate on your switch and clean. Add some fresh fluffy towels and you are set.

that may require extra money/plumbing. if you can, just do an under mount square sink in a larger size, new counter and a new faucet

this is exactly what I'd put in

or like this, but just the one sink. Check fabricators warehouse for remnant slabs or even craigslist for countertop remnants. you may luck out and find one in your size

do some retro hardware..

these cool atomic starburst back plates for these knobs! You might as well play up the retro part.

if you can swing this and you still have countertop room, great,,,,

If you're going to make this retro cool, then do something w/the soffits lights. find something sleeker, or hang some retro pendants. if you know how to shop,( I could do all of this for less than 1K) you can trick out this bathroom so that new buyer may just want to leave it because it is so cool.

RetroRenovation. com has tons of ideas and sources.

or, just put on new paint. I don't know where you are or what your market is even like. if it's a sellers market, the house will sell, regardless. If you have a choosy market and buyers hold the cards, then making this retro bathroom 'retro chic', instead of 'old and dated' will definitely be in your favor. ask your agent.

Forget the the trough. Leave as is and during negotiations with buyer give into to a lower price. Buyers love getting a price break and they can do the work.

If you change the counter you risk damaging the cabinets. You are lucky that you have a nice neutral bath with a nice floor. Elbow grease is all that is needed here.

sara,,,those tops lift right off. if they're careful, she's not going to damage anything. it's not a big deal to do yourself. replacing it won't cost that much and will make a nice impact in that bathroom.

But as I've stated,,talk to your agent to see if it would make a diff.

thanks all! just for context, we are in northern nj near nyc. Most of the the buyers are upscale young Brooklynites and right now, it's definitely a buyer's market. The rest of the house is very retro-mid century modern so maybe I'll play up that aspect of the bathroom, change the countertop, sink and faucet and see how that works! I'll be sure to post pics!

Buyers' market in NJ? "Buyers' market" means the homes are sitting on the market for a long time and sell for less.

Seller's market means the homes are selling fast and there is limited inventory.

What is the average Days on Market in your neighborhood? Your Realtor can give you this info if you don't have it already.

You have been given good info in this thread. Gut and redo does not sound like the way to go with your bath at all. Enhancing the retro features might just be the best way to enter the market in your neighborhood. Check with your Realtor. S/he can give you some figures and facts about the actual buyers in your neighborhood and recent sales with and without enhancements. Clean and organized can't be emphasized enough.

Buyer's market - rarely are things going over asking and taking longer to sell. Each month homes are sitting on the market longer and longer - used to be that there was an open house, the seller took "best and final offers" on Sunday evening, then a bidding war started on Monday. Homes that were snapped up in days are now sitting for months. This could be for several reasons - property tax is sky high, homes are quite expensive and this is a town of charming but small, colonials (I live in a large ranch). Colonials have seem to fallen out of favor a bit with the younger crowd.

It could also be the season. Usually Spring and Summer are peak selling seasons.

I like the vintage vibe in your bathroom and I'm loving all that storage! Echoing everyone's advice on decluttering and cleaning the space and wanted to add: don't forget the inside of those cabinets and drawers. As a prospective buyer, I'd be opening doors and drawers to see how everything fits. Do towels fit easily? Are there pull-outs in cabinets? Etc.

You want to showcase you've got a ready-to-move-in, spacious, practical and serene bathroom.

Suzmtl - definitely am going to practically empty out all of our bathroom crap! I do love the amount of storage. There's a cabinet in the first photo where I have my necklace hanging that is actually even a pull out laundry hamper!

Do a quick rehearsal: clear everything off the countertop, shine it with Pledge, open the curtains, turn on all the lights, and take some photos like a real estate photographer would.

Then take close up photos of the corners where the laminate countertop meets the cabinets and one of the sink with faucet.

A pull out laundry hamper?! I'm swooning! Dang, that's a great space you've got.

I'd do everything white. White cotton terry shower curtain, white fluffy towels, white paint. Add a plant on the counter for some nice crisp green. Change the light switch and perhaps the hardware as suggested by Beth H., but that's it.

What's the metal on the right in your second pic?

You're going to die....tissue box holder with a spring loaded button. I didn't show it, but the toilet paper also is enclosed in the wall and comes out at the push of a button.

rad.

younger crowd loves these retro styles. they are all coming back in vogue. play it up to the hilt and enhance what you have. Since this is a buyers market, then you will have to do some things to get the attention. Retro? great. make it look coo-retro, not dated retro.

Not part of the younger crowd but I love these retro styles.

Thanks so much everyone, you've really opened my eyes to the fact that half-done crappy reno looks....just crappy. This is the bathroom that the house has, I'll clean up and pretty up what I can and hopefully the right buyer will come through! I was even considering bringing someone in our other bathroom to glaze my entire pink and black retro bathroom white, until I saw how many people on Retro Renovation were TRYING to build pink and black bathrooms!

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ might also be a good resource for you to help see your retro stuff in a modern way.

Haha. Indeed. Btw, I'd love to see pictures of your pink and black bathroom! I bet it's charming.

If you must update something, simply take out the undermounted sink on the laminate top and put an inexpensive drop-in china bowl with new faucets. That would be a big improvement without wasting more time or money.

For a quick improvement, take out the laminate counter top and dated sink. Add a nice solid surface, modern sink, new faucets and replace they knobs on the cabinetry.

Not everyone sees black granite as a positive.

a black laminate top wouldn't be all that bad. she has a black and white tile floor. It's a small counter, so finding any type of remnant would be great. all you need is a minimum of 23" deep and however long that space is. 48" or so? less? easy to find a remnant in those sizes. find out where they fabricate the formica,,maybe they have some leftovers that would fit

either of these would work.

or even getting a remnant in a black marble

This would look good.

and I'd try to stick in these retro looking pendants hung from the soffit.

if someone could photoshop that black vanity top and sink, above, onto this,,,,,thanks

In my area we just give people an allowance, which says we recognize that a reno is necessary and they will get to put their own stamp on it. Price the house post reno and then give a reno credit. Lots of people wont want to do a full bathroom reno, but if you arent going to make it really look good, then they might need to reno anyway.

We gave a carpet allowance and landscaping allowance.

If you really want to do the cabinets, you could replace just the doors. Maybe at 150/door. Counters are relatively inexpensive at about 80/sq ft installed. Depending on the price point of your house it might be worth it.

Already spoke with the person doing our kitchen countertop and she has a remnant of sparkly white quartz and will sell it to me very cheaply. Love the pendant lights and definitely will get a new sink and faucet. Thanks guys you just freed up a LOT of budget for me!!!!

sparkly quartz is perfect! I have it in my closet. make sure you get those retro cabinet knobs!!

I used these knobs in our frugal mid century reno. They're $1.27 each and in stock at Lowes. But they might not be much different than what you have. The chrome will highlight your cool chrome features.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Selections-Polished-Chrome-Round-Cabinet-Knob/1064741

following

Mid century formica in the boomerang or one of the tiny dot patterns would be great!

Kana, Go with the sparkly white counter! It will transform your bathroom and give you a pretty feature to distract from the cabinets.

This bathroom is Late Modernism. The undermounted sink in laminate (which usually fails because of water infiltration into the substrate) is late 70s or 80s at the earliest. (The house may be older). So you have to be careful with regards to using midcentury hardware and such. Most of the hardware shown, boomerangs and sparkles etc. are pre-1960 in origin. This bathroom currently looks like what it is supposed to look like. Although it may be an update for the house, this bathroom looks like it did when it was put in and hasn't been updated so it looks as about authentic as it can get.

The countertop looks like there may be some damage and separation of the laminate around the rim of the sink, which is typical to this sort of installation, and the faucet is not right. If it is damage, I would replace the countertop with the 20xx's version of what's there, something white with a white sink, get a faucet that is better suited to the vanity and call it done. I would not waste money tarting it up in some faux retro or half-hearted millennial modernism.

If someone hates the bathroom as it is, tarting it up won't be enough, and if someone mostly likes it, tarting it up could ruin it for them.