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ellenoir17

To retile or not to retile?

5 years ago

I'm trying to decide whether or not to update the tile in this bathroom (for resale value, mostly).
We have been living with the poo brown walls since we moved in over a year ago, and I can't take it anymore. We want to paint and get a new vanity (the one we have now is very cheap, has no drawers, and is unnecessarily small).
But tiling would be pretty cost prohibitive for the next year or so. As it is, vanities are so expensive!

I think the choices are:

  1. Decide we are never ever updating the tile, and replace the vanity now.
  2. Just throw up a coat of paint for now. Plan to replace both the tile and vanity a few years down the road.

The tile itself is your average $1/sqft ugly white porcelain tile with painted on "marble" veining. The grout is slightly stained, so that one area looks perpetually wet, and no amount of grout bleach will fix it. While the bathroom of my dreams does not include this flooring, I can live with it.

I guess my question is, when the rest of the house is very builders grade meh - ugly tile floors in red and beige throughout, a Home Depot kitchen, gold door knobs, cheap trim... does having a fully polished bathroom make a big difference to potential buyers?

We had originally considered doing a bigger reno to fix all of the above, but fully renovated houses in our neighborhood aren't going for enough to make our money back. But it seems like a diy bathroom update might be a better ROI?

Retile
Keep the tile

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