Break the bathroom projects up into phases. Shop for supplies and materials on sales and hold them until you get to that phase of the project. I had my toilet and sink for a year before they were installed. Plumbing fixtures nearly as long. And then I replaced the floor, sink and toilet, waited almost a year and then replaced the tub and tiled the shower. I’d save the DIY for rooms like a bedroom or den, or painting the bathroom. Half measures to tide you over are just monies spent on things you don’t really want or need.

I don't know where you're located, but $15-20K sounds like a really good price. You'd pay at least 50% more than that where I am. Don't mess around with the tub yourself because if that goes wrong you have no easy way to get out of trouble there. If you're not experienced with DIY you want to stick with projects that are easy to fix if the end result doesn't turn out well. The reason paint is a common DIY is because if you don't like the color you just paint again. I can't think of a good reason to use peel and stick tile TBH. But paint, new light fixtures, faucets, mirrors are doable. You don't show the mirror area so I don't know what you're dealing with there. Increase the wattage in the light fixture in the room with the tub for now so it looks brighter. Of course you can permanently remove the door between the two sections if you never use it, but exercise caution before removing the door frame - are you sure that wall isn't load bearing? I can say that in 2021 we removed the wall between the shower and vanity (similar to what you have) in our MB as part of a gut remodel and the end result was well worth it, so save your money up for the real deal. Be careful when engaging "handymen" because their skill levels vary. Some of them are just barely more skilled than the average homeowner.

I’d probably just remove the door for now. not sure removing above the door will open it up a lot more. agree 15-20k is pretty good so i’d start saving! you could also price out removing wall, redoing floor after and skip the shower part which would be the most expensive part.

How often is this bathroom used? Is this an annoyance multiple times per day or every month or two when you have guests? You can scale your pre-remodel changes accordingly.

While you save up for a professional remodel, you can add brighter lighting (as @kandrewspa suggests) or use brighter lightbulbs, fix the towel bar that's loose, change the brown towels and rug (choose a bright color), and paint the walls. You could use an attention-getting removable wallpaper on the sink part of the bathroom walls (not the tub/toilet area). Distraction of the eye is a time honored technique.

Waterfront Retreat · More Info

Jewel Box Powder Rooms · More Info

I would say remove the door and patch the frame and better lighting will go a long way. Removing the door frame all the way up to the ceiling will open a can of worms, really: do you leave that narrow piece of wall to the left? If you decide to remove it (because it will look strange, really) , how do you patch the floor? What if the drywall is misaligned by 1/4" on the wall or ceiling between the two rooms?

Is everything functional and nothing hopelessly gross? Just remove the door and do some cool decorating with better lighting. Avoid peel & stick flooring if possible unless you expect to redo it with something more permanent in a few years.

Post more photos and you'll get ideas on ways to work with what you have. What you have shown is not at all bad! The (rather nice) door trim suggests an older--or at least old style--home, and that means you can have a lot of fun making it a cool vintage bathroom.

I agree with @palimpsest Remove just the door & patch frame. Any more is opening a Pandora’s box for a huge project. Removal of door will make the bath / toilet room expand since the wall & floor will be opened up with door out of the way. You could then install towel hooks on that newly opened wall across from toilet. Remove the big towel bar & patch the holes in wall across from sink and that appears loose & needs fixing anyway. Can’t suggest anything for sink since since we can’t see it but updating the light fixture, paint, art etc all will go a long way to creating a bright & not claustraphobic space - just what you’re looking for!

Thank you everyone.

Like all of you suggested, doing anything more to that wall, than removing the door is out of scope.

The bathroom is old or gross by any margin, it is just the layout that makes it not work well. I have added some more pictures here.

Note: the original countertop is the brown tiles one as shown in the last image. I put the white marble contact paper over it right after we moved in.

Countertop underneath the contact paper.

Counterpoint: I have installed peel and stick (groutable) vinyl tiles over old floors - and most people have been none the wiser. I would say this method fits with your temporary countertop fix and will completely transform your bathroom with a lighter color to match the counter. So for $1.50/sf tile (see Lowes), grout, primer, some elbow grease, match the solution to the level looking for until you can save up for an entire remodel.

I find it completely inoffensive. And gutting and redoing that room will change very little since there's not much else you can do with it.

How much use it gets is an important question. :)

If it's guests only, maybe painting the tile is feasible. I don't know. People do it. 😐

If you do peel & stick tile, may I suggest black and white checkerboard? Deep colored walls (robin's egg blue?), white trim, maybe white vanity (it is fine to leave as is--cabinet painting is a PITA)? New light fixture, and do the frame around the mirror with chunky white molding that goes with the door trim.

You can DIY those things. The upgrade your DIY skills and replace the countertop (can reuse sinks) with an inexpensive hunk of preformed laminate counter. Totally doable!

Or...take off the door. See if it still sucks. If it does NOT still suck, get estimates for replacing the counter and floor with something nice. It seems like, aside from the potty/shower hole, the only bad thing is the brown tile? You can DIY this stuff too since you'd leave the shower as is, but you have to really want to. But don't do this if you think you'll end up having to remove the wall one day.

Chalk Paint on a Toilet???? Satire? Old dingy toilets need those toxic cleaners and elbow grease.

Will the door help with privacy when there are several guests? The shower doors on the tub is what feels claustrophobic to me. A cheerful shower curtain that stay open most of the time would open the space more. Framing our mirror when we redid our similar kids bath was a lot more work than I expected but looks great. Paint and new towels and rugs would be more bang for the buck than the wood working.

@kathleen MK

What were troubles you had with framing the mirror? I was planning to buy trim from lowes and stick it over the mirror edges with liquid nails.

The toilet does not need any changes except may be new toilet seat. It is good condition otheewise.

I took the door out and didn't rouch the frame as most of you suggested.
i also installed the peel and stick vinyl tiles. (eventually the cabinets will get painted grey) to go with the grey in the floors.

My next step is to caulk (white) around the edges and toilet. And then add the quarter round around the perimeter. This will be my first time doing it. Any tips?

Also, my LV install wasn't perfect. There are some overcuts around the door jamb and toilet. Some tiny gaps between two planks. Should i use grey/brown grout to fill these gaps or use caulk? What would be the ideal wa to fill in these gaps?

Those misalignment gaps cannot be filled with grout. Your best bet is a poly caulk in grey to match.

For the 1/4 round, use actual "shoe molding" profile, which is taller and skinnier. Make sure to nail into the baseboard, not the floor.

@3onthetree

Thank you. I used white silicon caulk around the edges and used clear caulk for the gaps.

You did a nice job on the floor for a 1st time DIY! Have you painted the vanity yet? If not, may I suggest a color other than gray? Gray has had its day in home decor and while it will look fresh and clean, it isn't a very interesting or exciting change. Are there other colors you might consider that you like, that you've used in other areas of your home?

this looks great even though it's dark, with the contrasting shower curtain, if you're considering that, or wallpaper even:

Thank you. I can see tons of imperfections with my flooring but i guess thats how one learns.

As for the vanity paintjob, my husband was very particular about the paint being darker grey. He chose SW Gibraltar. Done with the painting part, gotta apply the topcoat.

Next step is to change out the lighting vanity light. And add shoe molding around the wall and paint the trim.

PP

Looks good. I get dealing with very particular husbands. That what slowed down the mirror framing for us because he built it out to fit around those clips that hold the mirror up. He didn't want just a frame glued to the old mirror. It also gave us a little ledge so it was worth his effort. New lights will make a difference. with all the gray be sure to get warmer soft white bulbs.