With all the major reno’s going on in the main part of the basement, the bathroom was pushed a bit to the wayside. It was super that there was an existing 4-piece bathroom, but the not-so-super part was that it was looking more than a little outdated. The combination of grotty old fixtures (lights, faucet, etc.), a beige-coloured toilet and sink, and a mottled blue/beige coloured bathtub surround was just looking a little too “dingy-basement-bathroom” for my liking. Since we were spending essentially our whole budget on the other, bigger parts of the basement, we just didn’t have the money to rip up the bathroom and start fresh. So, I put on my DIY and bargain-hunting cap and went to work. Here’s what I was working with:

There were a few things that had to stay:

1)      The flooring. Yes, I’d love to lay some nice tile in there, but it just wasn’t possible with our tight budget and timeline.

2)      The bathroom/shower surround. Again, it would be lovely and not all that expensive to replace the tub, but it just wasn’t in the cards this time around.

So with the floors and the tub staying, I got to work on the things that I could change:

First thing was the toilet. I really hated the beige colour – it just looked too 70’s for me. The City of Ottawa was having a water-efficiency rebate program, where if you bought one of the identified efficient toilets, you would get roughly 50% of the cost back. So with that, the new toilet was a mere $50. The small price tag plus a reduced water bill over time sold us on the new toilet pretty easily. We choose a bright white American Standard model. This little room was starting to look more fresh already!

BEFORE

AFTER

Next up was the vanity. Although you can get really great deals on vanities (there seems to be one on for $99 every weekend at one of the local home stores), ours was actually a really solid, well-built piece. Plus, if we got a new one that wasn’t the exact same footprint, then we would need to worry about changing the flooring. So I got out the paint swatches and decided on a nice, earthy green colour. Off came the hardware, out came my paintbrush, and two coats later it was done! Such an easy spruce-up. Oh the wonders of a can of paint!

Since we had changed the toilet, I absolutely couldn’t leave the no-longer-matching beige sink. Dan, however, didn’t see the need to replace the vanity top right away. So, my well-honed persuasion skills were put to good use, and shortly thereafter he was on board! We chose a budget-friendly cultured marble top in a bright white to match the toilet.  I also grabbed a new faucet (ours was faulty and looking pretty grimy) – on sale, of course, for a mere $30.

Next up was a new mirror and light fixture. I considered looking around for a second-hand mirror that I could paint in the same colour as the vanity, but since things were so chaotic with the rest of the basement renovation, when I saw a smart-looking black mirror on sale for $19, I couldn’t resist. It was just too easy! The light fixture was also a sale isle find.

So here it is. The before-and-after. Even though I didn’t fully “dress” the bathroom with a new shower curtain, new towels, accessories etc. (this was for our soon-to-be tenant, after all!), it’s amazing what just a few little touches can make. The bathroom has gone from seen-better-days to fresh-and-light.

Here is the budget breakdown:

$50: toilet
$100: plumbing for toilet & new sink/faucet
$19: mirror
$30: faucet
$110: vanity top
$50: paint (for vanity and fresh coat of white for the walls)
$45: light fixture
______________

$404 grand total.. not bad!

Tags: bathroom makeover, bathroom renovation, paint vanity, replace toilet

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 at 7:45 am and is filed under basements, bathrooms, DIY projects, renovations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.