How to Renovate a Bathroom – Friday Fun
Friday is my day to talk about fun. So you may be asking: What the heck could possibly be fun about renovating a bathroom? Despite the time it takes and work that is required, I actually enjoy a little messy manual labor and find it both therapeutic and rewarding. So here’s a little how-to background, in case you decide to take on the challenge yourself.
Lots of folks in their twenties rent apartments or condos. Not only does it take some time to save up for a down payment, it’s a lot more fun to travel, party and hang out with friends than work on a yard or fix up a house.
Fast forward to our thirties, when apparently it is assumed we should settle down, buy homes and become more responsible. We spend money on our future as opposed to supporting our local bars. At least that’s the theory.
And that’s pretty much how it played out in my life, sort of (I got married and bought our first house in my late thirties, so I guess I was a little behind schedule). And since I like old homes, as does Rob, inevitably we find ourselves immersed in never-ending house projects, without the big budget to outsource the work. As a result, over the years, we have figured out how to do a lot of fix-ups ourselves, saving a lot of money in the process. Oddly enough, Rob and I work quite collaboratively in these situations, despite my lack of patience for jobs that drag on and on.
Just this past month…or two….or three, we renovated our downstairs half bath. And since most of our friends were both surprised and impressed that we knew what to do, I thought I’d share how we went about our labor of love.
Determine your budget. It’s almost inevitable you’ll go over budget, so budget for that as well.
Figure out what you want the end product to look like. For our little bathroom, I actually knew how I wanted it to look (after walking into a bathroom for two years with angel wallpaper and a brown toilet, among other lovely design elements, it’s easy to do a lot of dreaming while sitting on the toilet). If you can’t come up with your own vision, ask one of your friends who is really good at this stuff what they would do. Alternatively, you can buy magazines and get a feel for you like. If all else fails and the vision just isn’t happening, then hire an interior designer and pay him or her for ideas. My ultimate goal is to be true to the home’s heritage while catering to my tastes my family’s.
Determine what, if anything, you want to outsource. Then get estimates and get them to ink the job in their schedule. (Be sure to buffer the schedule because they’ll be late). We outsourced our plumbing and asked our (awesome!) plumber for his ideas/estimate before we ever started. We also decided to hire a drywaller. Sure, we could have done this work ourselves, but by the time we would have bought the necessary supplies, we might have ended up paying as much, without the same quality as someone who does it for a living. You might be able to avoid this step altogether if your walls are in good shape and all that’s needed is a touch up and some sanding. But we had some moldy drywall and big holes, so we had to replace a good bit of sheet rock.
Make the big decisions so that your vision stays within the confines of the budget. What furniture/cabinetry/appliances do you need? Select those first. Then determine color, floor, and lighting. For our bathroom, we went through the decision making process in this order:
- The cabinetry, including a vessel sink (which was the only part of our project that went over our original budget). Took us a while but finally found what we wanted at Impact Imports.
- Next was the tile. Flooring in general can have huge price variation. Tile actually tends to be more expensive, especially in comparison to laminate, but we wanted tile because we were ripping out wood floors. We had to do so because of the cabinetry we removed.
- Then the lighting. Note we weren’t doing any major lighting changes. If you plan to rip out ceilings or tear our huge lighting strips, you might want to think about this earlier in the process and speak to an electrician.
- Then the toilet (what fun).
- Then paint color (usually the only thing Rob and I argue about).
- I actually picked a facet AFTER everything else was completed. But I wish I had done so at this point in the renovation process. Most facets need to be special ordered, unless you find one at Home Depot or Lowe’s. I actually bought mine at overstock.com and was quite happy, despite the fact it pushed our finish date a week.
Figure out how to complete the steps of the project. As part of this step, you may need to watch some do-it-yourself videos, buy a how-to book or take a class as your local Home Depot. There is a wealth of resources online.
Demolish. I actually think this part is fun, but I’ll also admit needed Rob’s help with some of the heavier tasks. As hard as I tried, I had trouble getting some of the old tile off the walls. And pulling the cabinetry out. Note this is an excellent way to vent frustrations.
Bring in the outsourced help as needed. After we demolished, we had the plumber cut off our water supply and the drywall expert work his magic. Rob removed the toilet himself (glad he did it and not me).
Next it was time to complete the floor. First, we installed hardibacker, a stable, water resistant cement-like board. (Rob did this part as the sheets were big and heavy and needed to be cut by a saw. He still won’t let me near a saw in the event I might chop my hand off). Next I tiled. Though it’s slow and messy, I think it’s a lot of fun and very creative. You start by applying thinset mortar, which is an adhesive for the tiles. After the thinset is dry, you grout the tile then seal it.
You’ll more than likely need something to cut your tiles, such as a tile cutter or wet saw (again, I avoid saws and find the cutter to work fine). My recommendation before you start doing any of this stuff is to plan beforehand. Lay out the tiles and see how they’ll fit. Measure tiles you need to cut. And start tiling where there is greatest visibility, usually the entrance to the room. Here’s how it looked in the end.
Cut and apply the wooden floor molding. Fortunately, our friend Ryan came over with his table miter saw and a nail gun and he saved the day! Equipment can be everything with many of these home projects, but you don’t necessarily have to buy everything. Borrow tools from a friend or rent them to save money.
Install the appliances and get that plumber back over to set up the pipe system. We are simply too paranoid to try to do this ourselves. In my opinion, this is money well spent.
Then it’s time for the easy stuff like installing the mirror and toilet paper holder. And I am being sarcastic. I can’t figure out how to install the holder, so the toilet paper is still lying by the floor (I don’t think instructions were written for women).
Though it may not sound like fun, it is. Try your hand at a little home renovation, and you might surprise yourself.
And I love the new potty, the most used appliance in the house.
Wow, Melinda, your project turned out great! Nice job! Let us know when you're ready for your next DIY project. We'd be happy to help again....... 
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And backsplashes are a great place to add decorative tile. Household Appliance
Wow, Melinda, your project turned out great! Nice job! Let us know when you’re ready for your next DIY project. We’d be happy to help again…….