Bathrooms. We all have them, but they aren’t always pretty. Especially if you have an older home that has never been updated.
That was the case for our first-floor bathroom. My husband originally put cedar boards on the walls to cover the ugly, dated wallpaper. He updated the fixtures and added a newer mirror. However, after we got married and I moved in, I quickly came to despise that bathroom.
It was dark, dingy, and dirty. You don’t want any of those adjectives associated with the bathroom your guests use.
That bathroom was in desperate need of a makeover, or rather a complete overhaul. If your bathroom needs updating and you have a tight budget, follow these tips to renovate your bathroom.
Choose a Realistic Budget
Before you break out that sledgehammer and break down some walls, you need to do your research. You might have a basic idea of what a bathroom renovation costs, but having real estimates will make creating a realistic budget much easier.
Look at how much bathroom materials cost. Browse your local hardware store websites to see prices on toilets, sinks, flooring, lighting, and hardware. Also take note of the cost of materials like plumbing, electrical, and drywall.
Once you have a better understanding of the price of the various materials you might need, you can start creating your budget. Consider how much you can actually afford. What is the most amount of money you are willing to spend on a bathroom renovation without going into debt?
Also, think about how intensive your renovation is going to be. Do you need to tear out everything and start from scratch like us? Or do you just need to give your bathroom a facelift? Starting from scratch will cost much more than just painting the walls and changing out the hardware.
Make sure to measure your bathroom so you can correctly price out materials for the amount of square footage you are renovating. Measure how much room you have for a new vanity or mirror or toilet.
Keep these measurements in mind when creating your budget. A larger bathroom will require more materials, and be more expensive to renovate. Additionally, when calculating how much material you need for flooring and walls, add about 10 percent to accommodate waste from cutting.
Since we wanted to tear out everything from our bathroom, our realistic cost was going to be higher than if we just needed to replace the toilet with a newer one and update the wall color. We set our budget at $800 after pricing out the materials we would need. We definitely wanted to stay below that number, but it was a realistic budget for us.
Cut Costs to Stay on Budget
The best way to save money on a bathroom renovation project and stay within your budget is to complete the project yourself. With a professional bathroom renovation, the cost of labor alone makes up the majority of the total bill! We decided to renovate our first-floor bathroom ourselves for this very reason.
Doing the renovation yourself will be well worth it to save thousands of dollars, even if it does take more time and effort! Since you don’t have to pay yourself to complete your project, you save money! You might even have some extra cash to upgrade a certain feature in your bathroom that you wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.
The next way to cut costs is to decide what parts of your bathroom can be reused in the completed remodel. Is your toilet in working order and efficient? Can you repaint your vanity? Or the hardware? Do you like your flooring? Everything that you keep saves you money and cuts costs in your budget. Our bathroom needed to be gutted, but we were able to keep the light fixture and some of the hardware.
Another way to cut costs in your budget is when choosing your materials because they will be the biggest expense. Do you love the look of marble tile? You could go with the more expensive tile or you could get a laminate or vinyl look-a-like that will be easier to clean and still give you the look you want. Bonus: You also don’t have to deal with the difficult installation of tile flooring when you go with a laminate or vinyl option!
Continue to do your research on different materials to find the best prices. Also, consider which materials you don’t mind going with a cheaper option if it means you can buy a more expensive item for something you really want. Many hardware stores have sales on materials throughout the year. Keep an eye out for these sales! Hunting for good deals is vital for cutting costs in your budget.
Purchase the Materials
Once you’ve created a realistic budget and have an idea about where you can cut costs, you can start buying materials. Don’t forget to look at your bathroom dimensions and all the measurements you took when creating your budget. You will need these numbers to ensure you buy items that will actually fit in your space. It will also ensure you don’t buy too much, which will save you money!
Staying within your budget is your goal, so buying materials from hardware stores is your best option. Your local hardware store will have cheaper prices on materials than the specialty shops that only focus on a few items like a tile store. Even at the hardware store, there is a range of prices. Mid-range items look and work great! We’ve had great success with the vinyl plank click-lock flooring, which is often a more mid-range priced item.
I would avoid going with some of the lower-end materials if possible because they may not hold up over time. For instance, peel and stick flooring is cheap, but it doesn’t hold up over time. Trust me! I have peel and stick flooring in my entryway, kitchen, and laundry room, and it looks awful now, but that’s a project for another day.
If you are in need of a new bathroom vanity and sink, Ikea has some excellent affordable options. They come in several different sizes and styles, and they are really easy to clean! I am all about easy to clean bathrooms! We chose an Ikea sink because they were the only ones selling a sink and vanity small enough to fit in our space without going with another pedestal sink or custom sink vanity. Your local hardware store should also have some affordable sink and vanity options available.
As you are buying your materials, keep a running list of how much you are spending. It is easy to go over budget when you are not paying attention to how much your materials are costing you. Save your receipts so you can return items if needed, and so you can continue to add the actual prices to your running list. If you can, try to stay under budget in case anything comes up during the demo process that you didn’t account for.
Demo the Bathroom
Demo day! It’s so exciting to finally take apart your outdated, ugly bathroom! However, there are some unexpected costs involved when tearing down a bathroom that you need to account for in your budget.
Some cities have requirements about what type of material can and cannot be thrown away in your normal garbage pickup. Often, building materials are not permitted to be thrown away with your regular trash. You need to find a separate service to pick up your demo material for a fee.
Find some different companies in your area that do junk removal or rent dumpsters. Compare their prices and decide which service works best for you. If you don’t have a lot of junk, you might be able to take it to your local landfill and pay a smaller fee to dump your construction debris.
You may be surprised how much debris you have. For reference, our 30 square foot bathroom yielded about 5 cubic yards of debris. We ended up renting a small dumpster that was hauled away by a junk removal service when we were done with the project.
Now that you have your trash removal figured out, you can get back to demolishing! Be sure to salvage all the items you want to reuse. You don’t want to accidentally throw out your hardware if you intend to use it again.
In our bathroom, we tore out everything, including all the drywall. Before starting our project, my husband and I decided we needed more room in our garage. The shower in our first-floor bathroom was an addition that took away from the garage. Since the shower kept leaking anyway and no one used it, we figured it would be worth getting rid of even if it makes the bathroom smaller.
Luckily we didn’t run into any issues during the demo, but encountering issues is always a potential when renovating a space. Issues like water damage, termites, or electrical problems will need to be dealt with before you start putting your bathroom back together.
Fixing these issues will add an extra cost to your renovation. If you are able to fix the issue without hiring a service or contractor, then you will save money. However, if you’re not confident in your abilities to fix electrical, plumbing, or structural problems then you should at the very least seek advice from a professional.
Rebuild the Bathroom
Finally! You get to bring your vision to life! It’s time to put your bathroom back together. This process will go quickly if you just need to repaint the walls or vanity. If you need to install drywall and new flooring, this process will take more time.
This is the time when those measurements you took earlier come into play. If you bought more flooring than you needed, you might be able to return it. Or you could save it for a future project.
If you need to completely tear out your old bathroom to redo it, then you will need to install your materials in steps. Do you have any electrical, plumbing, or ventilation tasks? Do those tasks first. Then install the drywall. This will require drywall mud and tape to cover the seams and corners. Once everything dries, prime the walls so they are ready to paint. Then install the flooring and the baseboard trim.
Now is the time to refresh those walls with a new paint color, and time to install the vanity, sink, toilet, hardware, and light fixtures. Keep the boxes and packing material from the newly purchased materials in case something doesn’t fit or doesn’t meet your expectations so you can return them. Most stores have generous return policies. Be sure to check that everything works and that your toilet and sink aren’t leaking.
Now that everything is painted, installed, and in working order, you can decorate! You can use items you already have around your house, like hand towels from a separate bathroom, or shelves you have in storage. Once again, Ikea has some great affordable décor options that would suit a bathroom well. You can also check out your local dollar store or thrift shop for some cheap storage or décor items.
For our bathroom, I wanted to keep the room looking clean and welcoming. I chose a light green color called “Bayberry Frost” by Behr. We also used an off-white shiplap as an accent wall. My husband built oak shelves for storage, and I found some simple watercolor paintings on Etsy to hang on the wall opposite the door. You can find the prints here.
Renovating a bathroom doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars! We finished our completely renovated (basically brand-new) half bathroom for under $800. Don’t get stuck with an ugly bathroom because you can’t afford to hire a professional company to renovate your bathroom!
By doing it yourself, you can renovate your bathroom on a budget! Gather some inspiration on Pinterest, and then march into that outdated bathroom of yours and make note of what needs work. Set your budget and start renovating. In no time at all, you will have an affordable, yet, beautiful and functional bathroom.
