DIY Half Bathroom Remodel
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have been INCREDIBLY busy these last two weeks. My son is working on his Arrow of Light boards to become a Boy Scout next month (yay!). My Navy husband has been out to sea (and back). My older daughter is, well, a seven year old girl, what more do I need to say? My seven month old is desperately trying to turn mobile on me, despite my best attempts to keep her in one place (EEK!). A pipe burst last week, totally unrelated to our house remodel. And of course, we are remodeling our entire house. Ourselves. Very slowly (i.e. during nap time cuz that’s the only time my seven month old releases me from her servitude). I’m still trying to stay on top of the laundry pile, vacuuming, dishes, getting outside to exercise, and more. Needless to say, I happily welcome bedtime each evening!
While we are still working on the kids’ bathroom upstairs – today I worked on the cabinet I am building – we have finally COMPLETELY finished the downstairs half bathroom. YAY! I received the towel rack and toilet paper holder from Amazon.com and hung them a couple days ago. It is such an awesome feeling being completely done! WOOT!
Before (I never remember to take proper before pictures, so these are already slightly in DEconstruction progress):
We completely gutted the bathroom and rebuilt it from the ground up. We previously had linoleum, a pedestal sink, short toilet, towel bars and toilet paper holders falling out of the wall, and an oval mirror. We replaced it with real tile, new quarter round, a home-built wood pedestal for a new sink (also from Amazon.com), a tall mirror, a comfort height, dual flush toilet, and new towel racks. We also rewired the old single vanity light to be two eye-level sconces (my favorite part!) and painted the room. This definitely involved patching big holes in the wall, which was the scariest part, as we had never hung sheet rock before. Now, though, I welcome the job in the other rooms!
Don’t think you can do this yourself??? YOU CAN! Don’t be afraid! We learned all we did by youtubing “how tos” or by reading books from the library. Some parts were scary to begin, but now we consider ourselves old pros.
After (don’t let the picture on the right fool you, the color is a very nice taupe shade):
Of course, this is not realistic for everyone. An entire remodel is very time consuming. The bulk of my time was actually spent planning and running back and forth to Lowe’s. Most employees there know me by name now. Especially since I kind of stick out as the woman wearing a baby and buying 2x4s!
So, if you don’t have time to completely remodel your bathroom, here are my top recommendations to make it look a little more clean or up to date!
First and foremost…paint! A new coat of paint positively transforms a room. I also used primer for the first time and I will never be able to go back to painting without it. Those paints that claim to be an all-in-one with the primer included just DO NOT get the job done (and I know, because I have used them countless times). Take the time and do it right. One coat of primer goes a long way to hide the current imperfections on your wall. Depending on the paint you buy, this can cost anywhere from $30 to $60 total for a gallon of primer and a gallon of paint.
1. Replace your outlet covers. Nice, new, clean ones are $0.39 each at Lowe’s. 
2. Update the toilet paper roll holder and towel rods. You can find inexpensive ones just about anywhere. My number one recommendation….MAKE SURE THEY ARE INSTALLED IN STUDS!!! This is why we chose this toilet paper roll holder in particular. It only has one part to screw into the wall, insuring the ability to put it in a stud so it won’t pull out later. We purchased the two items below for just under $37 total online.
3. New light fixtures. These are SO EASY to install. I have installed new light fixtures in all of the houses I have owned. These sconces cost us just under $20 each. We re-used the globes from our old vanity light. so they were free!
4. Last, but not least, update your faucets! Replacing sink parts is also easier than you would think. I must say though, it is much more difficult if you are laying under a sink to do it. I don’t love that method, but it is still worth it. Chances are about 99% that what you currently have can be easily removed with a wrench. Ours pictured below was about $50 and this included the drain.
Ta-Da! I totally new room for less than $200 if you are willing to do the work yourself! Thanks for stopping by!
P.S. This post is not sponsored by Amazon.com or Lowe’s (send them an email though and maybe they WILL! heehee)…I just LIVE really enjoy shopping at Lowe’s and I swear by my Amazon.com Prime membership.
Tags: half bathroom, Marissa, paint, remodel
February 19th, 2013
you can work for me !!
February 19th, 2013
Thank you! That is definitely the best compliment I have received!