Back in April of 2011, I tackled a horrific guest bathroom in our 1905 Victorian townhouse we had bought only a few months before in Boston, MA. This house would later be known as The Money Pit, because of the nightmarish problems I encountered with every project.
I was a BRAND SPANKING NEW DIY'r and I had never done a project anymore complicated than painting without the help of my dad. I hated this bathroom soooo much, it was the push I needed to attempt my first plumbing project. It was the success here that led me to tackle bigger and 'scarier' projects. This was the project that started it all!
The medicine cabinet was horrible and stuck out way too far (I would later find out why!) and the dressing room lights were extremely dated.
The vanity was orangey oak, which had gotten water damaged over the years. Here is a photo of it once I removed it, you can see exactly where it sat next to the tub. Gross. Here is the full tour of the "before" from back in 2011.
My budget for this makeover (which was pretty much an entirely new bathroom except for floors, tub and toilet) was $1000. The vast bulk of the money ($550) went to having the walls and tub surround professionally reglazed pure white(since there was NO SAVING that ugly tile.)
$550 well spent!
I painted the rest of the room Martha Stewart's Brown Alpaca from Home Depot. (That paint brand is no longer available but you can still get the Martha Stewart paint line color in Glidden at Home Depot) .
I also added a new white stock vanity, faucet, shower curtain and towel bars. I also had grand plans to just wire in a new light fixture, but what I found when I removed the medicine cabinet made that impossible (especially for a first time DIY'r!)
The previous remodeler had illegally spliced Romex wiring into the house's original knob and tube. It was a fire waiting to happen. And they hadn't even put in a junction box, just hid the splice behind the cabinet. NOT COOL! I had to hire an electrician for that part of the project.
So how did it look when it was completely finished?
Here is a breakdown of my costs:
$550 Tile Reglazing
$148 Vanity
$36 Faucet
$28 Wall Paint
$20 Door Paint and Door Knob
$44 Plumbing Supplies (piping, trap etc.)
$93 Light Fixture
$47 Towel Bars, TP Holder, Shelf, Coat hooks
$30 Mirror
$3 Trim Molding (around vanity)
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$999 + $299 for electrician<---- b="">1298
The original reveal can be found here.
I would say it was a VERY VERY successful transformation, especially for a first time DIY'r!
Sharing at these parties.
Love it! and can you email me with more details on the reglazing? Sounds like exactly what I need to get rid of the ugly orange tile in my master bath...
ReplyDeleteHey Anne,
ReplyDeleteThis is the company I used to reglaze my tile (obviously they are local to Boston, but you can google "Tile Reglazing" and your area and check reviews on yelp.
http://baystaterefinishing.com
You can see there that the refinishing site has pretty good explanations of how it works, but basically they clean the surface and etch it (sometimes called the "bonding surface") and then they spray on a new coat of enamel.
It has the high gloss look of tile. They do reglaze all the grout, so if your grout is in disrepair it will need to be fixed before reglazing.
The other option is that there are DIY kits to paint your own tile (with a brush or roller), but I wanted it to be sprayed on.. it gives the best finish. Plus you don't' get the same sort of bonding with the DIY kits.
They do use some pretty nasty chemicals and the odor takes a few days to dissipate, and you do have to be careful using highly abrasive cleansers, you can't use anything like suction cups on it, and you shouldn't let any shampoos, soaps etc sit directly on the surface or it will eventually discolor it.
Compared to the cost of rip out and replacement, it is totally worth it. You don't have to be a little more careful with it once you have it painted, but as a transitional solution or in low traffic bathrooms (this was our guest bath, it didn't get used often at all) I would recommend it in a heartbeat.
Kim
Looks GREAT!! Thanks for sharing on DIY Sunday Showcase! I'm gonna pin this one on our board!
ReplyDeleteShelly
minettesmaze.blogspot.com
Your tile turned out great... the whole bathroom did! I'm featuring it in this week's Power of Paint Party!
ReplyDeleteWow Great! Thank you for this post.
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/1j1udXf
great job i love everything you did or had done...don't people who do things badly then hide it just tick you off they do me ...thanks for sharing following you on home talk xx
ReplyDeleteYes! But I don't know who is to blame here.. the people we bought it from.. or the people before them.. or their shoddy electrician. You just never know!
ReplyDelete