The very first thing on my “home improvements” wishlist was renovating the guest bathroom. It was just so……blah. I think what bothered me the most was the color of the walls, and the vanity. The vanity was out of style, and the sink was scuffed up, and discolored, which grossed me out. So, Andrew and I set a budget and got to work! There were things along the way that we could do ourselves (like painting and grouting), but also a few things that we needed experts for (like tiling and installing the new vanity). The whole process ended up taking a few months, mainly because I couldn’t make a decision to save my life, but we’re really happy with how everything turned out. Keep reading for the step by step details —–>
Before
After
Demo Day.
This was Andrew’s favorite part of the process – ripping everything out. I have to admit, this was pretty scary for me to watch. I couldn’t help but think to myself “what did we get ourselves into?” We just tore apart a bathroom that was technically working just fine…and now we have to put it back together. Ay. The vanity, toilet, mirror, and the existing floor all got taken out in one day. Our budget didn’t allow us to re-do the shower, so we left that alone. I didn’t like it at first, but now it’s not so bad with all the changes.
*Tip for removing a mirror —-> wrap the whole thing in tape (we used packing tape) before taking it down in order to avoid shattering.
Choose your tile and paint.
First thing first – we had to pick a new tile for the floor. I think we ended up buying 6 different tile samples at once, which we left on the floor and mulled over for a few weeks. For obvious reasons, I wanted the real Carrara Marble tiles, but they were too expensive and come to find out, that they are very porous. I was pretty bummed, but we finally narrowed down our options to a white hexagon and a marble chevron porcelain tile. We thought the hex pattern was really fun and retro, so we ended up choosing that tile with a light grey grout (FYI: never do white grout in a bathroom – it gets dirty really quick). We hired a friend to install the tile, and Andrew poured the grout himself. He is becoming quite the handyman (don’t tell him I said that)!!
*Tile tip —-> if your bathroom is tiny like ours, go with a small patterned tile. It will automatically make the room feel bigger.
As for the paint color, I was set on Alabaster by Sherwin Williams. It’s a soft white, and made the bathroom feel clean and crisp. I painted the walls myself, which was really easy and didn’t take me more than a few days. I used one full size can of paint and a lot of Frog tape!
Install the vanity and toilet.
The toilet was in good shape, so we decided to clean it and keep it. It sat in our living room while the floor was being laid, so that was interesting – ha! But we dealt 🙂
The most expensive part of this whole renovation was the vanity (gulp). I got it from Joss & Main, which gave me slight anxiety because I didn’t get to see it in person before buying it. However, Andrew and I had looked at tons of vanities and I couldn’t find anything that I really loved, so buying online was my only option. The open shelving is what sold me. It gives the vanity a modern feel, and even a bit of a beach vibe! However, little did I know how much of a PAIN this openness would actually be. Something I definitely didn’t consider before buying it was the plumbing. I thought plumbing was just one of those things that worked either way! Well, no, not even close. We had to ensure the plumbing couldn’t be seen with this new open shelf. When we tried to hook up to the water, we actually couldn’t fit the P-trap inside of the vanity. So, we had to drill a hole for the P-trap to come out of the bottom and hook into the wall. You can imagine my anxiety as I watched a hole get drilled into my brand new vanity. Luckily, it turned out fine, but certainly not ideal.
Time to decorate!
Putting the finishing touches on this bathroom took me a really long time. Andrew would yell at me once a week to go buy things so that we could make it complete. Slowly but surely, I bought a mirror, a light, a few pieces of art, a shelf, and some other decorations to make it feel cohesive.
This bathroom was quite the project, but the transformation was 100% worth it. If you want more transformation stories, check out how my kitchen turned out here. Share your renovation stories with us below – we’d love to hear them!! xoxo – Lauren