When we first moved in, our bathroom was a windowless closet of florescent lighting and stark white walls. It was gross. We couldn’t afford to spend a lot to remodel, but my darling friend Cody stepped up with a master plan to completely transform the room for under $200.
With that budget, we couldn’t afford to change any fixtures, appliances or the hideous tile. Instead we concentrated on the color scheme and decoration. Cody chose a light orange/pink paint for the walls, with white for the accents and her design for the wall. It was unique and looked great with our collection of Stars Wars figurines (yes, you can laugh). Plus the warm tone in the paint made my skin look good under all that florescent, which is pretty crucial.
After, Version I: Cosmetic Redo
Another big selling point: took less than a day to go from craptacular to spectacular!
Moral of the story: it’s possible to make a big change—and a big impact—for very little money.
However, a few years later our tub started leaking through the floor and it was suddenly time to tackle a bigger renovation. We had a larger budget of $2500 at this point, which turned out to be enough to replace the bathtub, toilet and vanity, redo the tile and paint, plus hire a contractor to do all the work.* Yay!
After, Version II: Complete Renovation
The tile was one of the most expensive and labor-intensive parts of the remodel, but totally worth it. I chose a tile that was durable rather than cheap, but luckily the square footage was small enough that it didn’t hurt our budget to upgrade to a better material.
Even though the room is small, it still took about a week for the remodel. That was not spectacular. It’s the only bathroom we have! But in the end we were pleased with how it turned out. It’s still windowless and the lighting hasn’t improved much, but at least any further renovations won’t involve much more than a can of paint.
*To be honest this was a much more expensive project because the contractor (the proper term is “junkie”) got back on the drugs and later broke into our house and robbed us. Thanks buddy. Lesson learned, we’ll delve into picking a contractor in another article…
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I’m actually pretty sure your original budget was $100, not $200! I had fun with that, but I’m glad your bathroom’s now 100% pretty.
Ha, you’re right. That’s even more impressive!