Bathroom Remodels!

Over the past 6 months, we've been doing some updating to the bathrooms in our house. Now that everything's wrapped up it seemed like a good time to share!


Guest Bathroom:
This bathroom has a really nice jetted tub (not shown)--no improvements needed there, except that the overflow drain is a little low and doesn't let the tub fill up enough to really soak, so we bought this drain cover to fix that problem.  Wall and trim paint were already great too, very beachy.

But it had NO storage.  Granted, it's a guest bath, but you still need SOMETHING for towels, toiletries, a bathroom bag, etc.  And the pedestal sink didn't leave much space for setting things out either.

So we pulled out the pedestal sink (sold it in a garage sale), and replaced it with this cabinet style sink.  The faucet was good, just needed a vinegar soak to get rid of some calcium buildup.  We also added a small shelf in the corner.

The paint on the mirror was chipping, so I got this gorgeous mirror at Hobby Lobby for 50% off (waited for Decor to be on sale).  And we replaced the light fixture with one from a set we got at Menards on Black Friday (the matching towel bar, toilet paper holder, and hand towel hook went upstairs in the master bath). Added a beachy turtle painting from a V.I.Paint class I went to a couple years ago.

Total Cost: $190

Master Bathroom (aka The Hubs' Bathroom):

Yes, we have separate bathrooms. It's the secret to a happy marriage, I promise you. Well...one of the secrets, along with open communication and trust.

Here, we liked light fixture...but that's about it.  The molded solid surface countertop had a gouge and a crack in it, and the room really needed an update.  We looked into just swapping out the countertops, but since the sink isn't centered, we were going to have to have something custom-cut.  We went down to the Home Show to get ideas...and that's where we met Brandy & Jared with Over The Top Resurfacing.  If not for going to that event, we would never have even realized that this is a thing!  Did you know?  They cover your existing counters with a durable spray-on porcelain enamel. Five year warranty.  And there are SO. MANY. COLORS.   That was literally the hardest part--picking the colors.  They did a free estimate, and the winner was obvious:

Manufactured Quartz	$2600 (2 sinks)
Cultured Granite	$660 (one sink)
Corian Solid Surface	$500 (one sink)
Resurfacing	$1300 (both countertops AND showers)

Doing something with the showers hadn't really even been on our radar. But once we realized we could get it ALL done for half the price of quartz, it seemed too perfect. My shower was in OK condition, but The Hubs' had some staining on the floor that we couldn't get rid of.

We opted for Latte on the countertops, and Cappucino in the showers.  I would have loved to do the Latte in the showers as well, but the lighting in our showers isn't great, so a dark wall color just doesn't work, unless you like not being able to see while you shave.

It was a 2 day process, and they took care of everything.  We just removed the faucets and cleaned the counters the night before.  I worked from home so I could be here if they needed anything.  It's a 3 stage process--a base color first, then they do the speckled part that makes it look like stone, and then a clear sealant on top.  48 hours of cure time (so we used the downstairs guest bathroom during that time).  

Then we swapped out the faucet, and the wall hardware (towel bar, etc.) so that it would match the bronze light fixture.
And The Hubs painted the cabinets, and added knobs that matched the bronze fixture and wall hardware. (I helped pick out the paint color.  I was useless after that.)

Last, The Hubs bought some wood trim and painted it the same color as the cabinets, glued it to the mirror & clamped it on until dry.  It really helped elevate the look of the mirror.

Total Cost: $780

My Bathroom

My bathroom is pretty small (it's the main floor hall bathroom) and I share it with the kiddo.  But it works just fine.  

Panorama Shot from Before.

As mentioned above, we got the counter and the shower resurfaced, and The Hubs repainted the cabinet and added the mirror trim in this bathroom as well. 

Totally looks like stone. I love it.

Lighting: The vanity light above the sink was gorgeous so no updates needed there, and it has a window so there's some nice natural light if needed.  The bathroom had a fan, but no overhead light, so we replaced the fan with a fan/light combo.  Also, we swapped out the bulbs in the vanity light from 40W soft whites to 60W clear bulbs, which made it a lot brighter.

Shower: Before these updates, it was SO DARK in my shower.  I had a navy blue shower curtain and a patterned plastic liner, so no light was penetrating.  But then...the kiddo managed to rip a hole in the shower curtain, so I figured a more sheer update would allow more light to get in. We also swapped out the shower head with a wide-head detachable model (because the detachable comes in handy for when we need to rinse the kiddo off quickly, or when we had our pup for giving him baths). 

Hardware: We swapped out the faucet, and the wall hardware, so that they were brushed nickel like the lighting fixture instead of chrome, and added cabinet pulls to the vanity doors.

Cost for this room: $860

Total cost for 3 bathrooms:  $1,830 ($1300 of which was the resurfacing of the counters and showers)

It's amazing how such small changes can make a huge difference!