It’s finally happened. My bathroom remodel is finished. I haven’t figured out how I’m going to decorate it yet, but the actual work is done. I’m so thrilled with how it came out. My eldest son did almost all the work and he did a fantastic job! Now, it is really the only pretty room in my house. I find myself going in there just to sit and be happy with the prettiness! Any of you who have had really ugly rooms in your house will understand! 😀

Start with a budget

I did a web design job and with the payment from it, I began to plan my bathroom. I had a vision in my head for years of what I wanted to do. I had to alter my plans when I found out that my plumbing structure couldn’t be done within my budget. That’s the thing that is essential in any revamping in the home.

STICK TO YOUR BUDGET.

Projects will always grow. You attempt to do one thing and a problem crops up requiring more work, and more money. This might mean rethinking your original plans. For me it meant dropping the plan for a pedestal sink and go with a traditional one. But, God was so sweet and I ended up actually getting one cheaper by $20.

Now, some of you may have unlimited funds, and that is great. I did not. I had very limited funds and could NOT go over the budget – if I did, it would have cut out grocery money. So sticking to the budget was my #1 priority.

Have a plan for which you have “counted the cost”.

From the time I got my mental vision, I began to search out the cost of the items I wanted to include. I priced bead board (I needed 3 sheets) and baseboard and a bead board cap. The man at the store (Menards) was super helpful in guiding me to the less expensive but still good quality for a bathroom items. And I got primer and paint on sale. Because I had planned long in advance, I was able to watch for sale patterns and purchase accordingly.

The most expensive item in the whole project was the plumber. We didn’t have shut off valves for the sink, and that NEEDED to be added. So that was both a remodel project and general house upkeep, so I split the cost between the 2 budget areas. And we worked out the timing so that he could add the shut off valves AND hook up our sink at the same time. It didn’t end up costing extra because it all fell under the one minimum house call charge.

Don’t be afraid to wait to get what you want.

Do you know how difficult it is to get a mirror to fit a small bathroom wall?

Menards had mirrors starting at $50 – but nothing like I wanted. The one I wanted was $90. No way am I going to spend 1/4 of my budget on a mirror!

I started scouring the thrift stores and Walmart. I couldn’t find it. I even waited to write this post because I wanted my mirror first.

I finally decided to DIY it. I bought (and will return tomorrow) some molding to glue around a plain mirror. I found a really small one that would work (I wanted a larger one) at a thrift store. But I decided to check out my local glass maker. They suggested that I look in a thrift store for a picture frame rather than a mirror. They even suggested the one across the street. Well, God was so SWEET! I went right across the street and found a picture frame that was the perfect size! Crossed the street again and the glass maker was able to glue a mirror into the frame. All for less than $25.

Accept gifts.

Some dear friends from church were remodeling their bathroom at the same time. They had some extra floor tiles (exactly what I was looking for) and some grout for in between to make it look like real ceramic tile. They offered me their extras!

What a blessing. It was TRULY exactly what I had been looking for! I was so delighted, both by their generosity and by the Lord’s loving care to me. My floor looks amazing and matches with the colors in the bathroom perfectly.

Make do with what you have.

I had a vision in my mind for a boxed area next to the cabinet. It covered the return vent pipe for the hallway. I thought I’d build shelves on it. So I was looking at laminated shelving planks. But then I remembered that we had wood in the basement. Of course this wood has been sitting in my humid limestone basement since before we moved in. I had no idea what it was from or for. And I had no idea if it would work at all.

My son brought up one of the planks (that turned out to be nice solid wood that was in perfect shape). So, I decided that I’d forego the shelves and just put a board on top of this box to look like a little bench. When it was cut and installed it looked so great that I decided not to paint it but just oil it. My goodness does it look great!! It holds a small basket for the hand towels.

Here’s the cost break down.

• bead board – $58
• cap – $8
• baseboard – $15
• primer – $20
• paint – $25
• sink & cabinet – $68
• faucet – $29
• flooring – FREE
• mirror – $24
• ceiling tiles – $45
• plumber – $70 (remodel portion)TOTAL: $362

A picture is worth a 1,000 words!

Here are the before pictures.

And the after.

Thanks for letting me share this wonderful project with you all! And now it’s time for my weekly link-up. So come join the party and share your encouraging posts with all of us!

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