Over our winter break, B and I completely renovated our bathroom. It was a PROJECT. We replaced everything, but the tub and toilet. However, now our bathroom is so nice and I’m in love. But when it comes to renovating rooms, not everyone can do it themselves or pay to replace everything. For our bathroom, we spent about $2,000 – and it’s a small bathroom and we did it ourselves!
But if you’re someone that is wanting to do it yourself, here’s some tips that we learned from our experience:
- Budget everything out, then add $500. Seriously, go through Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon, wherever you are getting your items and budget it out, then add some money! The number of unexpected costs that we had to pay for was crazy, so be prepared for it!
- Double and triple check items when you get them. We had so many mishaps where something wasn’t right, or the right amount, and then we had to run to a store to fix it, when we could have been actually working on the bathroom.
- Be prepared for it to take longer than expected. We thought it would just take a weekend, and then two months later, we are still making little fixes and tweaks to things to get them just right. It takes time, so recognize that! However, do all the work over a long weekend or spring break!
But – if you are someone that doesn’t want to spend a lot of money, or you can’t rip the flooring or walls out, here are 13 ways to change up your bathroom without breaking the bank! When we updated our bathroom, we did a drastic change to the finish of the bathroom items – we went from silver to brushed nickel. It’s so gorgeous, so if you’re wanting something different, look at the darker items! But make sure you change everything and not have a mix of finishes!
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1. New curtain rod and curtain!
I absolutely LOVE a curved curtain rod! It just opens up the shower so much, so if you don’t have one, I highly recommend one! And try to get one that stays up based on tension, not having to drill into the wall, like this one!
To go with that curtain rod, get a new shower curtain too! I’ve always liked blue in the bathroom, but all I ask is that you please steer clear of brown or yellow – ew.
2. Update the sink faucet!
Updating the bathroom sink faucet can give such a face lift to a bathroom! Just make sure to get the right kind – a single handle if it’s one handle for hot/cold water, 2 handle centerset if it has two handles, but is one piece, or a 2 handle widespread (so it comes in 3 pieces!). This was one of the things we had to send back because I got the wrong one – oops!
3. New shelves!
Updating the shelving in the bathroom is something that can immediately transform a bathroom. When we first got into our house, we had a steel shelf system, that we could also hang our towels on. However, it was cheap looking and our stuff always fell off of it. So, we updated to some rustic, industrial looking floating shelves that have a security bar around it (so nothing falls off!) and changed how we hung our towels with some nice hooks!
4. Change how you hang towels up!
Just as I mentioned above, we went from a towel bar to hooks that just look more sophisticated. Or you can switch the other way – hooks to a bar! Whichever you prefer 🙂
5. New storage!
This can be as big as completely changing your vanity to bringing in some cute baskets to hide away items. We changed our vanity to one that has a pull out drawer on the bottom and then also got an over the toilet cabinet that is bolted to the wall. Plus the floating shelves! It’s the perfect amount of storage for us. Take a look around your bathroom, do you want more or need less? Change it up!
6. Change the cabinet hardware!
If you’ve looked at your storage and think it’s just right, or even if you’re going to change some of it, you can also look at the hardware on your cabinets! Mainly the handles are what you can change. I found some that are super unique on Amazon and I’m thinking about doing as an added step to our renovation, but keep it a secret from B for right now!
7. New shower head!
One of the main reasons why we wanted to renovate the bathroom was because we wanted a new fancy shower head! I know, it seems so little, like why do so much for this little thing, but there were other things involved too! But a new shower head is a great start to feel like a brand new bathroom. A fancy waterfall shower head or a handheld shower head. Plus so many other different types of shower heads too!
8. Update the lighting fixture(s)!
It seems like so many bathrooms have the same lighting fixture, so we changed ours! In fact, I was just starting to order all our different bathroom items, when I found this gorgeous lighting fixture. It ties our bathroom together so well and it’s probably one of my favorite changes that we did to the bathroom.
9. Upgrade your shower storage!
Changing how you store items in your shower is another way to change how your bathroom looks and operates. I personally hate shower caddies, that hang over the shower head. I don’t know why, I just do not like lol. So, we used a tension rod storage system in ours, and I absolutely love it! It has gaps so water doesn’t pool up in it, and everything fits so well in it! There’s plenty of space for all our stuff, and then some!
10. Change the toilet paper holder!
How you store toilet paper and where it is at in your bathroom can change your bathroom in such a little way. Plus, while researching different styles, I’ve learned that there are so many different toilet paper holders! There’s one out there that will peak your interest!
11. Change the outlet and plug covers!
Updating the outlet and plug covers has a huge difference! Changing from the traditional eggshell/white to something more unexpected will drastically change how your bathroom looks. My husband was on one of his many trips to Lowe’s during this renovation, he found some that you would screw in and then had a magnet cover so the screws don’t show! They look amazing with all of our brushed nickel and bronze colored fixtures. I highly recommend them!
12. Paint!
Now painting is hard and time consuming. It’s a little more elbow grease than the others on this list, but it’s something that will be a huge update to your bathroom. We painted ours from a tan/taupe color to a gray color. Matches our blue and dark fixtures so much better!
13. Deep clean!
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money or can’t change as much as you’d like, do a deep clean on the bathroom! Sometimes just cleaning a space can bring such a face lift to an area. Whenever I look at a room in the house and am not too content, I just clean it up and I feel so much better!
1 Comment
These are some great tips for an upgrade on the bathroom without breaking bank!