I talk a lot on this blog about DIY updates, inexpensive upgrades, and not passing on homes that require a little TLC. I do all of that because I personally find a lot of value in saving the money, making your own equity in a home, and putting your own spin on things.
I've had a chance to compare two bathroom projects in my own home. We are finishing up our master bathroom renovation 4 years after we renovated our hall bathroom. Our house is a mid-century split and it came with all of the wonderful mid-century bathroom tile that you surely know well.
We had a blue bathroom...
A fuchsia half bath with carpet (eww...)
We had a light pink master bathroom with a corner shower....
We had/have a yellow guest bathroom....
The reason we were able to afford a house with 4 toilets was because they were dated, and for that I am very grateful!
And these bathrooms were SO WELL MADE. I know there are some people out there who hate gutting these mid-century baths, even if they are in the minority, because they are so well done and the craftsmanship is incredible.
But, we wanted our own look so we have redone the half bathroom, blue bath, pink bath and at least de-wallpapered our butter-yellow guest bath.
But how we tackled the blue Hall bath and how we've redone our master are at completely opposite ends of the renovation spectrum and I wanted to take a moment to compare the two and how they played out....
Cost: $2500
We DIY'd this bathroom top to bottom which is why for a gut renovation, it was cheap. We also didn't move any plumbing; we kept the original layout. Further, its a small bathroom so material costs weren't massive.
We did all the demo, tearing down pretty much everything but the upper walls and ceiling. We also left the original tub. This not only saved us money (plus the cost of hiring help to get it out because its a BEAST) but we knew the original tub was much nicer quality than anything we would pay to put in. I worked with the blue tub, knowing it was an eventual kids' bathroom. However, for resale, I will definitely recoat the tub with a white coat (a few hundred bucks). For kids, though, the recoat layer will chip with use and thus we will hold off on that.
We had to replace a few aspects of the old plumbing. The key here is that my husband has learned the basics of plumbing and has had experience before. For the repairs needed, if someone needed help, you would have to pay a plumber on top of our costs.
We also didn't move the light above the mirror, though this would have been easy for us as my husband also can do electrical work.
We added all the new drywall, cement board and waterproofing systems and then came the tiling.
We saved money by using a standard white subway tile. It was a simple look, the best product to use when learning how to tile, and also is SO much cheaper than marble or other natural stone.
For the floor, we used an inexpensive marble hexagon mosaic tile from Home Depot.
We could have spent a lot on the vanity, but again, because it was a kids' bathroom, we didn't want to put in anything super lux. So we bought the Hemnes vanity from Ikea with its solid-surface top. Its not a luxury look, but it looks nice and is SO easy to clean - huge in a kids bathroom.
We went with a Home Depot mirror and faucet in nickel - which is timeless but also not trendy so it is less expensive. We repurposed a vanity light we had used in their previously as a temp upgrade, knowing we could change it or upgrade later.
The only thing in this bathroom that we did that was unique and special was using salvaged Victorian tiles (from Philadelphia Salvage) as a border tile. It offered something a little more unique and less cookie-cutter but was still very cheap as it was salvaged tile.
Any DIY regrets?
Nope! I think there are a few, tiny tiling imperfections but we only see them over time. The average person wouldn't notice. I made the rookie (not yet a mom) mistake of using white grout on the floor. It looked gorgeous for about a month and now, especially with use, we should have gone light gray, but overall, doing this bathroom as a DIY was a win.
Cost: $15,000 and counting...
We aren't quite done with this one. Its wrapping up but we are probably about a month away from a finished product. However, we are at a point we can learn from what we've done and share!
I knew this project was going to cost more no matter what. We were moving plumbing, lots of it, and I had planned on using some nicer materials. We started with a tiny bathroom with a corner shower. Now we still have a tiny bathroom but with a big shower!
Since we have a toddler this time, it seemed almost impossible unless my husband took off a month of work while my son stayed in daycare that we could DIY this bathroom. Small renovations are totally doable with little ones. Full gut renovations over the weekends are much, much harder without help.
So we basically had to double our cost with paying for labor. Like most renovation projects, half of the cost was in labor. Here we actually did pretty well with that, paying about $6000 for help. We are still doing some of the things ourselves, but its minimal.
The big change here, other than cosmetics, was fitting in a bigger shower. The shower initially was a small (approx 3'x3') corner shower stall with walls and a linen closet taking up the rest of that side of the bathroom. By moving the door to the bathroom over about 5", which we had just enough space for, we could accommodate a long (72") shower along the entire side wall of the bathroom.
This not only required demo, which was necessary regardless, but relocating plumbing and reframing the door to the bathroom. It ultimately wasn't a massive request, but it did make the project more costly for multiple reasons.
If we didn't mind the smaller shower and needed the linen storage, we could have used the footprint of the existing shower an put in new glass walls to keep it from feeling small. That would have also limited demo and the cost of tile and expensive, custom shower doors.
It also meant we needed to limit our vanities to narrow depth (18-19" deep) to fit in with the newly moved door frame.
In other words, expanding the shower made everything much more expensive. But for us, it was worth it in this instance.
We also elected to use marble tile in the (now larger) shower and a basalt on the floors (plus custom shower curb to match). These were much more expensive materials than a ceramic tile you can find at Home Depot. We bought probably mid-grade, meaning they weren't the most expensive products out there (no handcut tiles or special, imported marble) but it wasn't as cheap.
I also chose a more trendy metal combo - an antique brass and matte black which is significantly more expensive right now than nickel. I upgraded to a 3-head shower system from Delta which was costly. I could have elected a polished brass from another company with fewer options at about half the price.
Then we added heated floors. The system itself was cheap, but it added labor, so probably an additional $1000 (maybe a bit less) to the whole project.
We moved lighting, added more overheads, changed the medicine cabinet and bought a more expensive one (could have chosen something cheaper but I was looking for a VERY specific size).
And the vanity.... I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so we are making our own from a dresser. I could have bought a second hand thrift one, but it wasn't the look I wanted. So I fell in love with a dresser from Crate and Barrel for $800 we are hacking up and making into a vanity, with custom cut quartz top.
We did save money on the walls by not putting up tile and cutting and installing board and batten ourselves, but that was the only cost-savings we struck.
In other words, in this bathroom you can see how the cost of labor, the change in floor plan and the increased custom products have made this such an expensive project in comparison to our hall bathroom.
If you are thinking of renovating a bathroom, DIY or not, hopefully this is a helpful breakdown on costs, options and how one person's bathroom can cost a little or a lot based on the decisions they make!
I've had a chance to compare two bathroom projects in my own home. We are finishing up our master bathroom renovation 4 years after we renovated our hall bathroom. Our house is a mid-century split and it came with all of the wonderful mid-century bathroom tile that you surely know well.
We had a blue bathroom...
A fuchsia half bath with carpet (eww...)
We had a light pink master bathroom with a corner shower....
We had/have a yellow guest bathroom....
The reason we were able to afford a house with 4 toilets was because they were dated, and for that I am very grateful!
And these bathrooms were SO WELL MADE. I know there are some people out there who hate gutting these mid-century baths, even if they are in the minority, because they are so well done and the craftsmanship is incredible.
But, we wanted our own look so we have redone the half bathroom, blue bath, pink bath and at least de-wallpapered our butter-yellow guest bath.
But how we tackled the blue Hall bath and how we've redone our master are at completely opposite ends of the renovation spectrum and I wanted to take a moment to compare the two and how they played out....
Blue Hall Bathroom
Cost: $2500
We DIY'd this bathroom top to bottom which is why for a gut renovation, it was cheap. We also didn't move any plumbing; we kept the original layout. Further, its a small bathroom so material costs weren't massive.
Ahh!
We did all the demo, tearing down pretty much everything but the upper walls and ceiling. We also left the original tub. This not only saved us money (plus the cost of hiring help to get it out because its a BEAST) but we knew the original tub was much nicer quality than anything we would pay to put in. I worked with the blue tub, knowing it was an eventual kids' bathroom. However, for resale, I will definitely recoat the tub with a white coat (a few hundred bucks). For kids, though, the recoat layer will chip with use and thus we will hold off on that.
We had to replace a few aspects of the old plumbing. The key here is that my husband has learned the basics of plumbing and has had experience before. For the repairs needed, if someone needed help, you would have to pay a plumber on top of our costs.
We also didn't move the light above the mirror, though this would have been easy for us as my husband also can do electrical work.
We added all the new drywall, cement board and waterproofing systems and then came the tiling.
We saved money by using a standard white subway tile. It was a simple look, the best product to use when learning how to tile, and also is SO much cheaper than marble or other natural stone.
For the floor, we used an inexpensive marble hexagon mosaic tile from Home Depot.
We could have spent a lot on the vanity, but again, because it was a kids' bathroom, we didn't want to put in anything super lux. So we bought the Hemnes vanity from Ikea with its solid-surface top. Its not a luxury look, but it looks nice and is SO easy to clean - huge in a kids bathroom.
We went with a Home Depot mirror and faucet in nickel - which is timeless but also not trendy so it is less expensive. We repurposed a vanity light we had used in their previously as a temp upgrade, knowing we could change it or upgrade later.
The only thing in this bathroom that we did that was unique and special was using salvaged Victorian tiles (from Philadelphia Salvage) as a border tile. It offered something a little more unique and less cookie-cutter but was still very cheap as it was salvaged tile.
Any DIY regrets?
Nope! I think there are a few, tiny tiling imperfections but we only see them over time. The average person wouldn't notice. I made the rookie (not yet a mom) mistake of using white grout on the floor. It looked gorgeous for about a month and now, especially with use, we should have gone light gray, but overall, doing this bathroom as a DIY was a win.
Our Pink Master Bathroom
Cost: $15,000 and counting...
We aren't quite done with this one. Its wrapping up but we are probably about a month away from a finished product. However, we are at a point we can learn from what we've done and share!
I knew this project was going to cost more no matter what. We were moving plumbing, lots of it, and I had planned on using some nicer materials. We started with a tiny bathroom with a corner shower. Now we still have a tiny bathroom but with a big shower!
Since we have a toddler this time, it seemed almost impossible unless my husband took off a month of work while my son stayed in daycare that we could DIY this bathroom. Small renovations are totally doable with little ones. Full gut renovations over the weekends are much, much harder without help.
So we basically had to double our cost with paying for labor. Like most renovation projects, half of the cost was in labor. Here we actually did pretty well with that, paying about $6000 for help. We are still doing some of the things ourselves, but its minimal.
The big change here, other than cosmetics, was fitting in a bigger shower. The shower initially was a small (approx 3'x3') corner shower stall with walls and a linen closet taking up the rest of that side of the bathroom. By moving the door to the bathroom over about 5", which we had just enough space for, we could accommodate a long (72") shower along the entire side wall of the bathroom.
This not only required demo, which was necessary regardless, but relocating plumbing and reframing the door to the bathroom. It ultimately wasn't a massive request, but it did make the project more costly for multiple reasons.
If we didn't mind the smaller shower and needed the linen storage, we could have used the footprint of the existing shower an put in new glass walls to keep it from feeling small. That would have also limited demo and the cost of tile and expensive, custom shower doors.
It also meant we needed to limit our vanities to narrow depth (18-19" deep) to fit in with the newly moved door frame.
In other words, expanding the shower made everything much more expensive. But for us, it was worth it in this instance.
We also elected to use marble tile in the (now larger) shower and a basalt on the floors (plus custom shower curb to match). These were much more expensive materials than a ceramic tile you can find at Home Depot. We bought probably mid-grade, meaning they weren't the most expensive products out there (no handcut tiles or special, imported marble) but it wasn't as cheap.
I also chose a more trendy metal combo - an antique brass and matte black which is significantly more expensive right now than nickel. I upgraded to a 3-head shower system from Delta which was costly. I could have elected a polished brass from another company with fewer options at about half the price.
Then we added heated floors. The system itself was cheap, but it added labor, so probably an additional $1000 (maybe a bit less) to the whole project.
We moved lighting, added more overheads, changed the medicine cabinet and bought a more expensive one (could have chosen something cheaper but I was looking for a VERY specific size).
And the vanity.... I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so we are making our own from a dresser. I could have bought a second hand thrift one, but it wasn't the look I wanted. So I fell in love with a dresser from Crate and Barrel for $800 we are hacking up and making into a vanity, with custom cut quartz top.
We did save money on the walls by not putting up tile and cutting and installing board and batten ourselves, but that was the only cost-savings we struck.
In other words, in this bathroom you can see how the cost of labor, the change in floor plan and the increased custom products have made this such an expensive project in comparison to our hall bathroom.
If you are thinking of renovating a bathroom, DIY or not, hopefully this is a helpful breakdown on costs, options and how one person's bathroom can cost a little or a lot based on the decisions they make!
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