How to Transform Your Bathroom on a Budget

When we moved into our home four years ago, something that almost made me turn and run in the other direction was the guest bathroom. When I say it was horrendous, I mean HORRENDOUS, MORTIFYING, REPULSIVE all in that order. It was the most outdated thing that I had ever laid my eyes on.

The flooring looked like one big sticker that was just plopped on to the ground. The vanity was unfinished and the walls had a border at the top that looked like it was finger-painted by a child. Now that sounds bad? No, that was not worst part . . . Wait until you saw the walls. There was a dark red/maroon tile all on the lower half of the walls making the already small bathroom appear even tinier. It was the most unappealing room in the home and I wanted to go back in time and beg the designer of the bathroom not to do it.

Too bad I didn’t own a time machine, but one thing I do own is a creative mind!

Below, I will give list some tips and tricks to renovate your bathroom and transform it into something that you love without breaking the bank. Links will also be included on where I purchased the items!

1. Set a Budget

What held me back from renovating sooner was my budget. I did some research and found out that $10,000 was the average price to remodel a bathroom in our area – something that I definitely did not want to spend as I like to save as much as possible having two girls and owning a home (anything can go wrong). My budget was $6,000.

2. Get Inspired

What kind of theme do you want? What will the color scheme be? These are all questions to ask yourself to figure out what your style is. Go on Pinterest and pin photos to help inspire you with your renovations. It’s difficult to stick with a budget if you don’t know what you like. I pinned probably 50 photos before I was able to narrow them down to a few. This helped me envision what I wanted the bathroom to look like.

3. Price Items

Another great trick that saved me from overspending was looking into various stores and pricing items that I liked. Thanks to Pinterest, I already knew what I wanted for the floors – gray wood tile in a herringbone pattern. The second I saw it, I was obsessed. I visited websites and stores and wrote down the prices of all of the items that I wanted to use in order to stick with my budget. I used “Notes” on my iPhone.

 

4. Narrow Down Your Items

Unfortunately, we can’t have it all. I mean unless you have an unlimited budget, then you do you boo boo. Sadly, this doesn’t apply to all of us and it is necessary for you to narrow down your options which will prevent you from going over budget. Initially, I wanted a frameless glass door but ended up crossing it off my list because it was way too expensive. I was more in love with the tile that I had picked out and I did not want to opt for something less expensive just for the darn glass door that would probably be a pain to clean every day anyway. It wasn’t all that hard talking myself out of it once I started to think logically. The bottom line is, you can’t have it all and you will have to choose between items.

5. Visit Discount Stores

For the decor, I visited discount stores such as Home Goods, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Kohls (with their coupons of course). I ended up spending a lot less than if I were to shop exclusively at Target. I also ended up with a bunch of unique items.

Now for the fun part – PICTURES!

These are a few of the before photos. I wish I was able to capture photos before my uncle and his coworker started working on the bathroom, but they began a week earlier than expected. As you can see, the lower half that was ripped apart was where the dark/red maroon was tiled to the wall. This sight made me happy, because I knew I was on my way to my dream bathroom!

AFTER! I was in complete love and this is probably my favorite room of the house.

The end result with all of the decor added!

List of items:

Gray Wood Floor Tile (herringbone) – Floor and Decor

Shower Wall Tile – Home Depot

Toilet – Home Depot

Vanity – Home Depot

Vanity Faucet – Home Depot

Shower Head and Tub Handles – Home Depot

Mirror – TJ Maxx

Sea Animal Pictures – Kohls

Wanderlust Picture – Bells Outlet

Blue Coral – Bells Outlet

Mermaid – Marshalls

Octopus – Home Goods

Towels – Target

Square shelves – Target

 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and are on your way to a beautiful, budget-friendly bathroom!

xo J/Kay