Hello lovelies! Things have been a little slow on the sewing front, but your interest in our home improvements since I posted our living room and dining room renovations, has inspired me to share our bathroom project.
First, let me start with a disclaimer: this is not our dream bathroom, not by far. Compared to the rest of our house, the bathroom is pretty modest, but we don't currently have the funds to gut it and start again. So we set out to achieve maximum effect with minimum budget!
We decided to leave the fairly inoffensive suite and wall tiles for now, but the shabby blue walls/ceiling and the depressing lino flooring really had to go. So we lightened the walls and ceiling for a brighter look, and we went for modern-looking flooring.
We made some other subtle, yet significant changes too. We painted the wooden sideboards/door-frame white, varnished the door in a slightly darker shade, replaced the bathscreen with a slicker one, added some simple storage, and added some life in the form of plants.
I hope you agree that despite no major or structural changes, we've managed to transform our little bathroom. And it really was DIY on a budget, costing us less than £200 for the whole lot!
- Our most expensive purchase was the £99 semi-frameless bathscreen from Homebase.
- Our best bargain was the flooring, also from Homebase. We paid a mere £12 for a pack of 36 textured vinyl tiles (sadly out of stock), an 80% discount on the original price! They were expertly installed (laid sounds so wrong) by the boyfriend's dad...our DIY guru and saviour!
- The paint was on offer at Wilko's and we used Frosted Steel on the walls, Pure Brilliant White on the ceiling and Quick Dry Satinwood on the woodwork.
- Finally, we got our functional storage from Argos (here and here) - we're toying with the idea of adding a wall cabinet above the toilet, but I tend to favour minimalism in decor.
- The wood varnish we had leftover from other projects and the aloe vera plant and orchid were gifts.
What do you think to our bathroom DIY on a budget? Are you working on any home improvements at the moment?
You've done a great job! Really refreshed the room. It's nice this time of year to get your home sorted and enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Christina, it sure is now when home DIY comes together!
DeleteWell done good job. The floor makes all the difference. What's left to do now?
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise, I agree on the floor front! We've still got plenty to do...kitchen, hallways (upstairs and down), and the remaining 3 bedrooms!
DeleteNicely done! The new flooring makes a huge difference :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, flooring is king ;o)
DeleteCan you come round and do mine next, please? Looks great x
ReplyDeleteAnything for you Tilly! ;o)
DeleteLove the bath screen. We just bought a new house with the same color blue bathroom walls. I'll have to show my husband your improvements. Maybe then he will agree to painting, it makes such a difference.
ReplyDeleteHaha, how funny! I think the walls alone wouldn't have been so bad, but our ceiling was painted to match :o( Good luck either way!
DeleteIt looks lovely -simple and elegant a real transformation! I'm gearing up to doing quite a bit of DIY when we move house later this year...:-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Caroline, you're described exactly what we were going for! Oooh, how exciting about your move :o)
DeleteNice improvement! Having recently inherited my grandparents' house, I've started some renovating with the laundry. Probably working on the bathroom next as well, with minimal things like flooring, painting, and changing door knobs and light fixtures. Minimal things really do have an impact, don't they?
ReplyDeleteWow, how lovely that you can breathe a new lease of life into a beloved home! And yes, small changes can make a huge difference...good luck to you!
DeleteOoh - such small changes can really have a big impact. Love your new, refreshed bathroom. :D
ReplyDeleteThey really can, Liz! I'm loving following along your hardcore renovations!
DeleteThe flooring and the white paint make a HUGE difference! We've just replaced our toilet in the downstairs water closet. While we had the old toilet removed, I painted the room and bought some new towels to spruce it up a bit. We still need to replace the vanity and sink, but that is a project for another day.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle! Accessories like towels, plants, storage etc make a huge difference for sure. Hope you get to tackle the rest of the bathroom soon :o)
DeleteI love the flooring Marie, it looks great!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sabs!
DeleteOhhh, I love your house reno updates! The pain (especially around the door) and the new floor makes such a massive difference :D Tres impressive!
ReplyDeleteThanks lovely, very kind of you!
DeleteI am so glad to see someone actually keeping what's good and only doing the nescessary things. There's far too much wasting going on. You've done a brilliant job, and subtle things go a long long way! Well done you, and an inspiration to many, budget or not!
ReplyDeleteAaaw, thank you...what a lovely comment! It is indeed nice to preserve where possible, we personally try not to be too wasteful!
DeleteLovely freshening up! I like the floor especially.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was SUCH a bargain!
DeleteLovely! Very bright and cheerful, clean looking lines lines and color choices. Great job!
ReplyDeleteWe had to work with what we had, as we wouldn't have chosen the wall tiles ourselves, but pretty pleased with the result. Thanks :o)
DeleteIt looks great! Really! I wish that we could redo our bathrooms for that cheap but unfortunately the knobs who had our house before us had no blood idea what they were doing and so have forced us to wait to save up some significant funds. So, on that note, yes, lots and lots of renos right now :D Joy.
ReplyDeleteOh no, so sorry to hear that! It's awful when previous owners mess things up like that. Hope you can do something about it soon!
DeleteIt looks really nice! I love the flooring, and the couple of minor changes to the door make a huge difference.
ReplyDeleteThanks Evie, really pleased with out subtle touches too :o)
DeleteI totally hear where you're coming from - we've put in a corner bath ourselves and are still retiling, but there's nothing like saving big bucks, doing it yourself and feeling better when sitting in your bath right? I love that wall paint colour! great job as usual!
ReplyDeleteWow, sounds like a huge job on your part...huge respect! And thank you :o)
DeleteLove all of it, but especially the floor. We use RePaint for our paint supplies - it's a community initiative (CCORN is what you need to Google to find your local outlet) where unused paint is donated (from companies and private donors) then it's checked, possibly blended to make their own (which is fab) and then sold very cheaply - the paint for my kitchen was £1 a litre. My local one gets Farrow and Ball donations plus all the usual suspects and for all interior and exterior surfaces. Perfect for budget decorating.
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks so much for alerting me to RePaint...had never heard of it before so will totally check it out. You had me at 'Farrow and Ball' ;o)
DeleteThe bathroom looks great, l really like the floor. What's the little box on the ceiling behind the door?
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's the power/cord for the electric shower ;o)
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