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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Our DIY Bathroom Remodel for under $300

Since moving into this house, we have done renovations or updates on every room in our upstairs. And by "we" I mean my husband did all the work and I picked out the colors and decorative stuff.

Anyway, the one room we had really neglected was our Master Bath.  It needed some major upgrades but we didn't want to spend a lot of money because we know we won't be in this house forever.  I am on the search for our dream house but haven't found it just yet.

We've done bathroom remodels before and we know they can quickly get out of hand from the budget side of things.  So...we really made an effort to keep things affordable.

We started by doing our on-line research to figure out how we could keep our old vanity and freshen it up.  We looked at a lot of products but ended up settling on this really awesome stain that we purchased from Amazon:  Java Gel Stain by General Finishes. 

There are several tutorials out there on how to use this product but Paul most closely followed this tutorial from Monica Wants It.  The biggest change he made was his application method for the poly.  Paul didn't use the same poly as they did in the tutorial.  He just used a regular oil-based poly that he found at our local Menards.  He tried a rag, a natural bristle brush and a foam brush and wasn't happy with any of them.  My Mom suggested he try a woman's nylon (as in pantyhose).  This was an old trick she learned from some Mennonite women she knew when she refinished furniture 30 years ago.  Paul was a bit reluctant to try it at first but it did work out great!!


We couldn't have been more pleased with how the vanity turned out!

It went from this:  

To this:

Paul also put down new flooring, painted the trim, replaced the countertop, put in a tile backsplash, replaced the sink and the faucet, installed new hardware on the vanity and stained the trim around the mirror.

Here is the before:

And After:

Um, yeah.  My husband is pretty darn great!  And the best part is all of this (plus all the little extras to get it accomplished) was done for $289.43 - including tax.  We did take advantage of some rebate offers that Menards was offering and this price only includes the portion of the materials that we actually used for this project (i.e. I only counted 25% of the cost of the Java Gel Stain because we only used 1/4 of the quart).  The left-over materials will be used when we complete the bathroom in the basement and on some other unfinished projects that we have lying around.  

So not too shabby for an affordable DIY Bathroom Remodel/Makeover.  Now...what project should I ask Paul to tackle next?    

9 comments:

  1. While your bathroom already looked nice before the remodel, it certainly looks better afterwards! And to think the project didn’t cost you a lot of money! Anyway, I really like the color you chose for your cabinets. It made your bathroom look a bit spacious than before. Cheers!

    Martha Ward @ Son-Rise Plumbing

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    1. Thank you Martha! We still love the cabinets!

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  2. You’ve just proven how a simple paint job can work wonders! It must've been hard for you to plan a master bath renovation while looking for your dream home. I believe there’s no harm in redecorating your rental, since you’ll be staying in that place for a while. With a redo, you can also check plumbing issues that might arise during your stay. Anyway, I hope you’ll be able to find your dream home soon. Have a great day!

    Roxanne Vaughn @ Total PLBG

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    1. Thanks for the reply. We've really enjoyed this bathroom!

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  3. Wow! You did spend less on the DIY bathroom remodel. Your taste is really good too. I truly love big mirrors in the bathroom. It makes me want to stay there a bit longer. You did a great job Sara, especially with the colors and lightings. Kudos to you!


    Lynne Hollaran @ Sub Urban Glass

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    1. Thank you! We were glad we kept the big mirror too! It makes the space feel bigger.

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  4. Thanks for always being the source that explains things instead of just putting an unjustified answer out there. I loved this post.
    Bathroom Remodel

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I wanted to explain how we did the staining because there are so many different methods out there and we were very pleased with how things turned out!

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  5. Keep sharing more informative posts like that,
    Bathroom Remodel

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