My DIY Bathroom Reno for $286
We have remodeled or redone every room in our house except for our two upstairs bathrooms. They are on our “at some point” list. I have the new floor plan + design for our master bath already drawn out in my head (shhh, don’t tell my husband!). The other one of the bathrooms is for our girls plus any houseguests we have.
After researching some bathroom update options for a friend, I found myself eyeing that bathroom. I decided to do a mini rehab – lipstick on a pig if you will – something I could do myself and inexpensively to pretty up the space before we actually tackle a full renovation down the line. Why they put bathroom vanities in this house with no drawers blows my mind and certainly is not going to work for 3 teenage girls one day+ their organizer Mom!
Also, it was full blast quarantine and I needed SOMETHING TO DO!!
Did it really only cost $286?
Yes. Well, pretty much. I didn’t add tax because, well, I just didn’t want to hunt down every receipt. Also, there were several things that I already had lying around because I am a DIY-er and crafter. I’ll list those out below because I appreciate a true picture of what the budget should look like when taking on a project. But for me, yeah, this was about the cost – plus the time of course!
The big changes I made in this bathroom were the vanity counters + cabinet, the flooring, wall paint, light fixture+ some other decorative touches.
Budget Breakdown
| Counter + Cabinet | $47.80 | ||
| Primer | $15 | ||
| Cabinet paint | $3 | ||
| Counter paint | $ – | ||
| Glitter | $5.40 with coupon | ||
| Sea sponge | $2.40 with coupon | ||
| Sealer | $22.20 with coupon | ||
| Flooring | $52.50 | ||
| Peel + stick tiles | $40 | ||
| Floor adhesive | $12.50 | ||
| Ceiling + Wall Paint | (same used for both) | $30 | |
| Light fixture | $104 | ||
| Extras – decorative | $48 | ||
| Cabinet knobs | $2.50 each | ||
| Shower curtain | $20 | ||
| Wall hooks | $6 each | ||
| ETC | |||
| Supplies I used but already had: wand lighter, drop cloth, painter’s tape, 2 plastic containers for mixing resin, gloves, sandpaper, small art paintbrush, foam roller, roller for wall, paintbrush for cabinets, rolling pin, white vinegar, aluminum foil, white bath caulk. If you had to purchase all these things, I would estimate somewhere around $100ish. | |||
| TOTAL | $286 |
Some notes on above – yep, I like a coupon. Especially nowadays when I can just look one up on my phone while I’m standing in the checkout line and show it on my phone. Why not?! I also wasn’t in a huge rush so I was able to get things like the knobs, hooks + shower curtain when they were on sale.
The paint for the walls + ceiling I purchased at Home Depot but color matched to Sherwin Williams Pure White. The cabinets were color matched to Sherwin Williams Mountain Stream and I got a $3 sample to see if I liked it. I started painting with it, and before I knew it, it was done. So the one sample was all it took to paint all the cabinets!
The paint I used to paint the countertop was the white I used on the walls + leftover gray samples from another project so there was no additional cost.
Taking a laminate countertop to “marble” with paint
The counter was brown and laminate and very not our style. IKEA offers awesome inexpensive counter options but being that that would involve my husband cutting sink holes and having to fix the wall where our current counter goes up, I chose to try out a DIY method – painting my laminate counter to look like marble.
Supplies for painting the countertop
- A good primer – Zinsser oil-based primer is what I used
- Foam paint roller
- Sandpaper 100-150 + 220 grit– I used a block with angled edges
- White paint
- Painter’s tape
Supplies to create marble effect
- Gray paint – 2-3 different shades
- Foam brush + dauber – I had an assorted pack from Michael’s
- Craft paint brush
- Sea sponge
- Glitter powder
I used the same white paint that I had bought to paint the walls in my bathroom. I had several paint samples of gray leftover from picking house colors so I used those for the gray. A $3 sample paint from Home Depot or craft paint would also work – you don’t need to spend a lot of money on the paint. The most important is the primer and then the sealer. I didn’t worry if some of the paint was matte and others was gloss because once sealed, everything will look shiny. With the oil-based primer I used, you are fine to put water-based paint over it.
I taped off anywhere I didn’t want to paint – along the mirror where it meets my countertop, faucets, sink. I didn’t have to be too careful with the floor because I left the tile for after knowing this could be messy.
After taping off, I lightly sanded all the laminate countertop (edges too!) and then wiped off the dust. If you see the white duct tape in the photo that’s because my laminate was starting to lift a bit so I took this opportunity to glue it back down and now you’d never know.
I applied the primer with a small foam roller as it leaves a very smooth finish. I used a foam paintbrush for any small areas where the roller couldn’t reach. I stayed away from a bristled brush to avoid the brush marks. After letting it dry completely, I lightly sanded with the finer 220 grit sandpaper and again wiped off any dust. There were some small bumps and marks in the paint and I wanted it as smooth as possible.
Now it’s time to make it look like marble!
I used a poster board to test out my gray colors and my technique before I started. I drew out the shape of my counter and where I wanted to do the veining so I had somewhat of a guide. I just did an image search of marble to get an idea of what I liked since there are so many variations. I picked one I really liked and kept that image on my laptop as I worked.
Keep in mind – if you mess up during this process, you can always just paint the white over it again. So relax and get artsy!
I dabbed the darker gray paint with my foam dauber and then blotted it out with a brush or the sea sponge until I was happy. There was no exact technique here – I just did what looked good. You guys, I tried using a feather for the veining that I had read about and it just didn’t work for me. My kids got a good laugh out of watching me paint with a feather though! I preferred just using a craft paintbrush for this part. I then went back with the lighter of my gray paints, daubing and blending until I was happy. I took the veining up my backsplash or down the sides of the counter.
And then came the GLITTER! Yes, I added glitter because so many marbles have that shimmery part. I used a gray glitter and went very light with it on some of my gray areas, just dusting it on. My girls freaked out when they saw the shimmery parts, it looks beautiful. Note – it was a very fine powder – not huge glitter chunks!!
Then, I stepped away and let it dry completely. I will say this – the resin sealer is going to make it look SO much more amazing. It doesn’t have quite the same effect when it’s just paint on the counter. My husband was pretty skeptical of this whole idea and so he was like, yeah, it kinda looks like marble but really, it just looks like you tried to paint marble on a countertop. He was not wrong. But hold tight, have faith!
Sealing the counter
Sealing is a must. I’m not gonna lie, it was very stressful when it came time to pour the epoxy on. And I could have (should have) been a lot more careful around my sinks and mirror. I don’t know why I thought that I could clean the sealer off my mirror or sink if it splattered. Spoiler alert – you can’t! If doing this again, I would put a drop cloth over my mirror and sinks and I recommend that YOU do!
Supplies needed for this part
- Sealer – this dries clear and hard, almost like glass. Pretty amazing stuff.
- 2 plastic containers you’re OK trashing after (I grabbed a bunch of plastic Easter buckets 90% off after Easter was over cause that’s how I roll)
- Paint stirrer
- Measuring cup (again, you’re going to have to trash this after. I used the big breastmilk storage containers with the measurements because I have a bunch leftover. Shout out to my fellow Mommas!)
- Paintbrush
- Disposable gloves
- Plastic drop cloth
- Painter’s tape
- Wand lighter (or even better, a butane torch)
- Plastic drinking straw
- Clear bath caulk
I did this part by myself and it was pretty stressful but I was determined to do this bathroom on my own. I recommend you not be so stubborn and have someone help if they’re willing.
I used a plastic drop cloth on the floor because although I was going to be tiling over it, I didn’t want uneven parts from pooling resin. The resin is self leveling so any areas of your counter that aren’t completely level, it will run off. Also, I wanted to make it run off a bit to ensure the sides of my countertop were sealed. So I covered the cabinets and floor to avoid the resin getting on them. Wear old clothes and rubber gloves.
Getting the sealer ready to use means mixing two parts together. It’s a chemical process so read the instructions on the box for the exact directions.
And then it was go time. I used a foam paintbrush to help move the sealer around where I needed to.
I had the unique (+ difficult) situation of a curved backsplash right against my mirror and had to let gravity seal it. This is where I got a little too messy when pouring the sealer right against the edge of the mirror. The tape wasn’t quite enough for some of the splatters and I should have taped more or used plastic as well. This is where I started though because I had to allow the sealer to run down the side to cover it and then it started pooling on the countertop. And then from there, I added more to the countertop so it could start to self level. I made sure I had enough so it ran off the edges of the counter, sealing the vertical side.
Getting rid of air bubbles
After 15 minutes, you need to get rid of the air bubbles in the surface. There are a few options here – in order of effectiveness – blowing them with a straw, using a wand lighter, or a butane torch. I didn’t have a butane torch and didn’t want to drop $30ish bucks on one, so I used a combo of the first two. I only used the straw method where I was nervous I’d burn the wall. You DO NOT want to attempt to use the straw method for the entire counter – it’s difficult, time consuming and you can blow to hard, ruining the levelness of the sealer. The wand lighter worked amazingly well – it is pretty crazy to watch the bubbles disappear and see the surface look like glass!
Allow to dry
Once this is done, you need to step away. Nothing should touch the surface for 8 hours and it won’t fully dry for 3 days. And nothing – like, no dust, no hair, nothing. I had the luxury of shutting the door and taping it off with some of the painter’s tape since this is one of a few bathrooms for us (+ NOT turning on the fan!). I did not think it was super smelly which I had worried about but did have a window open and a space heater to keep the temperature even.
If something happened, don’t fret because you can always add another coat of sealer on it. My frugal heart wanted to steer clear of that possibility.
I went in the next day and used a little thumbscraper to get off any resin drips that had former under the lip of my countertop (+ attempted to clean the drips on my mirror + sinks…).
Also, an FYI – this is a time sensitive process (hello, stress!) so keep in mind your footwear as you’re not going to have a ton of time to rethink how you’re doing things. I had my “work sandals” on and what happened is that I stepped in a pool of sealer on my drop cloth but the entire bathroom floor wasn’t covered and as I walked around, I made sealer footprints, starting sticking to the dropcloth and was a bit of a hot mess. And I had to toss my trusty work sandals at the end because the bottoms were as slick as glass!
I went back after it was fully dry and carefully scored with a razor to help remove the tape without pulling up any of the sealer. I used clear bathroom caulk along my sinks + the upper lip of my backsplash to ensure there were no little spots where water could get in.
My daughters and I still touch the counter and are so wow-ed at the hard glass finish!
I will say this – I saw some folks on the internet who did this to their kitchen counters. I don’t LOVE my kitchen counters. But, this was way too stressful and messy for me to ever consider doing it in my kitchen where I am not replacing the floors! Props to those folks for sure but before you take on a huge project like that, I’d recommend testing out a smaller one to see if you’re one of them or more like me 🙂
Flooring
Peel + stick vinyl floor tiles
This was not stressful, really straightforward, inexpensive and made a HUGE impact!
The linoleum flooring in this bathroom was brown and yuckiness. I found this stick on tile on Amazon and loved the fun design! I noticed they actually have this and some other designs at Hobby Lobby now too. With 2 out of 3 girls having blue as a favorite color this was a no brainer!
I also bought floor adhesive in addition to the sticky tile itself to make sure it stuck. To press it down I used a rolling pin and just a box cutter to cut the tiles I needed to. I chose to put the stick and peel tiles on top of the linoleum (versus taking linoleum out first) so when we go to tile one day, it will be easy to cut down to the linoleum and pull everything up. After, I used white caulk around the toilet and against the bathtub.
I had a scrap of baseboard from our laundry room reno and it fit perfectly in here. I could have left the old but I wanted to put the tile under the baseboard to help it stay put and we’ve upgraded the rest of our baseboards to taller ones already anyway.
Lighting
The most expensive thing I put into the bathroom was a new vanity light but that’s one thing that would stay even if we did change out the vanity at some point. And, I have to say, I called in my husband to take on switching out our fixtures.
Extras
This was the last bathroom in our house with towel bars – everywhere else has been switched to hooks and so I did the same in here. I like the look of a wall hook better, you can fit more and here’s the kicker — you don’t have to fold the towel, ha!
Of course, as things started to look better, I started noticing other things. The flamingo shower curtain wasn’t working so I opted for a white one. The shower rod that sort of bugged me before now REALLY stood out – it looked so old and dirty but again, I didn’t want to buy a new one if one day I’ll be re-tiling that shower. So I googled. And tried what I found – aluminum foil + vinegar. Now, I already knew white vinegar + baking soda are pretty much the best and only cleaning supplies you ever need but this…You. Guys. Wow!
Bringing a metal shower rod back to life with white vinegar + aluminum foil
First, I just cleaned off the shower rod. Then I cut aluminum foil into a bunch of small pieces – 4”x4”ish. One at a time, I dipped them into a small bowl of white vinegar. Then, I scrubbed the shower rod with the aluminum foil, folding it around with my hand to get all around it at once. I did sections at a time, getting a new piece of aluminum foil when I felt I needed to. Then I cleaned anywhere I had dripped and wow, it looked so shiny! Note – gloves would definitely be a good idea.
Possibly my favorite part of the whole bathroom was these sweet little knobs I added to the cabinets.
Every time I come down the hall I smile to see all this cuteness, making it worth all the work + most definitely the $286.
You can always check out my Pinterest for links to items used in this post.
This bathroom is honestly gorgeous!! I cannot believe you did that for less than $300…making bathroom plans now for a similar makeover!
Awesome! You’ll have to send pics of your completed project!
This floor turned out so beautiful. I love it!!! I am having our kitchen cabinets painted here in Columbia, SC and would love to do something like this to our tile after. Thanks for all the tips!