When I opened my brick and mortar, Waiting on Martha Home, this past summer the list of improvements was long and my budget was tight. I basically had to gut the entire space to feel more like the WOM we all know…”happy and bright.” I’m talking floors ripped up, wallpaper installed, custom cabinetry created, walls knocked down, and more gallons of paint applied than you can imagine. I of course, like most people when faced with a large reno, went over budget. Not by much, but it was enough to make me push the bathroom renovation to a later date.
When it finally came round to give the bathroom the attention it needed, I wanted to give it a full face lift, but on a budget. And time was of the essence. I couldn’t have my bathroom out of use for more than a few days. Well, I’m thrilled to share with you the full bathroom reveal that was completed in two days and with a budget of $1,000. So how did I complete this kind of reno with that kind of budget, let’s first discuss. Starting with the before shall we.
As you can see by this picture the bathroom was brown and bland. Brown tile, brown granite, brown wood paneling; yes it appears brown was the theme. When thinking about what I could do on my budget I knew I couldn’t do everything. So I chose to change what I felt would have the biggest impact and try to mask the rest. For me that meant, changing the walls by adding texture, and ripping out the current sink and countertop situation.
While in a dream world I would have loved to rip the tile out it would have been too timely and expensive of a project for this particular reno. I also felt that once everything else was lightened up and a great rug was added the floors wouldn’t be near as noticeable.
For the walls, ceiling and trim I chose to continue the shiplap and coloring scheme that was carried out in one of the rooms in the Shoppe. I personally prefer a wider shiplap with a square edge, so I went with Home Depot’s 8 x 8 shiplap in pine and painted it Farrow & Ball’s Pale Powder in a flat finish. I love a flat finish on the shiplap itself, as it maintains more of it’s unfinished vibe with a flat paint rather than a semi or high gloss. And I did paint the shiplap after it was installed rather than before.
For the trim I continued the Shoppe’s color scheme of Farrow & Ball’s Dimity with a lacquer finish and the ceiling was painted in Farrow & Ball’s All White. I just love how the mint colored shiplap plays off the high lacquer vanilla feel of Dimity and the white and bright ceiling. I also changed out the ceiling light and fan to a simple, yet modern, one by Hunter.
One thing to note about the paint and the budget, I did have left over paint from the Shoppe to complete this bathroom project so when you look at the final total I didn’t have to count paint into my budget.
Next up, the sink and countertop. This was tricky. While I would have loved to rip the whole thing out and put an all-in-one vanity situation that wasn’t an option as my Shoppe bathroomhad to be ADA compliant. At first my father and I were just trying to find a piece of marble in this shape to simply switch it out. But once looking at my options, and my numbers, I knew I couldn’t afford to do that. The solution, cut the counter in half by not having it run all the way to the wall. By making this simple change I was able to get the marble vanity top with the sink built right in from Home Depot making my job so much easier!
This may sound a bit tricky to execute, but it was a lot easier than it looks and that’s coming from a non DIY-er like myself. All we had to do was unhook the faucets and rip the siliconed top off, which ended up being a breeze because it wasn’t attached well to begin with. Then I let my father fire up the saw and he cut the front piece of wood off that extended to the wall, and placed a new wood panel on the bottom and side. I then painted it Pale Powder to match the shiplap and installed the vanity top again with silicone. Easy breezy.
With the heavy lifting done, all that was left was fixtures. I went with Pfister’s Venturi matte black faucet and Pfister Venturi hooks because I loved how they looked in my home bathroom makeover. And rather than putting up the terribly boring mirror we took down I added a small oval latitude mirror with matching matte black fixtures.
Striped Waste Basket | Juju Hat | Oyster Basket | Diffuser | Rug | Oils | Mirror | Faucet | Vanity | Shiplap
And voila, a full bathroom reno that came in on time…only two days…and on budget! I mean it feels like a completely different space does it not?! Of course the aesthetics helped too. The rug, as mentioned, masks the brown tile and I definitely added a few hints of fun with my striped waste paper basket and feather juju hat. But really, the star of the show is the physical transformation of the space. Tell me friends, did this make you feel ready to tackle your own home reno? Truly, MKR
