Hey everyone! It’s spring in Minneapolis! I am throwing open the windows, airing everything out and starting projects. Spring is all about hope and inspiration. I have big plans for our house this spring and into summer. I say into summer because sometimes Minneapolis goes from winter to summer and almost forgets about spring. Between painting and updating the front of the house to adding more plants in the backyard and killing the weeds there is so much stuff to do! We are adding a bathroom renovation to this list!
Today we are talking about something that I haven’t mentioned very much of the blog so far. The bathroom refresh. A mini bathroom renovation can provide new life into your existing bathroom. We don’t have to totally gut everything to get a new look. Ben and I have been living with our bathroom for a few years now. We have decided that even though we love the bathroom it needs some updates. We really like the cool vintage yellow tile and we want to keep that vibe so we have devised a plan for some small updates to give the room a new fresh look.
Here’s my breakdown of things to do. All of these updates will really make our bathroom feel clean and new again while keeping the vintage vibe of the space. I am super stoked to have the old become new again!
UPDATE LIGHTING
Check out this post about our kitchen lighting. We want to buy 2 more of the LED’s we used in the kitchen. We are also considering pendants in this space too but I think I want to wait until we see what happens with the rest of the room before we add these into the project.
ACCESSORIES
Our rugs and towels are looking really tired and sad. I want to upgrade to the big comfy towels and soft rugs. White and grey will still work with the yellow and I am super excited to get the nice squishy in your toes rugs. The art and wall decor will get an upgrade in the space too. Something that has a cool vintage vibe to match the tile will be super cool.
SHELF ABOVE THE COUNTER
Check out this inspiration! I am super excited to incorporate something like this in the bathroom refresh. I think it will add another level of detail to the room. We are going to try and build our own custom shelf size using a door. A bunch of my coworkers recommended this option based on successes they have had.
TOILET
Toilets can be beautiful! A modern water saving toilet that is one piece or at least looks like one piece is the cats meow. The clean lined toilets are a little more expensive but they give the bathroom a great look that will merge the vintage tile with the updates. A new toilet that has the covered back and hides the drains would give a nice look to the room. We are also considering the dual flush toilets. Ben and I both find those really intriguing and I want to find out how much water we could save. I know it’s weird to have a favorite toilet but here is mine!
FAN AND LIGHT
Done already! Ben and I watched a million videos trying to figure out how to install a new fan. We needed to relocate the fan because I couldn’t access the existing fan when I went up in the attic to change it out. It was so close to the roof eave edge that I had to shimmy up in the attic and squeeze myself into the corner to bust the old one out. Check out this awesome outfit. Ben thought I looked like I was going spelunking. It felt like that. I packed a bag of gear to go up there so I wouldn’t have to go back and forth! Screwdrivers, wrenches, hammer, I hat it all!
PAINT CEILING
This needs to be done to incorporate the recently patched hole from the relocated fan. We buy this Behr paint from Home Depot and use it for all of the ceilings. It’s a great durable option that brightens up any ceiling. If you haven’t painted your ceilings in a while try doing one ceiling and watch the results. You won’t even realize that your ceiling isn’t white until you paint it white.
FIX SHOWER TILE
We have this cove base in our shower that I am pretty sure the previous owners added it to the vintage tile. A few of them popped out because they are just caulked into place and not grouted. It is kind of weird. I am going to experiment with removing them or reinstalling the ones that fell out and recaulking all of the seams. This will help keep mold and mildew at bay in the corners. Nothing is worse than mold in your shower.
SHOWER CADDY
Our current shower caddy is great. It was left by the previous owners. It is the right size and it never falls down. The only problem is that it is rusting and getting icky. We need to replace it. I read a ton about shower caddys was thinking of something similar like these. I know great reading huh?
DEMO BIG MIRROR AND INSTALL 2 SMALLER MIRRORS
I am really looking forward to this demolition. I have wanted to break mirror and glass for a long time and this is going to be awesome! A few tips if you are going to break glass. Wear long sleeves, pants, and safety glasses in case glass flies all over the place. Our vintage mirror is huge. I normally wouldn’t change the mirror but it is getting icky on the edges. 60 years of moisture is finally getting under the foil. I want to replace it with 2 smaller mirrors. This will allow us to add the shelving above the counter.
FAUCET
I am soo excited for a new faucet. There are so many cool ones out there. This is a place in the bathroom to do something modern to go along with the new toilet. Our current faucet is old and the chrome is coming off of it and I really want to add a high end look. Ben and I are finding it super hard to agree on the best one! We will have thumb war about it!
PLUMBING UNDER THE SINK
Right now we have flexible piping under our sink and everything gets stuck in it and the sink backs up. We are going to replace the plumbing just like I did in the kitchen when we installed the new sink. Plumbing is just a 3D puzzle. It takes a bunch of trips to Home Depot to get all of the pieces but it usually turns out ok.
REPLACE CABINET DOOS/PAINT EXISTING DOORS
We are going to keep the cabinet boxes and get new doors. Maybe. I actually got this idea from one of Ben’s coworkers. Shout out to Tom! We kept the doors in the kitchen and painted them. That turned out great. If we don’t blow the budget on the rest of the bathroom it would be great to get new doors for the cabinet and drawers.
DOOR HARDWARE
We replaced knobs in our kitchen and it was really easy. Check out this post. This time I want to incorporate something a little midcentury to mix with the modern of the faucet and the toilet. I am thinking of something a little oversized.
VINYL TILE
Check out our kitchen post to see how we have done this already with our cabinets.
ADD SHELVING AT KNEE SPACE
This is inspired by an idea from Young House Love. Check out their post on how to fill in your knee space under a sink space. When I saw their post I fell in love with the idea of doing this with our cabinets. These shelves will give us a bunch more storage.
That’s all folks! Right now we are collecting all of the pieces to start the project. Here is what our anticipated budget is. I am saving some contingency money for when something special comes along.
Bathroon Refresh Budget
Lighting $200
Toilet $350
Accessories $100
Shelf Above Counter $50
New Fan and Light $80
Ceiling Paint $0
Shower Tile Repair $10
Shower Caddy $40
Mirrors $250
Faucet $150
Plumbing Under the Sink $30
Cabinet Doors/Paint $0
Door Hardware $30
Misc. Wall Patching and repair $10
Vinyl Tile for Drawers $0
Under Sink Shelving $20
TOTAL: $1320 + $66 (5% Contingency) = $1386
If you are planning a project, check out my post on project planning for an awesome planning guide!
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