From Outdated to Beautiful

Design Goal: Save the Client $10k

This particular client hired me to save her $10k from the original quote she got from her contractor. Does that even make sense to pay a designer to save money? In this case it absolutely does because I ended up helping her save $15,000 from her original quote on her bathroom and master bedroom (coming in a post soon) renovation. This made my client very happy.

How did I do this? We ended up going line by line through the contract and found areas where she as the homeowner could do the work herself and with her husband. They did some of the demo themselves and then she did most of the painting.

Then, my job was to help her shop and find affordable finishes, home furnishings and decor under the contract budget. The vanity alone saved her $3,700! Let’s break down the project space by space.

Reconfiguring the Space

Who loves those mirrors from the 70’s? My client did NOT and hardly used the gigantic bath tub. So in the design, we removed EVERYTHING and then basically swapped the vanity and the tub placement with a new vanity and a freestanding tub. Now, this spaces make sense and are beautiful and functional. Swipe through the slideshow to see the before and after and how this swap makes the bathroom seem bigger.

Creating a Beautiful Shower on a Budget

The shower placement stayed the same which helped the budget in terms of plumbing. However, the old shower tile was old and the entire shower needed to be renovated. We first shopped Lowes and Home Depot and came up with a the tile design plan. My client wanted large porcelain 12 X 24 floor tiles that looked that carrarra marble (without the mainetance of real marble). You can find similar tile here for under $2 a square foot. This provides a clean and spa-like base for the bathroom design.

She wanted a large white subway tile for the shower walls (with white grout) linked here and a gray mosaic hexagon ceramic tile for the shower floor here (with dark grout).

This particular client wanted a shower head with a detachable handset to make cleaning the shower easier. She loves the combination of black matte finishes with the white tile. So, I found this Delta shower head here which is made of metal and is at a great price point. The black handled glass shower door is custom but you can find a similar one at Home Depot here.

Freestanding Bathtub at an AMAZING Price

I about died when I found this gorgeous freestanding bathtub for only $599! I knew this would save her a ton of money on her budget. This bathtub is sold at Lowes and is linked here. It’s affordable and beautiful and she is so happy with it. The original plan was to plumb the tub filler in the wall but it’s an exterior wall, which would be extremely difficult to plumb. This meant that she needed to have a plumber plumb for a free standing tub filler. He advised her to get a metal more expensive tub filler because the plastic inexpensive ones break easily. Here is the tub filler from Delta with the floor mounting system. It is one of those items that as a homeowner you invest in as a functional piece of the bathroom. You could buy less expensive ones like this one here or this one but then you run the risk of it breaking sooner down the road.

To finish off the space, I found this set of canvas artwork at Walmart on a top shelf on clearance for only $6! It is unavailable at Walmart but I found similar ones online. Here is a similar option at Target and here is another online option at Wayfair.

This Perfect Vanity for this space!

My client wanted a solid wood double vanity at an affordable price. There are many beautiful options and you can shop more solid wood vanities in my LTK shop here. This particular double vanity linked here is 72″ wide and comes with the sinks, hardware and countertop for under $1,900. It really is a high quality product for a great price! I highly recommend it if you want a natural wood vanity.

The matte black faucets by Delta match the hardware as well as the black mirrors. They have a modern and streamlined shape, are metal and are only $168 at Wayfair. You can shop the faucets here.

Mirrors and Sconces along with Shiplap

These gorgeous bathroom wall sconces are from Amazon and are only $53 for both ! You can shop them here. I have also linked other bathroom brass lighting here. The arched black mirror linked here is from Wayfair and costs only $72 each. You can shop other black mirrors here as well as the towel holder here from Amazon.

My husband Mitch ended up installing this $36 shiplap panel from Home Depot linked here behind the vanity as an accent wall. The homeowner than painted it Benjamin Moore’s Pure White to match the rest of the walls. This inexpensive panel really elevates the space at a fraction of the cost than traditional shiplap.

Conclusion

This bathroom was so much fun to design and my client was a lot of fun to work with. I truly love helping others achieve a beautiful and functional home that they’ve been dreaming of ON A BUDGET. If you are interested in working with me to design your dream bathroom, contact me here on my website.

Check out my master bedroom renovation we DIY’d for under $8,000 in our home here. As well as our kids’ bathroom reno for under $5,000 here. You truly don’t have to overspend in order to achieve a beautiful bathroom.