DIY GUEST BATHROOM REMODEL // THE PLAN

As some of you might know, we bought a fixer upper last summer. It needs a lot of love, and we’re slowly making progress. We have three bathrooms that need some of our DIY magic. We’re not sure which one we want to start on first (after the kitchen is finished, of course), but today I’m sharing our DIY guest bathroom remodel plans, some inspiration, a mood board, and the products that we plan on using in our affordable guest bathroom remodel.

Sidenote…

You might be wondering about that DIY kitchen remodel we started late last spring. Well we’re still in the middle of it, and we’re hoping it will be done in the next 2-3 months. We’ve saved so much money doing it mostly on our own, that I can overlook how long it has taken us—more on that in a future post—I hope. You can see more about the kitchen project here.

Back to the bathroom situation….

Here are some photos of what we’re working with now in the guest bath. It not the absolute worst thing in the world, but still needs a major overhaul. This is Vivi’s bathroom mostly, so I’ll involve her in the process as much as possible.

The classic tiled floors are kinda cool, but very poorly done, and are falling apart, and we’re definitely not fans of the tile on the countertops. We plan on a complete bathroom retile. I do like the moulding details on the walls and the white paint. We’ll have to see if they can stay with our plan when the time comes.

The bathtub is tiny (like 13″ tall), and since it’s the only one in the house, we want to invest in a deeper soaking tub. We also hate the almond colored plastic enclosure, and plan to remove it. We’ll tile around the bath tub with classic white subway tile.

We like the classic feel, and are wanting to stay with that look, but in a modern, updated way.

Here are two inspiration bathrooms that we like for different reasons.

Sources: Top // Bottom (I can’t find the original source of this bathroom-if anyone knows please let me know)


Learn some amazing tips from Bath Bespoke on how to add an elegant touch to your bathroom. This post gave me some great ideas!


I’ve found a great online resource center to help us source all the elements and supplies for our bathroom projects—PlumbTile. They’ve led the market since 1978, so they have a great reputation. They also have a Clearance and Hot Deals sections that I plan on perusing in hopes that I can find some deeply discounted materials (faucets, fixtures, tile, and lighting). I’m all about getting the look for less as you probably know! 🙂


And speaking of the look for less—here’s a quick mood board I created to help follow a vision for the project. I love high-end style, but we’re on a budget, so I’ve found some pretty affordable elements (see sources below).

DIY Guest Bathroom Remodel - The Inspiration
SOURCES

Black Vanity with Marble Top
We like the look of this vanity. The dark color and clean lines work nicely I think. We’ll most likely have to build a custom vanity (DIY style) to work with the wall angles. Doing this will give us the same countertop space we have now. We’ll possibly build a shelf and have two opening cabinet doors. I’d love to have a marble (or similar) countertop

Sconces
I’ve eyed these sconces for over a year. I have to find a way to make them work in at least one of our bathrooms. So gorgeous!

Mirror
I’d love a simple round or rectangular mirror with brushed brass framing. This one is somewhat affordable, but I bet I’ll find one at a thrift store and DIY it to get the same look for less.

Vanity Faucet
This champagne bronze faucet has the same finish as our kitchen faucet. It give you a higher end look on a budget. I’m also liking some of the more modern Huntington Brass fixtures and Phylrich faucets.

White Subway Tile
We love classic white subway in a bathroom. We’ll most likely tile around the bathtub from floor to ceiling.

Floor Tile
We’re wanting to stick with a classic floor tile, and something like this modern yet classic hex tile gets me. We’ll most likely use something similar to the example in my mood board. I’m trying to track down a shop-able link to this tile. It’s Silk Road Collection by Sara Baldwin for New Ravenna Mosaics. FYI.

Pulls
We ordered 5 extra Lew’s Hardware pulls from our kitchen remodel. They’re gorgeous, and we’ll use them in this bathroom. The best part about a bathroom is you don’t need very many, so you can affordably splurge here.

Bath Tub (not shown)
I love this Claw Foot Tub, but we’ll stick with a simple modern soaker tub. You can really splurge on a nice tub, but I’m on the hunt for an affordable one.

Bath Faucet and Shower Head 
This gorgeous set is also Delta. Same finish and style as the sink faucet. I just love everything about it!


So, that’s our preliminary plan and desired overall look. I’m sure some things will change, but I’m so excited to get to the bathrooms. Once they’re updated this place will feel so much more updated.

After the bathrooms are completed, we plan on replacing all of the parquet flooring in the house with wider plank medium tone hard woods, which will be a large expense, but one that should really pay off. We’re thinking we might do what we always do, and finish the house, enjoy it for a little bit, then put it on the market. We’ve kinda turned into long-term house flippers over the years. Our goal is to get enough out of this house to buy our next (more downsized) one with all cash. Big dreams, people, big dreams! I just know that someday we’ll get there.

I can only imagine how much more enjoyable life will be with absolutely no debt. I’m guessing a lot more relaxing with a lot more travel. 🙂

I’d love to know what you think of my choices. Anyone recently do a DIY guest bathroom remodel? Have any suggestions of favorite tile flooring, faucets, etc? I’d love to hear your advice.

And I’d love even more to hear from anyone out there who’s also flipping fixer uppers in the same way we are with a similar end goal. It’s always nice to hear of others who have similar ways of thinking.

xoxo
Audrey


PS. Here’s a peek at the half bath near our main living area. We plan on a DIY bathroom remodel here as well, which will include painting, replacing the vanity, lighting, flooring, and toilet (we got a nice, new one for free).

DIY bathroom makeover inspiration on a budget