Our Small Bathroom Remodel On A Budget

When we moved into our 100-year-old house, we knew there were a lot of things that needed work. One part of the house, though, was screaming for some TLC louder than all the rest: the bathroom.

It’s the home’s only bathroom and it barely breaks 30 square feet. It was in pretty bad shape, with peeling plaster, mildew and ancient fixtures. Between the small size and the condition, using the bathroom just felt kind of grimy—how you might feel in a dive bar, not how you want to feel in your own home!

So we decided to tackle updating the bathroom immediately. Here’s what it looked like before:

My original plan was for this to be a total DIY job. When we bought the house, we set aside a certain amount of money for renovations, and I didn’t want to blow our whole budget on only one room. We went in hoping to keep the original pedestal tub and toilet and update the rest of the bathroom around those things—more of a facelift than a total renovation.

I began to plan out the project, Googling all kinds of things like ‘how to hang drywall’ and ‘how to refinish an antique tub.’ The goal was to keep things simple and clean, with a coastal vibe. I came up with a budget of around $1,500. You can check out the breakdown of costs in my original plan here.

The biggest part of the project would be cleaning up the old bathtub and changing the plumbing over to accommodate a modern shower head. A previous owner had installed a makeshift shower head, but it didn’t look great or work very well. These tasks would require both plumbing work and redoing the walls around the tub.

After seeking input from more knowledgeable DIYers, it became clear that we probably didn’t want to mess with plumbing on our own. I called several contractors and made appointments for them to come out and give us estimates.

What I’m quickly learning about renovations is that there’s always a wrench in the plans somewhere. Here’s where ours came in.

All three of the contractors I interviewed strongly advised against keeping the old pedestal tub. For starters, its hookups were ancient and replacement parts would need to be special ordered–if they were available at all. The tub also wasn’t really ever meant to be used as a shower; any contraption they rigged up to turn it into one would probably look like just that—a homemade contraption.

Finally, the cast iron plumbing connecting the tub’s water supply was on its last legs. We could choose to stick with it and risk a major pipe bursting within the next few years, or update it to PVC and have the peace of mind that our plumbing was sound for many years to come.

We were faced with some choices, all of which, of course, meant added costs.

The first contractor quoted around $12,000 for all of the work he said needed to be done—a total gut renovation, not including fixtures—and I thought I was going to vomit right there all over the crusty linoleum floors. The second one came in only slightly lower, and I was quickly losing hope for the updated bathroom we had envisioned.

I just couldn’t accept that it had to cost that much, though, especially after reading this awesome article about how to renovate a bathroom for $5K or less. I felt strongly that I just needed to find the right contractor who shared our vision and minimalist approach.

The third time proved to be the charm. The last contractor came in at $6,000 for everything—a total renovation including all labor and supplies. The only thing we would be required to buy separately was the tile we wanted for the floor and walls.

John and I talked it over. Although it was well above the budget we’d originally planned, we both agreed the work needed to be done (ah, the joys of home ownership). We didn’t want to risk the old pipes bursting and causing a costly flood, and with a single bathroom to be used by both us and our guests, it was important for it to be both nice-looking and functional. We decided to go for it.

The following week, the contractor and two workers showed up bright and early and went to town. On the very first day, they tore out everything all the way down to the studs. Shit got real really fast!

Over the course of the next week they:

• Hung drywall and cement board to replace the old plaster and lath walls
• Installed cement board over the floorboards
• Re-did the ceiling
• Updated the old plumbing and installed a new bathtub, showerhead, sink and toilet
• Installed an exhaust fan
• Tiled the floor and walls
• Painted
• Hung a medicine cabinet and light fixture
• Re-covered the baseboard heater

It took them six days in all to complete the project–Monday through Friday for the majority of the work, and then the following Monday for touch-ups and cleanup.

Once their work was done, I added a few finishing touches like a new shower curtain, curtain rod and a hanging storage cabinet over the toilet.

Take a look at the transformation!

Small Bathroom Remodel Before and After

All said and done, the entire project totaled right around $6,500. On top of the $6K contractor expenses, we purchased the wall and floor tile separately which came out to around $300. We also added a few more things into the mix along the way, like a new cover for the heaters along the floorboard, shower curtain and small accessories.

For us, this was a significant investment, but I think we really got our money’s worth and then some. We won’t need to update the bathroom again for probably as long as we live here, and it will definitely add value to the house if and when we ever sell it.

Since it’s a small space it’s pretty difficult to capture the details in photos, so I shot a video to try to show a little bit more. I hope you like it!

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You can browse the fixtures and accessories (or similar ones) we used in the remodel below. Click on any of them to be taken directly to the product.