Bathroom transformation for under $750.

 After moving into our new house in July of last year, and waiting a good 10 months, it was finally time to get the guest bathroom renovated and get rid of that old 80's lighting and builder basic chrome and brass look that came with it. Now I'm a pretty frugal person, and after spending about $800 on the master bath we renovated back in December I had been putting this one off for a while now. But now that we might be putting the house back on the market to move closer to both mine and my wife's work, it was time to go ahead and spend the money and get this one done.

 All the work went pretty smooth on this one, I learned a few things from doing the master bath so I went ahead and placed the orders on Amazon.com a week before I planned on starting, no waiting around for stuff to arrive like on the master bath this time. The main reason for using Amazon for most of the items is, I had opted to get most of our tax return in Amazon.com gift cards, as they had a promotion to get an extra 10% back when I chose this option.

 I'll give a rundown at the end of this post with the grand total, but the budget was around $700-750 for this room, less if I could help it since I would be reusing the counter top in this one.

So here's what I had to work with. The cabinets are actually really nice units and I liked the color of the counter top, so those two items are staying in this build. Unfortunately my wife already swapped out the old brass cabinet pulls for the sleeker brushed nickle ones seen here, so you won't get the full on brass and chrome barrage, be thankful.

As you can see it's actually not too bad, nothing crazy like a pink toilet, but still dated with that office like, drop ceiling florescent lighting, and huge 4x6 beam blocking a lot of light. The scalloped edged sink isn't doing anything to help either and is a pain to clean.

Ah, here's the old brass.. Gross.

First step is to get that beam out of the way. I started by removing the light diffusers and grids holding them up. This reveled the wonderful lighting and some awesome plaster and drywall work by the builders.

Awesome.. Looks like someone got angry and punched the wall, and a five year old could do a better job with the wiring here.

Just more stuff to fix, great. Okay time to get this beam out of the way. I started by hammering the plaster on the outside to reveal the metal edging strips. I'll take my demolition bar and pry them off the beam so I can cut them with some tin-snips and peal them back so the saw blade doesn't get hung up on them.

With all that out of the way. Time to break out the Sawzall! And remember kiddos, Always wear safety glasses when using something that can slice off major body parts.

I cut right down the middle, as this will give me plenty of leverage when I pull these down to get them to pull the nails out of the studs they are nailed to. Now just take one end in hand and pull down to remove form the studs in the walls.

After those were removed I got rid of the rest of the aluminum rail above the mirror and took out that crappy T8 florescent fixture. Making sure that the breaker was switched off before I started this part. After the old fixture was out, it was time to mark the center line of the room so I could cut the hole out for the new light fixture.

I needed to mark around the inside of this metal plate and cut that section out, the two protrusions in the marking are for the long screws to sink back into the wall when tightening everything down.

So out of all the tools I have, a drywall saw is not one of them, but a cheap steak knife will do the trick in a pinch. After the hole was cut out I stabbed the ceiling in the center line so when I went into the attic to drill a hole for the power wire I would know where to start.

At this point it was time to go up into the attic and drill a hole, move the wiring and drop it down so it could be pulled through. I didn't get any pictures of this process since I was trying to hurry as a attic is not a fun place to be in Florida on a warm day. 

We have power in the right place now!

Once that was done it was time to move to the sink. Turn off the water at the wall taps, and remove the water lines from those. Remove the drain from the sink to make it easier to get to the bolts holding the sink down, and to also get the drain plug linkage removed from the faucet. Then you can remove the two bolts holding the faucet to the sink, pull up on the whole unit and voila.

I removed the sink next, by cutting the silicone sealant with a sharp carpet knife and then using a flat head screwdriver to get underneath it and start wedging it up. Use caution and move from side to side to help break it loose more evenly. Then just pull the whole unit up and out of the way.

If your going to reuse the counter top, like I am, you can take the razor blade and scrape off the rest of the sealant with at this point. Since I am installing a glass mosaic tile back splash I needed to remove the counter top so I could remove the old particle board/formica unit currently installed. The top comes off pretty easy after removing four screws from under the cabinets.

You can see here that the current backsplash is installed with four drywall screws, a couple minutes with the cordless drill and those were out and the counter is back in place.

BREAK TIME!

Break's over, back to work you slackers!

The new sink I ordered is rectangular shaped so I'll need to mark the my cut lines with the template provided with the new sink, then take my jigsaw and cut out those extra sections, like so.

Now it was time to tackle those unsightly holes in the drywall. I measured then cut out the patches from some leftover drywall I had from a previous renovation.

This section that looked like someone punched out with their fist was cut to a rectangle then backed with a section of wood to secure the patch panel to.

Once all the patches were in place I used some fiberglass mesh tape to cover the cracks and joints, then applied a liberal amount of spackle, to these and other imperfections in the walls all over. I let those spots dry overnight, and while they were drying I moved on to getting the glass tiles cut and test fit before affixing them.

The glass tile was a lot easier to work with than I thought it would be. They come in 12"x12" squares, and I was able to cut these down to three 4" strips, then arranged them to get as much of the edges to line up as possible. The ends need to be cut flush with a glass tile cutter, and since I wanted to stagger the ends I had to do a little extra cutting.

Time to get these tiles up on the wall. After applying tile cement to the walls, I attached the tiles and arranged the cut pieces into their spots. At this point it was time to let everything dry overnight, but things were shaping up good, and this tile really makes the bathroom.

The next day with the help of my wife we got the grout applied to the tiles, this is very messy process and is probably one of the longest steps. Mix up the non-sanded grout according to the box, then slap it on with a floatsamp, let it setup for about 20 minutes then clean off the excess with a sponge and after 2 hours come back and clean them off with a dry cloth to remove the last remnants and shine them up.

The next step was to paint the room. Since I hate painting rooms, I let my wife take over this part of the project. She declined to be caught on camera during this part of the reno, so sorry folks , but no pictures of this process. After letting the paint dry overnight I removed the tape and went about installing the light fixture, which went smoothly, following the direction in the box. This unit puts out way more light than the old T8 unit and looks way better doing it.

I broke out the caulk gun next, to lay down some silicone to the edges of the tile, and then to install the sink in the countertop.

After the silicone had setup I installed the new faucet and pop-up drain plug. I had to add an extension to the lower drain pipe, but thankfully I had kept a section form the other bathroom project and was able to reuse it here, without having to stop and go to the store for the piece.

It was pretty much down to the little stuff at this point. Installing the toilet tank, new towel rod, towel hoop, toilet paper holder, shower curtain rod, head, faucet, handle and drain.

There it is, all the hard work done, time to sit back and bask in the glow of brushed nickle sheen.

The change is subtle, but way worth it in terms of updated style and functionality.

I'll need to get some smaller CFL's for the lights and there's still a couple things left to tidy up, but that's a wrap on this project. Now, time to calculate up the costs and see what the damage is, I tried to order used items when I could to lower the costs as much as possible.

Kohler K-2660-1-0 Vox Rectangle Vessel with Faucet Deck, White - $126.06

Brushed Nickel Conversion Kit Bathtub Tub Drain Assembly, All Brass Construction - $24.95

Decor Star Contemporary Bathroom Vanity Sink Lavatory Faucet - $47.69

Calleigh 4LT Vanity Fixture, Brushed Nickel Finish with Satin Etched Cased Opal Glass - $155.58

Moen  Eva Posi-Temp Tub and Shower Trim Kit without Valve - $137.25

Moen  Inspirations Curved Shower Rod, Brushed Nickel - $34.29

Decor Star 1 5/8" Bathroom Faucet Vessel Vanity Sink Pop Up Drain Stopper With Overflow - $19.95

Florentine Series 3 Piece Satin Nickel Bathroom Hardware Set - $34.99

Zen MOTHER OF PEARL Glass Mosaic Tiles - $74.00

Grout, Silicone, Paint and other incidentals probably close to $60.00

Grand Total = $714.76

Look at that, right in our budgeted range for this project, as a wise man once said, "I love it when a plan comes together".

Edit: After looking at the pics and showing them to a couple friends it was suggested that the mirror needed something to make it stand out a little more. So I added some crown molding around the edges to frame it in. I think it cost a total of six dollars for the materials. It definitely adds that extra flair and finishing touch to the bathroom.