Bathroom re-model on a budget

Before

Although functional, the bathroom in our 60year old house was quite dated. Gold lamay mirror frame, chocolate brown fixtures, brown floral pattern tub tiles, orange linoleum floor, and Gramma's lace window curtains. Since this is our only bathroom, we need to find a re-model plan that was budget minded, but that also remained fully functional for us through the entire process.

The solution:

• Paint. I painted the solid wood vanity a creamy white and replaced the hardware and hinges.  I painted the wood mirror frame. I even painted the light fixture.  I painted the walls and ceiling of course.  I painted the plain builder quality wood door.

• New shower fixture.  We removed the old rickety shower door and gave it away for free on Craiglist. This was replaced with a hotel style curved shower curtain rod. I hired a plumber to replace the dated shower fixture, upgrading to a hand shower system from the basic fixed shower head that was there before. This was a one day procedure.

• Backsplash.  How hard can it be to do your own tiling?  It's actually quite easy.  We selected a small scale tile mozaic that didn't require the rental of a tile saw.  With some great advise from our home improvement store, we had the new backsplash done in one weekend.

• More paint. I hired a professional to reglaze the tub and tile with a plain white paint. This was a one day procedure, and we were able to shower the next morning.

• New sink and toilet. These are relatively cheap and easy to replace yourself.  My partner Rich and I studied toilet replacement on youtube over coffee in the morning, then by the afternoon our new white toilet was installed and functional.  The sink and faucet was equally easy.

• Flooring. I had my heart set on installing hardwood flooring in the bathroom, but all conventional wisdom advised against it.  Instead we installed a vinyl plank flooring that looks and feels like hardwood, and actually matches the colour of the rest of the hardwood in the house.

• Total cost for all of the above was around $3000.