Bathroom was completely made over for under one hundred dollars!
The master bathroom in the house we rent is in need of some serious help. The Formica counter top it peeling and chipping. Black mold was growing in the fiber wood of the counter top. The Floor, Oh, it was just as bad. There was three layers of peel and stick tile on top of linoleum stuck to the sub floor.
I got a wild hair and decided to redo the floor of the bathroom. At least that was the first idea. Ya Well, that turned into redoing the counter. Which then turned into extending the counter base. Then turned into adding fake wainscoting with wallpaper and a chair rail. Oh and floating shelves and framing the mirror!
Total cost for this remodel was under $100. How you ask well I already had the wainscoting wallpaper and I had tons of scrap wood. The items I purchased was:
12' x 10" x 2" to make my counter top
Flooring
Grout
Quarter round molding
and a couple plumbing parts
I started with extending the counter-top base. This i used scrap wood I had in the garage. I cut down the pieces to build a shelf the height of the counter top. There really was no storage in this bathroom before. Now I have room to store a few thing out of immediate eye site. After building the shelf I then attached it the the current base that was in place.
Next was the Counter top The 12 x 10" x 2" I believe cost me between $11 and $15. I had Lowes cut it with the radial arm saw. I measured out the pieces to the size I wanted my counter top in length. I then measured the board at Lowes and marked the board where I wanted it cut. I wanted them to be equal parts as I was planing them down and gluing them together. Once I got home with the boards I cleaned up and squared off the edges I was gluing together by running them through the table saw. I then got out my Bessey pipe clamps and Titebond glue and glued them together to form the counter top.
While that was drying I turned off the water on the bathroom sink and began to pull the counter top off and save the old sink to reuse. I took the old counter top and lined it up with the new one and traced the hole for the sink onto the new counter top. Once the glue was dry I then cut out the hole where the sink would fit and sit on the counter top. to do this I drilled a hole big enough to fit a Jigsaw blade into. I used my Ryobi Jig saw to follow the line to cut out the sink hole. I will later turn that round cut out into a clock or side table top.
Now that I had my counter top glued up and hole cut out. I chose a Espresso stain by Minwax and stained the top. When the stain was dry I then sealed the counter top with a Minwax Polycrylic so that water would not damage it. All the tools and materials I used can be bought on amazon or in Home Depot or Lowes.
Tools and products I Used to make the counter top:
While I waited between coats of Minwax poly coating I Installed the wainscoting wall paper. Which I already had from a previous project. So this was not an expense ad on for me. It would be for you if you
are choosing to install and get this look. Don't worry its not expensive it took one roll. Well my roll was not a full roll but almost a full roll. You'll find a link below to the wall paper. I also added a small chair railing about a inch wide at the top of the wall paper. Then i painted the entire bathroom the bottom wainscoting a White and the upper half was a Opps paint i found at home depot for $9 I used for many projects. It is a egg shell color
Next I installed the counter top and used a Clear caulking to seal the sink to the counter top. I ran into a couple problems as my counter top as slightly taller than the previous one. It was a easy fix with purchasing the proper pipe extender for the sink to to reach the P trap. The pipe was literally touching the P trap but did not go into it like it should. Before I attached the sink fully I cleaned out the P trap and found some surprises in it. Not to gross anyone out but WHO in the right mind puts tampons down a sink drain. They where in there case so not like it was that bad. BUT come on seriously. My guess is a lil kid did it. I always wondered why the sink never drained right.
Now that I had the sink fully attached and back in place with no leaks I could focus on the rest of the bathroom. Finishing and updating the cabinet doors. I filled the routed out decorative 80's grove with
wood putty and sanded the doors. Then I cut, glued and nailed with my Ryobi 18G brad nail gun some new trim on the doors. I then sanded and repainted them white. After everything was dry I re attached the doors to the vanity.
After the Vanity was completed I then went onto the Floors ripped up the 3 layers of sticky tile that you can never get to look clean. Also puled of the quarter round molding by using a hammer and 5 in one scraper. I went with a Stick down tile that was planked like wood flooring. This tile I chose is made to either have grout lines or no grout lines. I chose to go with grout lines. Now the reason I wanted grout was it is a bathroom. By adding in the grout helps protect the tile from getting water under them. I have a small child who get water everywhere. So this was important. This tile is really easy to cut and install as it is a vinyl. It can be cut with a razor blade. I did not use the entire box I bought. I only purchased one box for about $35 from home depot plus the grout that is specifically made for this tile.
Flooring :
Last things I did was a decorative touch I had scrap wood in the garage as I always do with the ongoing random projects i create. I decided I was going to build and create a frame for the ugly contractors mirror and three floating shelved. You can see pictures of those above. in the images.
That concludes my bathroom remodel.