Help I Need a New Bathroom - Part 2!

Tips and Advice From Doing a DIY Bathroom Update to Having the Whole Thing Renovated for You

Have you been thinking it's time for one or all of your bathrooms in your home to get an update? In this multi part series, I'm going to go over the steps to achieve your dream bathroom on your budget and how much time and work it takes to get there.

How to Update Your Existing Bathroom to a New Bathroom - Part 2 - The Secondary Bathroom

In Part One I covered planning for your bathroom renovation. If you haven't read that one yet, you can link back here! In Part Two, I'm going to discuss renovating a smaller bathroom. This might be a powder bath, guest bath, kids bath or a main bathroom but without a separate tub and shower. In Part Three, I'll cover renovating a large master bathroom that has a separate tub and shower. If you've done your planning, that means that you know how much you can spend, if you are hiring the work out and which bathroom you are tackling. You also should have a good idea of what you'd like it to look like. I'm assuming here that you have chosen a secondary bath to start with and you are ready to begin!!

In this first section I'm going to discuss if you are doing the work yourself. Doing your own work is a great way to save money, feel good about creating something all on your own, and learn some new skills. Starting with the most basic of renovations would be to paint the walls. This can often give a whole new look to the room and be very cost effective. If you don't have a lot of DIY experience, this is a good place to start. Start by taping at your base boards, ceiling, cabinets, and doorways. Basically anywhere you want a crisp line and don't want to get paint on. Use good quality painters tape. I also recommend using a primer or paint with a primer. Make sure your walls are clean and dust free. You also will want to make sure that you've filled in any holes before painting with spackle. Make sure it's dry and sanded and no dust is on your wall before painting. Make sure you have a roller and a paint brush for detail work, and a ladder to get up to the ceiling. Drop cloths are your friends to cover the floors, toilet and countertops. Most paint jobs will require 2-3 coats of paint per wall. Make sure you get good even coverage. Wait for the paint to dry in between coats. To figure out how much paint you need multiply the height of the walls by the width of the walls. One gallon of paint will cover roughly 400 sq ft - one time. In a bathroom you want to purchase paint that is washable and usually a semi-gloss as it is best under humidity and damp conditions. If you don't have a shower, you can go with an eggshell or satin.

The next level of renovation would be wallpaper. You can purchase wallpaper in peel and stick, pre-pasted and un-pasted. All have their pros and cons. Read up on them and decide which you prefer. Once you've decided make sure you use a level and a razor to cut the paper along with a large wallpaper squeegee to smooth out any bubbles. Wallpaper is beautiful and can really add a level of style to your bathroom. Again, look for one that is durable and washable for your bathroom.

Next up - adding wood trim and molding. If you want batten board or some type of stylized wood detail, then you will want to look at some options for designs and draw it out. My biggest tip here is measuring and spacing it evenly. Having a circular saw, hammer and nails, level, measuring tape, along with caulking is necessary for this job. I advice watching several YouTube videos if you've never tackled this before. After the installation, you can paint over it to finish it off. Adding wood details can add a lot of charm to the room, and help create the look you are going for.

Tiling! - Ok, so now you are getting into some serious skill here. If you are tiling the wall, then you should be able to get started with minimal prep work (ask at your tile store or watch some videos on this), but if you are planning to re-tile anything that already has tile - you are going to be doing a lot of chipping up and probably some jack hammering. Taking tile up is a big job and very dusty!!!! Make sure you wear a face mask, so you don't inhale the dust. There are a lot of things you'll need for this job, including a tile saw - so this might be best hired out.

If you are changing out the mirror to framed mirrors - be careful! Sometimes those large mirrors can be glued to the wall and they are extremely heavy. If you want to keep your large mirror, you can always frame it out with wood to make it look less builder grade.

Lighting - if you are changing out the lighting it is best to hire this out as well to an electrician. By Florida law anything with electric or plumbing should be done by a licensed professional. Adding new lighting though is a great way to change the look of the room. Many people right now are opting for side lighting and it's a very pretty look. Also, lighted mirrors are pretty popular right now.

The cabinetry - if your cabinets are in good condition and not vinyl wrapped, they can be repainted. From someone who has had their cabinets repainted twice in our kitchen, I strongly advise you do it the right way. Both times my husband repainted our cabinets and he has done an amazing job. But he is extremely meticulous. And did a lot of research. He removed all of the doors, did an acid wash on them, removed the paint, sanded them and then used Sherwin Williams Emerald Paint for cabinetry and furniture. He also primed them and then sprayed the paint on with several coats. It's a long process. And then you also have to do the same process to the actual cabinetry. The reason I recommend this paint is because after 14 days it has cured and becomes very hard and similar to a cabinet paint you'd get in a factory. The reason we painted twice is because we had dark when it was popular and then decided to change to white many years later. The paint both times lasted very well. If you don't go through all of these steps, you run the risk of the paint scratching off or peeling off. Or you can just take the vanity out that is existing and replace it with something new! Lots of options to choose from and you can purchase something from your local hardware dealer or online.

Countertops - some vanities come with a countertop already installed. If you like the looks of it, then go that route. If not, then you will need to source out a countertop from a local stone place or hardware store. Quartz is a great option for bathrooms or granite. Marble can scratch easily and be careful of counters made of plastic in case you put a hot curling iron or flat iron down on it. It will melt the counter. Sometimes you can find a stone remnant at a lower price point.

Hardware and faucets - these can be purchased and changed out and will add a nice new look to your design.

So, that roughly covers the basics of how much goes into doing the bathroom yourself. It's honestly a very big job. And because it's a small space it can be more challenging to move around and work in. The bathroom is honestly the hardest room to paint even though it is the smallest. So many things to paint around (toilet I'm looking at you!). If you are handy and you don't mind getting into the thick of things, then it can be very rewarding and kind of fun to do the work yourself. But if you are not, then it might be best to keep reading and hire the work out.

If you've decided you are not handy at all or you don't want to do this yourself, then hiring a general contractor and interior designer is a good idea. When hiring a contractor, plumber, or electrician make sure that they are licensed and insured. Same for a designer, if licensing is required in your state, but they should definitely be insured. It's also a good idea if you are doing anything with plumbing or electrical to have permits pulled, so you don't wind up with issues down the road. Interview a few to see who you fit best with, works best with your budget and you trust the most. Having workers in your home is very personal and you want to make sure you trust them.

So, now you have decided to hire this job out. If you know what you want and are good at articulating it and making decisions, you can run the job yourself and just hire the contractors. If you don't want that headache, then I'd advise hiring an Interior Designer to help manage the job, make design decisions, explain how you want the tile lain, and come up with something unique for your home. Designers can really make a job run much smoother. You will still be in charge of hiring your own workers (it is against the law in Florida for your designer to hire those for you or to pay them directly). You should always be the one who contracted the work and pays directly for it.

Once you've selected your designer and contractors it's time to begin your work. You will want to clear out the bathroom of all personal belongings and have the room ready for demolition or work to begin. Depending on how big of a renovation you are doing, this could take a couple of weeks to finish, not including the shipping of materials. Small bathrooms are usually a good bit faster than master bathrooms.

One of the big trends right now is to remove the shower/tub combo and put in a walk in shower. This job is fairly uncomplicated, but will require a plumber, drywaller and skilled tile mason. Working with your designer can help you come up with a beautiful tile design for the shower and the rest of the room design. Adding a niche into the shower wall is also very popular right now and a great option for storing shampoo, conditioner and soap. And don't forget to add a shaving ledge!

Depending on selections and if you are hiring out the work, you can see that costs for a small bathroom can range from a few hundred dollars for just paint for the walls to several thousand for a full renovation with all new materials and the work done for you. Working with a designer can help you stay within your budget, time frame, and to not incur extra costs from possible mistakes.

Here I'm sharing some before and after images of a small bathroom and what it could look like after. The after are digital renders that I've created (not AI), based on selections I made. This is typical of what you would receive from me if we worked together. I like to supply my clients with mood boards of their selections as well as digital renders of what it will tentatively look like.

In Part Three of How to Update Your Existing Bathroom to a New Bathroom, I'll cover the master bathroom and how to modernize it.

I hope you found this helpful to start your bathroom renovation project. If you are in need of design help, contact me! I'd love to help you with your bathroom renovation project.