Although it may appear impossible, a low-cost bathroom redesign is entirely achievable. The popular perception of bathroom remodeling is that it must cost five figures and that everything must be torn out and redone. However, rejecting that assumption is the first step toward bringing spiraling bathroom remodel prices back down to earth..
In terms of agony, missed deadlines, and exorbitant expenses, bathroom remodeling, like kitchen remodeling, takes a toll on homeowners. Given the exorbitant expense of bathroom remodeling, it pays to think outside the box and look for more cost-effective solutions. Not only will you have a clean, bright, and functional bathroom after a low-cost and lean bathroom redesign, but you will also have significantly more money in your bank account than homes who went the more expensive, wasteful approach.
Make Use of Low-Cost Lookalikes
When it comes to conserving money, keeping and renovating your old materials is always the best option. However, if you must substitute materials, low-cost substitutes can often pass for the real thing. Consider luxury vinyl flooring instead of real wood plank flooring. Today’s vinyl flooring is significantly more appealing than previous versions. From afar, innovations like luxury vinyl flooring and plank vinyl can mislead the eye. Granite and high-definition laminate surfaces are increasingly competing for the look of genuine real stone. Backsplashes made of faux-stone ceramic and porcelain tiles can resemble travertine and marble.
Your Wooden Floor Should Be Painted
If your bathroom has a wooden floor, you can pull it out and replace it with something more moisture-resistant, like tile. Keep your wooden floor and protect it with a protective enamel to save time, energy, and money. Solid hardwood, on the other hand, should not be your first choice for bathroom flooring. However, if you already have wooden flooring, this is a low-cost method of preserving them for as long as possible.
Instead of replacing your tub, refinish it.
Consider total bathtub replacement as your final viable option, at least in terms of cost reductions. Try relining or refinishing instead. The motto “Repair and keep rather than remove” applies perfectly to bathtub and shower refurbishing. You can refinish your shower or bathtub if the issue is primarily cosmetic, such as a yellowed surface with some fractures and nicks. Bathtub and shower liners, while never a permanent solution, are not as inexpensive as they appear. Liners, which require professional installation, will last for several years. Bathtub refinishing, on the other hand, is less expensive and often results in a better-looking tub.
Rather than refinishing your tub, touch it up.
A tub touch-up is the next stage after resurfacing the complete tub surface. If your bathtub has nicks, gouges, or peeling paint, but you don’t want to replace the entire surface, you can spot-repair it. Some touch-up treatments, like as Super Glue White Porcelain Repair, are as simple to use as toothpaste straight from the tube.
Replace the hardware on your cabinets to give them a new look.
It can be costly to purchase and install new bathroom cabinets. Removing the old hardware and replacing it with interesting new hardware is a far easier and less expensive method to breathe new life into your existing cabinets. To make things even easier, make sure the new hardware’s screw orientation matches the holes in your current cabinets before you buy it. This avoids the need for new holes to be drilled.
Replace the Sink Faucet
Installing a new sink faucet, like installing new cabinet hardware, is one trick that designers and do-it-yourselfers employ to make a sink gleam without having to replace the entire top or vanity.
Install a Shower that Has Been Pre-Fabricated
Hiring a professional to create a bespoke tile shower from scratch is the most expensive option for a new shower. While custom-built tile showers and tubs are beautiful and unique, a pre-fabricated shower unit is often less expensive. If you absolutely must have that tiled shower, you can save time and money by fusing a poly shower pan with the tile.
Make Your Own Toilet Installation
Plumbers are more valuable than gold. However, if you have the strength to carry a toilet, you should avoid hiring a plumber to replace the old toilet. Instead, do it yourself and install your toilet. Only a few waterline connections are required during toilet installation. The most difficult aspect of toilet installation is physically moving the toilet into place. Purchase a low-cost hand truck or enlist the help of a buddy for this.
Parts of the inside can be painted by yourself.
Even the most inexperienced do-it-yourselfer can paint an interior room. Because of the big scale, you may want to consider hiring a professional painter for whole-house painting. However, consider how little painting is required in bathrooms. Mirrors, showers, flooring, cupboards, and bathtubs take up the majority of the wall area. You only have a few square feet to paint in the end. In most circumstances, you can do this task in a day or two.
Resist the urge to relocate major plumbing fixtures.
Keep the bathroom and shower facilities where they are to save money. There’s no need to relocate the plumbing if its current placement meets your requirements. Any remodel project that involves moving water supply and/or drainage automatically increases the cost.
Do Some Plumbing Work on Your Own.
If you despise hiring a plumber for remodeling work, take a moment to consider what you might be able to accomplish on your own. Even the least confident do-it-yourself plumber may perform modest plumbing work with relative ease thanks to the introduction of plastic PEX plumbing pipes and push-in fittings. Give this suggestion some serious thinking if your idea of plumbing work is still stuck in the days of soldering copper pipes over an open flame or dealing with galvanized pipes. You could discover that PEX and push-in fittings are ideal for your requirements.
Install Your Own Vanity and Countertop in the Bathroom.
Bathroom vanities and tops are almost completely pre-assembled. Because bathrooms are small, you can buy virtually or fully completed bathroom vanity units and vanity tops and have them installed in just a few hours. Vanity units are available in a variety of sizes, ranging from 24 to 60 inches wide. Counters that match and even have sinks built in can be purchased, avoiding the need for sink installation and caulking.
Bathroom Materials to Migrate.
What should you do with all of those materials if you have two bathrooms and remodel one of them? Some homeowners have discovered that transferring components from one bathroom to the other is cost-effective. Shower curtains, pipes, and picture frames, for example, can all be relocated to the next bathroom.
You can create your own bathroom design.
Bathroom designers are wonderful, but they can also blow your bathroom remodel budget. Consider creating your own bathroom design. A qualified designer can help you with whole-house remodels, additions, and huge kitchens. Bathrooms in most homes, on the other hand, aren’t nearly as difficult. Studying bathroom layouts and knowing fundamental bathroom design rules (such as the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s suggestions) will provide you with lots of inspiration to get started.
Wainscot should be installed on the lower half of the walls.
If a bathroom material is still functional, it should be repaired and reused. This is the driving principle of any refurbishment at the surface level (with the caveat that you never want to cover anything because it needs to be replaced). For example, there’s no better way to hide the lower half of a wall than with wainscot, which is simple to install. Wainscot is a pre-fabricated board that reaches up to 48 inches in height and avoids the need to mend wall dings and minor holes by simply covering them with wainscot.
Allure Baths and Kitchens offers bathroom remodeling and shower remodeling throughout the entire local Phoenix, AZ Valley area including: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Carefree, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise and more. Get a free bathroom remodel quote by contacting us today.
