After all the busy weeks preparing the show house, it has finally opened. This is…
Small Master Bathroom Makeover
I know you might be totally bored with our slow progress on our bathroom makeovers, but I promise today’s post will be worth it! After completing what I call “cosmetic updates” to our upstairs bathroom, we finally got a new floor, vanity and toilet to do a really complete and {hopefully} final makeover of the space.
Let’s back up to moving in day. This bath was really atrocious. With a yellow and brown floor {who picks those colors for a bathroom!?}, a shell sink and builder grade vanity that was WAY too large for the space, I hated it from day one.
Then when Mr. Decor Adventures went out of town for the weekend I came up with a master plan to redo the space and got started right then and there ripping out the floor.
It was one of my favorite moments as a homeowner, when I discovered original white hex tile under that old, ugly linoleum. See the before and after here.
Sadly though the floor was pretty damaged and very dirty, so we needed a solution. While I thought about what to do about the floor, I created a list of what I wanted to do in the space and the plan included the following projects:
- How to Sew a Fake Roman Shade
- Put up Window Film
- Vanity Makeover with Chalk Paint and Replaced Vanity Top
- Painted the Trim White and here
- Painted the mirror and sconces
But what we really needed was a new floor, new toilet and new vanity. Have I mentioned how much I disliked the current one, even with a chalk paint makeover? Since we are making over our basement bathroom too, we already bought a new toilet and just needed a new vanity and floor.
Our options for the floor were:
- Live with it as is and keep it as clean as possible
- Rip out the hex tile, and try not to cry too much during that, but deal with the unknowns of what was under it and the condition of the subfloor
- Cover it
Over time I warmed up to the covering it idea, especially after I got to write about and see the options for vinyl flooring. We ended up purchasing a roll out vinyl floor with a hex tile pattern, and even though it’s not the original, or real tile, it was the best option for us now. Here is how to install sheet vinyl flooring.
And since we had the toilet and floor, all we needed was the vanity. The DIY gods must have know because we found a special order that was not picked up at Home Depot one day and grabbed it up super fast. That meant we could get started on the makeover.
First we took out the toilet and vanity, then cleaned the floor.
Although I love that floor more than most people should naturally, I wasn’t feeling so bad about covering it up after a while. It was cracked and just plain dirty. The parts with the paper backing were where the vanity was. And the part around the toilet is self-leveling concrete, which we would have had to take out. It was easy to say we weren’t too on board with that plan.
Then Dan cut the floor in my office to install it and he put it in while I took pictures of course.
And soon enough it was like a new space, even with just a floor down and new toilet in. It was so much cleaner, and I was super excited about that. Here is a before of the original floor, the during of the uncovered hex tile and the new floor.
The toilet is a Cimmraon by Kohler from Lowes and the neat thing about it, which we didn’t know when we bough it, was that it has a slow closing seat and lid. The excitement of homeownership, I know. But it’s a really nice feature. You can press it hard to close and it still goes slowly and closes softly on its own. Plus it’s higher than our last one and the flush is really quick.
After the toilet, we got working on the vanity. I have a love/hate affair with this vanity. I love the look of it and am happy with the final product, but we had to cut it to make it fit around our pipes. It has these drawers that didn’t fit around our pipes so we knotched a part out of one of the drawers. I’m not sure how the water valves and pipe would fit into that small 6 inch space? But we got it to work.
It came with a nice white top and mirror that won’t fit here, so maybe I’ll use it someplace else. And we had to get a new faucet too, it’s the Peerless Apex Two Handle Lavatory Faucet in Brushed Nickel
Of course when you install a vanity, don’t forget to get your stud finder to be able to secure it to the wall. Mr. DA thinks he is funny when using the stud finder.
Oh, got one!
Then we did some trickery with the plumbing below. Actually I’ll write about that soon too, we used flex pipes since ours didn’t match up exactly {when do they ever?} and it works.
And here is the new vanity. It’s from the Home Decorators collection at Home Depot.
Here’s a look at the original vanity, the makeover I did on it with chalk paint and the new one.
And the tops of the vanities are much different too. We started with an off white shell sink and got a used piece from an architectural store and now have a pure white one, which is what I wanted all along.
I only have a little caulking to do on the baseboards, and then we will call this makeover done! I even put up new art above the toilet.
Here are some pics of the makeover.
I’m loving that this is all finished. Have you ever done a makeover in different phases? It’s slow for sure, but worth the cost savings if you can find items on sale.
*This post contains affiliate links.
Looks awesome!
I CANNOT believe that the floors are vinyl! They look beautiful! I love the wall color and the new vanity is gorgeous! You guys did an amazing job.
I love the wall color. What paint did you use?
Hi Shelaine,
This paint color in the bathroom is Flint Smoke by Behr Paint.
Hello Jessica.
Excellent makeover. I have a question. I am trying to install a standalone vanity.
Yours is the 1st installation I found in 2 years search.
How did you secure the vanity to the wall? Mines is about 1/4″ off the wall due to the tile at the base.
Also I see you are not using a backsplash. Won’t that cause water damage to the wall?
Hello,
To secure the vanity to the wall, you can use long pointed screws to drill through the wooden frame that holds the vanity together, right into the wall, into a stud. Some vanities have pre-drilled holes for this. Others will not, so you can make your own holes, based on where the wall studs are. They are not seen since they will be under where the vanity top/sink goes.
We haven’t had any water damage due to the lack of a back splash. The paint is a satin, so that helps. But you can install a back splash if that is your style or you prefer it to protect the wall. We don’t get that much water on the wall, so it works out fine. I hope that helps you and good luck with your renovation.
I love this vanity! Where did you get it?
Hi Tiffany,
Thanks. We got it from Home Depot. It was out on the floor as a special order that was never picked up, but it’s from their Home Decorators collection. I know they have similar ones. Hope that helps!
Hi Jessica – I love your makeover! I, too, have a house full of wood trim. It’s not old and beautiful like yours, but I like the warmth it adds?. We are about to embark on a bathroom makeover and I’m curious how you combined the white trim with your wooden door? Does the door have the wood trim with the white trim at the base? Would love to see a picture!
Hi Kim,
In our bathroom, the inside of the door actually was painted white when we moved in, but the trim inside the door frame was wood, so I painted the trim white to match the door and the rest of the trim in the room. You can see the before in the picture in this post.
So all of the trim inside the bathroom is white, and the outside of the door (in the hallway) is wood, along with the trim out there. I’ll try to get a picture and send it to you. Hope that helps!
So I love this floor! One question….in person does it look as much like tile or does it have the linoleum look to it?
THANKS!
Kally
Hi Kally,
Glad you like the floor. It’s so affordable (I’m talking under $4 a square foot) and so easy to put in. I think it does look like tile in person to an extent. Some people come over and think it’s tile. But yes, there is a softer quality to it that gives the feel that it’s one piece, but not so that it’s cheap looking. It’s available at a lot of flooring stores, so you can go see large samples in person. I hope that helps!
Hi Jessica! I’ve been swooning over your website. I also have stained wood. Just curious, what color did you paint the ceiling in your bathroom? kb
Hi Karen,
The ceiling in this bathroom is white. All of the ceilings in our house are except the basement bathroom and our small front entry foyer. More of my paint colors can be found here: http://decoradventures.com/2014/01/paint-colors-home.html
Thanks for reading my blog!
Hi Jessica,
You did an amazing job. Really love your makeover and specially this floor. It really gives the look of new and the vanity you display above is awesome. I was searching for this type of vanity for my bathroom from last two days. I just want to know from where you find this vanity and if I need more bathroom decor things, would all decoration things are availble in one place. Thanks agiain for this outstanding post.
Hi John,
Thanks for the compliments, I’m glad you like the bathroom. The vanity is from the Home Decorators Collection that we bought at Home Depot. Hope this helps and good luck in your projects.
Very old post, I know, but I am kind of doing the same thing to not one, but two bathrooms in our home. My hubs have made the existing ones, and both are challenging, one more than the other.
The Vanity Paradox – being too big and all? I have the exact same issue! 😀
Nice makeover!
Hi there! I’ve been looking at this floor for days trying to decide if I love it or just like it.
I know this is a stupid old post, but I’m crossing my fingers you’ll read this and reply. How has this floor held up?? Do you still have it installed? How is the waterproofing?
Thanks!!
xoxo
Hi Cami Anne,
The floor has held up perfectly. It looks exactly the same as the day we installed it, seriously. It hides dirt and is easy to clean.
Water doesn’t get through it, if that’s what you mean by waterproof. Hope that helps! – Jessica
I love your make over! How did you cover/finish the seam along the bathtub?
Thanks!