Sarah Metlova
Guest Bathroom Remodel Ideas On A Budget – But we left you as long as possible. We spent our money and time on other renovations that were very important to the house at the time – like new floors, skylights, etc.
However, recently, with the major renovation projects now complete, it occurred to me that we really needed to do SOMETHING in the guest bathroom. Like ASAP. So we decided to do a very small $350 budget upgrade to last until we were ready for a major overhaul. And I’m so glad we did!
Guest Bathroom Remodel Ideas On A Budget
Want to see how it all came together? Click for a budget breakdown and all before and after photos.
Holiday Guest Bathroom Essentials
It was dark and sunny and for some reason the humidity was very low. But we figured we’d get it right eventually, so we didn’t worry too much about it. Fast forward to now and we realized that we really need to address some things in this area since my son uses it every day and we are here a lot.
So, after installing VELUX solar panels to bring in some (much needed) natural light, it’s time to tackle cosmetic changes.
Sun tunnels were not in the bathroom budget because they were a gift from the brand.
The bathroom sink is unusual. Very installed, very low. It was like that when we bought a house, I don’t know why. Maybe it was ADA compliant? But this is the bathroom my son uses every day, so the height is perfect, no seat needed.
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For this reason and budget reasons, we decided to keep the old vanity for now. One of the things I like is that it can be mounted on the wall. So if and when I decide to replace the tiles, I don’t need to worry about removing the void. And I can easily replace the sink with something new when the new floor is in. Again, I don’t know when that will happen because so far I am very happy with the way these floors have turned out.
Starting with painting the cabinet and removing the knots makes a big difference. It’s not exactly what I would do if I were to completely redo this room, but with the budget I was working with, it would do the trick.
I mixed my own sink color from two other products because I couldn’t find the color I wanted.
I received Farrow and Ball sample boxes of lichen no. 19 and Treron no. 292. I poured each sample box in a separate container, mixed them together, and used that color in the sink.
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I wanted to replace the existing faucet with something updated, but the type of faucet I choose from was limited. I was limited to one hole options and had to look for a smaller faucet because the vanity was too small.
I ended up finding this gold faucet on Amazon that was very affordable and looked great. It’s simple, but it works so far. There are no complaints.
We are often asked about the buttons in our kitchen, such as the buttons for the sink. That’s why I thought I’d mention it. During the kitchen remodel, I reordered the knobs to use many extras throughout the house, including this new one in the bathroom.
The buttons from Build.com are amazing and add a lot of character with the solid wood and concave shape.
Guest Bathroom Ideas
Since the vanity is very small and short, I thought I would improve the space a bit by adding a backsplash and a shelf. The tiling process was easier than I thought.
I used a more expensive tile for the backsplash (from Cle – part of the new California collection), but since I only needed a few tiles, the final cost was less than $100 (including other tile materials).
Since it was a small space I was picking, I thought it was important to choose something that felt really special and suited the house. I live in Southern California and have a mid-century feel in my house, I thought Cle’s new California collection was a perfect fit. The tiles in the collection have a very nice look and feel, similar to cool ceramics. Each tile is slightly different, with variations in its color, stripes, spots, etc.
To correct the unevenness of the tiles, I went further, with multiple colors of tiles. The result is even more colorful, reminiscent of the colors I saw in nature on recent trips to Yosemite and Mammoth.
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One last note about the tile… Another reason why I chose different colors for this tile is that you can only buy 4 tiles (patterns) of the same color from Cle at a time.
That way I could respect their rules about sample tiles being paid for individually AND I got my entire tile order MUCH faster than going with one color for everything.
A bathroom shelf above a tile backsplash is one of my favorite parts of a bathroom remodel. It was partly cheaper to do, because I already had all the necessary materials. And partly because I was able to add a plant and some nice accessories. I also like to recommend this because my son uses this bathroom regularly.
Getting up and out of the way is a good thing when it comes to breakables and small children.
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So the shelf is a piece of wood I just had left over from my DIY cutting board project. I put it together with other L brackets (also known as braces). I attached the wood to the wall with brackets. And stick it as close as possible to the tile backsplash.
It’s very simple! Then I just hide the visible parts of the parenthesis and the stuff in front.
Overall, I think it’s a good fit, but I would trade it for something else.
Right now, because our electricity is not out, it has covered the ugly spot where the old light used to be. Once that is removed we will attach that part of the wall and I will see if I need to start with a smaller/different mirror.
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* I also wanted to mention that this new mirror was totally free because I had an Amazon gift card. So that was part of the appeal.
The rock floor is something I went back and forth with. It has a bit of a groovy/retro feel to it, but it also looked pretty sad. Maybe because it had paint stains that wouldn’t come off and always looked dirty (paint I mean).
So I decided to paint it. I fully expected that if it looked bad, I would remove everything and put new tiles here.
Because I had nothing to lose, I felt a little comfortable in the process. And he came up with a strategy that ended up working very well. I will probably do a separate post on how I made the floor, but you can get an idea of the process from my Instagram post.
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I used a special floor paint to make sure I could handle it and cleaned it well beforehand with the Krud cutter. I always use the Krud cutter before I paint things – it acts as a degreaser and helps remove anything that is preventing the paint from sticking. Be sure to use a sealer as well – but I’ll cover that in a future post on floor painting.
* If I have to pay for the mirror, the cost will be $423.03. If it wasn’t for this gift card, I probably would have gone for a cheaper one to keep the cost down. So, I think either way I would have stayed under the $350 budget.
I am very happy that I was able to stay UNDER BUDGET for this $75 project. If you don’t know me personally, you know that is almost impossible. Lol.
But even if I hadn’t gone under budget, I would have been happy with the result. My goal with this update was to extend the life of this space. And finally, stop readjusting the scale for as long as possible. It’s by no means perfect, but it feels fresh to our family and feels very “us” at the moment while staying true to the original style of the house. Have you seen it yet?