Bathroom update- before and after

We finally finished this project! Well almost. I have yet to seal the new grout on the bathroom floor., It still needs to cure for a bit longer. But everything else, done!

Before:




After:







I am not 100% happy with the way the floor came out, but it was pretty beat to start with. I didn't want to mess with re-tiling, though, so this is ok for now. I think it might clean up better after I get the grout sealed and I can really scrub it. But over all, I am pleased. It is a kids/guest bathroom. I am saving my $$$ for a major master bath renovation, so I kept this as affordable as possible.

:applause: :bounce: :yourock: :applause: :bounce: :yourock: :applause: :bounce: :yourock: :applause: :bounce: :yourock: :applause: :bounce: :yourock: :applause: :bounce: :yourock:



superb! aren't you proud? it looks just great!

Other than the tile issue, I am pleased. It is fun to decorate with a large budget, but in a weird way, it is almost more fun to do it with almost nothing to spend and have it look so much better at the end. :) It was a lot of work, though.

I will be starting my powder room after the holidays. It is smaller, and the hardwood floors are nicely finished, so no dirty grout to worry about. I have a rich chocolate brown I used in another room that I will try on the walls. I am going to try to 'antique' the vanity, then try casting a cement vanity top, so that should be an interesting challenge. Then make another frame for the existing mirror. And lighting. Lots of lighting. Also, a new toilet.

Here is the before on that one (yet another potty seat!):

The black looks rich and sophisticated. I like the color on the walls, too. It works very nicely.

What kind of paint did you use on the vanity? Was it acrylic?

I can seal it with some spray stuff, but I want to see how it wears first.

My only advice it get as much of the grout off the tile as you want before you seal it.

The dark grout seems to have stained the white tiles. If you look at the "before" picture, the floor tiles match the wall tiles. In "after", the floor tiles are dark looking. I took a cloth and some 409 and tried to clean just the tiles without scrubbing the grout lines. It was only a marginal improvement.

Any suggestions on how to clean it up? Some of the floor tiles are worn, so I can see how they would have absorbed some pigment. But all the tiles seem affected, not just the worn ones.

If I don't get it resolved, I may end up painting the floor tiles, or completely re-tiling. I *really* don't want to re-tile. If I do that, I may as well replace the vanity and toilet, and that was what I wanted to avoid, at least for a few more years. Paint may not be durable enough. :grr:

Sounds almost as if you have 'grout haze' that didn't get wiped up during the grouting process.

Wait until the grout is fully cured before doing this as the acid will eat the wet grout.

We use it for certain intense cleaning problems. I will 'borrow' some and a pair of goggles, too.

Thanks for the tip! Hope it works. The whole point of re-grouting was *not* to re-tile.

I was about to sink some money into my bathroom and kitchen, but after looking at yours (mine is a very similar floorplan), I am thinking I should do what I can with the bathroom myself and spend the money on the kitchen only.

I'd love to hear details about the whole process if you have them or have time to write it up.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x1246

Do you have a picture of your bathroom you can post? Then we can look at it and give suggestions. Many here are far more knowledgeable than I about home repair and fix it projects.

What I did was pick a paint colors I liked, then went from there. If you have a picture or rug you like, that can be a better starting point.

My vanity is wood, and original to the house (1960s). It actually functioned well, but needed a lot of sanding before I painted. After that, it was easy to replace the pulls.

We did not replace the counter, just pulled off the original laminate and glued on new. There were issues with the sink opening, too. This was much cheaper than buying a new counter top, but it requires tools and some patience and precision. If you do not feel up to it, you can order a new counter top from your local Lowe's or HD and even have them install it.

Then I re-grouted the floor. This was the most difficult and least satisfying job. I decided to do a darker grout with the white floor to add some character to the room. A sound idea to start with, but if I was to do it again, I would stick with a light grout color. The dark grout has not adhered evenly to the original grout lines, and it is a nightmare to clean up off of the white tiles. After I finishing scrubbing the dark grout off the tiles, I will try to go over the white spots with some dark grout paint, then seal the whole mess.

If you don't want to re-grout, research grout paint on the web. I did that on my kitchen back splash, and it was very effective and easy project.

Then I painted some molding, miter cut the edges and glued it on to the existing mirror. Here is a thread about that. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x1474

Then I replaced the lighting, which does as much as anything to brighten the room up.

I will add a small towel bar for hand towels and call it done :)

Viola, brand new bathroom for under $500!

I researched re-glazing the tub, but decided against it. For about $300 you can have someone come in and re-glaze your porcelain tub. Mine has some wear, but it is not horrible, so I decided against it. I can do it later if I want to.

Try watching Designed to Sell and House Doctor on HGTV. On those shows they are fixing houses to sell, so they want things to look clean and new while spending as little as possible.

All of this was a lot of work and required modest carpentry and plumbing skills. If you don't have the time or skills, you could probably hire a handyman service to do the labor. I might do that myself next time :crazy:

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

But I am leaving to visit my sister for Christmas tomorrow morning, so it won't be for about a week.

Initially, I was planning on totally changing the size and shape of the bathroom. There is an adjoining coat closet that is never used, and a utility room that is too small on the other side, and I wanted to move the washer and hot water heater in there, so I was looking at moving plumbing, electricity, and walls. But I decided to spend that money putting in central AC and heat, which I don't have right now. So, I thought less dramatic changes to the bathroom would be necessary.

My friend Kathy put down ceramic tile herself, and it looks very nice, so she said she'd help me with that. Right now, there is really old seafom green, cracked ceramic tile there. The walls have hideous fake wood panelling (I may have to hire a pro to do something with the walls). The vanity has a decent marble top, but I don't like the wooden cabinet it sits on. The cabinets and trim on the walls are pretty hideous too, with too many layers of old paint. I was thinking about totally taking out the cabinets and putting something open there to store the towels, just make it look slightly roomier.

The shower/tub will have to be professionally done, because I have attempted that kind of job before and know my limitations! The shower walls are some kind of wood composite covered with a supposedly waterproof surface which started seeping soon after my father's friend installed it. So, by now, many years later, there are water marks all over the edges.

Oh, I just remembered that I do have ONE pic! The splashguard behind the sink is the same stuff as in the shower, and notice the ugly panelling! :scared: The cabinets to the left are the ones I'd like to take out. Excuse the paper on the countertop! I was cleaning out the cabinets at the time, and I forgot to put that away before I snapped the pic! LOL!

wall board below it. if not, sheetrock is pretty easy to work with and then you can just paint. heck, I'd probably try painting the paneling first anyway, it may look great and it will save you a bunch of work. it not, at least it will look cleaner til you can decide what to do with it.....

you can probably paint the cabinet too and maybe even remove those raised panels to give it a sleeker appearence. or just take the doors off altogether! leave it open or add curtains or pretty baskets for storage which is all the rage these days

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful visit!