OH MY...we got this email from Laura: "OK, I'm asking all comers for some help here. We had an incident this weekend, and as a result we no longer have a floor in our only bathroom. This will require some lightning speed decisions on our part and is unfortunately one of those "well, if you're replacing the floor, you might as well replace the toilet and the tub and the fixtures and the lighting..." it has suddenly meant we are gutting and redoing our entire loo."
CHI Good Questions: Help! Lost the Bathroom Floor!
In a panic, I nearly bought all the necessary pieces from Lowes and Home Depot yesterday, but my peach of a husband managed to talk me down and we didn't get anything that we didn't need at that very moment (like subfloor. sucks to suddenly need subfloor.).
Background on our bathroom and us - typical 5x6 bath, tub, toilet, sink. The picture is (obviously) from before the floor gave up its ghost. Nothing can be reused by us - it's all in bad condition. We had accumulated a few things for when we finally redid the bath, so we do already have a sink from Habitat Restore and towel bars in nickel.
That's all. We anticipate that we'll only be in the house for a couple more years, and due to it's location, dropping tons of cash on it will NOT increase it's value much - so we'd rather not. Ideally, we'll do the whole thing for under $800. Most of the time we buy "antique"
furniture and are likely to chop things up and reuse them. We like colors, but I'd rather have a base of white for things that can't be easily replaced (like tile). We are our own construction crew, with the occasional sibling, parent or friend helping out.
Now, my questions are...
- Good online or metro Detroit sources for tile that isn't whack expensive? I think we'd like to do a small white hex tile on the floor, and we're still considering what to do about the tub enclosure walls.
- Any ideas for a vanity that isn't a particleboard thing from a big box store? I'd love to see some creative ideas for reuse - I recall having seen some in the past, but wasn't paying a lot of attention since I didn't need to be.
- Why are shower curtains so ugly? OK, that's not really the right question, but that was how I felt looking around yesterday. If you've seen a beautiful shower curtain with some color (maybe yellow?) but not overwhelming, I'd love to see it.
- I'll take any other advice, really. Or sympathy. Sympathy's nice.
Laura, you have our sympathy...suddenly not having a bathroom floor must rank up there pretty high on the list of un-fun things to have happen...and we are hoping for lots of good advice for you, so here we go: sources, ideas, advice, comments and sympathy all accepted in the comments below!
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Comments (19)
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on the upside...hey, new bathroom! good luck...
view pinko's profile
Ikea Hacker has some really good cheap vanity ideas lately:
http://tinyurl.com/2jmwtb
http://tinyurl.com/2px25h
http://tinyurl.com/33gcju
view cakekick's profile
I'm re-doing two bathrooms next week so this is my current topic of choice!!
hakatai.com for glass tile or home depot now carries some nice penny-round tile for only $5.99 a sq foot!!! best if you find it on their website- not all stores carry it.
overstock.com has tons of good but inexpensive faucets.
i purchased a Kohler Wellworth toilet for my guest bath- inexpensive but compact and good quality.
Look for a plumbing salvage yard for a tub- or even your local habitat for humanity store.
I'm using a kitchen above-the-fridge cabinet as a wall mounted vanity- i'll post photos at some point.
Best of luck- i'll be thinking of you when i'm re-doing my bathrooms next week!!
M
view Maggiempbp's profile
You can repurpose an old dresser or buffet as a vanity:
HGTV link to instructions
My mom always makes our shower curtains out of flat sheets because the pattern selection is much better- this is an easy option if you can sew at all because you really only have to cut size and add buttonholes for the hooks.
view CQ in DC's profile
CB2 has nice mirrors.
Buy ANY interesting fabric to use as a shower curtain - with a liner behind it. If you love a fabric that isn't wide enough, hang it down the center, like art that you're displaying. If you don't sew, use large safety pins to attach the textile to the shower curtain rings.
Good luck!!!
view Taureg's profile
I love the Anthropologie shower curtains -- many have some yellow. http://tinyurl.com/2jcw8a
We recently bought 3x6 white "subway" tile (Dal Tile, from the Rittenhouse series) from Menard's for under $3 a square foot. We've had a really hard time finding hex tile that we consider to be affordable, though. We've decided on glass mosaic tile from wholesalersusainc.com (a great deal at less than $4 a square foot).
Costco has some great deals on fancier glass and metal tile, if you've got the budget for it.
And I always love repurposed dressers as vanities. :) Good luck -- and here's some :::sympathy::: for you.
view bridgettoledo's profile
Don't know if you're planning on replacing the medicine chest, but when I redid my bathroom I used two Ikea cabinets with mirrored doors opening from the center, mounted side-by-side and recessed into the wall. I don't have the model name handy, unfortunately, but they were around 7'' deep. It turned out to be a lot cheaper than a regular medicine chest and provides much better storage. Good luck -- sounds like a nightmare.
view SCK's profile
First of all, don't panic. Sit back and plan it out. If you wanted to, you could get everything you need at home depot.
Plan it out so that you can gut it, and put the floor, tub, toilet and sink in all in the same day. You can put in a medicine cabinet, lights, paint, tweak after.
You should be able to get a nice tub for under 200, a nice toilet for 100, and a sink and vanity for a couple hundred. Go to a tile outlet for 1.99-3.99 s.f. tile.
If you are planning on selling soon, you may want to upgrade to a sliding glass shower door. There are services that will come to your home and custom fit one to fit your tub.
Here's a hypothetical shopping list for the biggies:
Toilet:http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100403424&categoryID=502239
sink and vanity:http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S69825136
tub:http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100456502 (hd will have a more basic model in stock)
tile: Detroit outlet with 10% coupon: http://www.messanostile.com/index.php?page=specials
(large selection of tile in stock under $2 s.f.
You'll need to spend a few bucks on new plywood and backerboard for the bathroom floor but that's not a big deal.
Good luck!
view art's profile
first of all, Laura, you are not alone!
looking for the source of a leak that inundated the 1st-story bathroom of my 1910 limestone brick 2-family in brooklyn, my brother and i ended up having to COMPLETELY rip up the 2nd-story bathroom floor down to the (surprise!) rotted joists. the 3x8 joists had, in some places, rotted away to about 1x2 inches.
better yet, this was holding up a CONCRETE floor!
this occurred about a week before the new tenants were to move in.
the least fun stuff was buying mortarboard and plywood, but i also went for hex tile for my (1st floor) bathroom and love it.
anyway, i just wanted to offer sympathy and wish you luck!
2nd floor (before): http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdawg/1801371104
2nd floor (after): http://flickr.com/photos/bdawg/1863243587
1st floor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdawg/1882010606
view brunocerous's profile
I redid my kitchen backsplash last fall with small white hexagonal tile, so I was trying to find the company that I bought it from (somewhere in Berkeley). But instead I found this link on ebay where someone is selling it for only $5/square foot. That's way less than I paid. I'm sure this link is ridiculously long, but here it is anyway.
Good luck!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190191577068&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=190184319481&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&usedrule1=StoreCatToStoreCat&usedrule2=CrossSell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget
view emilyinaustin's profile
The best cheap tile is hands down Dal Tile.
Since you don't plan on recouping much of your costs when you sell, keep it simple and clean.
Simple white tiles, forget the hex and save your money for your next home, it's not going to be a big impact loss.
Have you thought of a pedestal sink with some simple boxes, with or without doors, for cabinets?
Keep it as simple as you can and use the disposable items, towels, shower curtain, rug, paint, as your accents.
Clean and simple never goes out of style!
view SBDesign's profile
Sorry no suggestions, just hugs(((((you)))))
view bobbin's profile
Holy smokes - thanks so much everybody! I am actually excited about the prospect of a new bathroom. I don't know how I forgot about Messano, Art! We live just a couple miles from it, but don't go that way too often. I'll check Costco too, bridgettoledo - I never knew they had tile.
I appreciate all the goodwill. We are definitely going to stick with clean and simple. We've chosen a toilet (we decided to go with the wellworth, too, Maggiempbp) and need to find a tub. Before we buy anything, though, we're going to the Habitat for Humanity store and another builder leftover store in Ypsilanti tomorrow, and we'll swing by some of the local thrift stores looking for a dresser to repurpose. Thanks for the link to the HGTV how-to, CQ.
I think we've picked this light fixture: http://www.bellacor.com/productDetail/37251.htm
and this line of faucets: http://www.faucet.com/decor/product.pl?mid=8648&fh=Chrome&N=103 214 55 3000351 4294966655 4294967245
Unless we find something else tomorrow.
I'm glad I waited and didn't buy everything the day the incident happened. The next day I felt much more relaxed about the fact that we're walking on the subfloor - it's erally not as bad as the tiles that would stick to our bare feet! Glad to know there are other people out there redoing bathrooms along with us, too - we'll think about you guys when we're working!
Thanks again for the comments!
view LauraII's profile
I like your lighting choice. I may look into that one for myself.
I'm glad to hear you've got a plan and are exited about the project.
It seems like I hardly ever see responses from people with questions like this. I hope to see some links to photos of your project in progress and of course, the finished product!
view art's profile
Laura, have you ever been to Recycle Ann Arbor's ReUse center? They have a lot of household/building stuff.
http://www.recycleannarbor.org/reuse/reuse.htm
view catiaelizabeth's profile
I have no advice, but my sympathy goes out to you. This must be insane!
view olya's profile
Good luck, sounds like you are well on your way!
I too would love to keep hearing of your progress, esp with regards to bargain hunting for the bathroom renovation!
Discount places like Marshall's and TJ Maxx are sometimes really good for finding things like quality curtain bars and towel holders cheap. Sometimes shower curtains as well.
Also, if you have some extra bath mats, you could put them down for now so that you aren't walking on subfloor.
I found a beautiful shimmery sheer light yellow shower curtain (use with liner) at Walmart of all places, but I think they don't carry it anymore...
Good luck!
view JG's profile
Again, thanks for comments, all! I'll post to the Open Thread as things progress.
view LauraII's profile
Laura, I'm also in the middle of a bathroom remodel, and I must say that I {heart} IKEA for the fixtures. My bathroom is tiny, and IKEA had the right size cabinet & sink for me. I even got the faucet there, and it's much studier than the Moen fixture I got for my tub. I"m in Chicago, and I'm lucky to live right by Tile Outlet.
Good luck. This is a horrible process. I'm keep thinking about how lovely it will be in the end.
view rocketslide's profile