ATDC reader Leigh wrote in to share the results of the bathroom reno we first highlighted here. We love the look of the finished room, and really appreciate the follow up email. Want to see more of this wonderful renovation? Continue below the jump...
Leigh wrote:
Unfortunately, due to the fact that this is our only full bath, we decided to go with a tub for resale value (and also, it ended up being a lot cheaper). The contractor left last Friday, and we spent all weekend caulking, painting, sealing grout, and adding all the finishing touches. I wanted to share the final result (more pictures of the room at Baltimore Rowhouse.
We gutted and completely redid our bathroom for less than $8k. We got great deals on materials:
- vanity, mirrors, sinks, faucets, shelves bought in a package off eBay for around $1,500
- vanity lights bought on clearance at Restoration Hardware
- subway tile bought off Craigslist (high quality Daltile leftover from a large project). We even have tons more leftover.
- dual flush Toto toilet was expensive, but we shopped around and got the best deal from a local distributor
- slate tile floor purchased from Home Depot
- Kohler tub purchased from Home Depot with a coupon. In addition, they messed up and ordered the wrong tub, so we got another 10% off.
- used Service Magic to get bids from contractors and went with the guy we liked the most who ended up also being the cheapest. We bid it as labor only, we supplied all the materials.
- wall paint is Behr Breaker (very light blue/grey)
Just wanted to share some of our tips, as we have used Apartment Therapy as a resource many times during our renovation. Thank you!
Thank you Leigh for sharing your beautiful new space!
Evelyn Lee's Sustainable Starter Apartment 
Before & After: A Brooklyn Kitchen Remodel 
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Patrik Swivel Chair...
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
How To Make Cake Pops
Comments (22)
fantastic vanity, sinks, and shelves!
Just shows you that good taste is priceless.
It turned out nicely - I really like the tub, and congrats on the bargain shopping...
But I have to wonder how much more expensive it would have been to have a custom vanity built that would have fit perfectly wall-to-wall?
And since there's a great deal of excess tile leftover from the project - Why did the homeowner choose to not continue it all the way to the ceiling for the tub surround and the back wall of the vanity?
Very cool, but there should be recessed lighting over the tub...just a bit dark there. Otherwise, good job!
bepsf,
I don't know how much more a custom vanity would have costed, but we liked the fact that the faucets, sinks, marble top, mirrors, etc all came with the vanity. Less stuff to research and match.
The reason we didn't continue the tile to the ceiling is that the ceiling isn't level. It's off by a lot, so cutting the tiles could have looked weird. Nothing in the house is level, so it makes the renovation challenging.
Quince,
It would have been nice to add a recessed light over the shower, but I got lazy and cheap, and the large skylight right over the tub provides a lot of light in the shower. At least during the day. :-)
For more pics check out the website.
P.S. I need to clean my camera sensor. :-)
oh, also, I live in baltimore so it's always cool to see how people re-do the basic row houses there that all start out with a similar floor plan. I assume you had to lose space in a bedroom to get a bathroom that large or...?
Enamorada,
No space lost, but the layout was modified quite a bit. The bathroom is 6x14, so there was a lot of space (by rowhouse standards) to work with.
For details on the layout mods check out this post.
Did someone say "leftover tile" ????? ????
still available??
like seriously...im the DC Metro...and I MIGHT be interested in taking some off your hands :)
There is indeed a bunch of leftover tile. Enough to do an entire shower, the backsplash like ours, and probably even more after that. If you are interested comment over at the blog with your email address, or shoot us an email at leighcorey at gmail dot com. I'll take a look tonight to check exactly how much tile is left over.
The gray tile is seriously badass...
Love the sinks and floor tile... Great job!
"The reason we didn't continue the tile to the ceiling is that the ceiling isn't level. It's off by a lot, so cutting the tiles could have looked weird. "
It's a common problem in old house renovations -- we've faced it every single time we've ever done any tile work. Really, it will look less odd and less noticeable if you run the tile floor to ceiling, and trim the tile at the top (should do the same with the vanity wall, running the tile to the baseboards). The eye will NOT focus on the irregular ceiling height, but will instead be soothed by the continuation, and the irregularity will just fade... Trust me on this.
What Kohler tub did you order? What size is it? I'm thinking about about a 6 ft tub, but wonder if its overkill.
Delicious. Well done. And I LOVE my six foot tub, you will love yours, too.
Great job... and I love your shower curtain... mind telling me (us) where you got it?
love what you've done.
we had a similar crooked ceiling in our 100 year of rental apartment in montreal. we tiled to four rows from the top in our kitchen. above the white subway tiles we painted the wall to match the ceiling, pale blue. we then extended the tile around a window, through a clearstory window to the bathroom and on three sides of the bathroom. it really unified the space and has resulted in the easiest renting of all time.
if you have a ton of extra tiles i might suggest tiling one additional wall to connect shower and vanity area.
LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY. Now come supervise my master bath redo!
The tile is now up for sale on craigslist for any of you folks who are interested. :-)
marknarlington - the shower curtain is actually just from bed bath and beyond. It was around $40.
heatherc - the tub is the kohler archer. It is a 5' tub, as we didn't want to mess with the plumbing too much, and our room is 2" shy of being 6' wide. If you have the space, I'd say definitely do it. I suggest focusing more on the width of your tub though. While the archer is pretty, it somewhat narrow inside considering it's outside dimensions to allow for the optional whirlpool upgrade.
I'm curious about doing a bid as labor-only. Did you work with the contractor to specify what you'd buy ahead of time, or did you already have the materials?
(I have a bathroom reno ahead and would love to get the cost down more.)
anninva - We had the materials ahead of time, as I was planning on doing it myself.
Also, we sold the tile next day. The pics of the bathroom helped it to sell quickly, and we sold the tile for the same price we purchased it for, so the wall tile was essentially free! :-)
Do you have any of the subway tiles left? Maybe 100 sqft?