Before & After: Half Bath Goes from Basic to Beautiful

Justin sent us before, during and after photos of his recent bathroom makeover:

I bought my condo 2.5 years ago and the upstairs half bath was pretty awful. My girlfriend and I did a ton of research on materials since we wanted to go with a more modern renovation. No timeframe, but we needed it done sooner than later considering we’re talking about cohabitation.

We checked out a bunch of specialty sink/toilet stores here in San Francisco, and eventually realized we could get a majority of the materials at IKEA for a fraction of the cost of what a modern sink/faucet alone would cost at any of the showrooms around town.

Additionally, we decided to put down a wood-grain tile floor (1/8″ spacers), subway tile the walls 4′ high around the room (1/16″ spacers), and paint to the ceiling. The room is only 5’x5′, so luckily floor/wall tiles didn’t cost too much.

Our contractor handled the tile/sink/toilet install, and he was done in about 4.5 days total. I finished painting the walls last weekend. Everything looks AMAZING, and we literally stand in there sometimes, just talking. 🙂

Sink/Cabinet/Mirror/Cabinet Legs: all IKEA Lillangen line (Emeryville, CA)
Bathroom Faucet: IKEA Runskar (Emeryville, CA)
Toilet: Delta Riosa – Home Depot (Colma, CA)
Wall Tile: basic 3″x6″ subway tiles – Latch Tile (San Francisco)
Floor Tile: Montagna Collection – Home Depot (Oakland, CA)
Paint: Valspar Roasted Garlic – Lowe’s (San Francisco)

budget-wise, I wanted to come in under $3K, and we ended up coming in a little over, by maybe $200 or $300.

all hardware/paint/tile: ~$700
contractor: $2500

Thanks, Justin!

Re-edited from a post originally published 9.4.14-NT

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