Whether you’re simply looking to upgrade your home for your own personal reasons, or you want to increase your home’s value for putting it on the market, a master bathroom remodel is one of the more popular home renovation projects. It also happens to be one of the more cost-effective, as long as you have a plan and know what you’re doing.
The master bathroom is one of those rooms in the home that not only needs to look good, it also has to be highly functional. In fact, functionality is probably the primary concern. It’s also one of those rooms that few people ever see but the homeowner.
If you’re looking for a way to improve your home – whether for yourself or for your wallet – then you might consider a remodel. But how can you do it in a cost-effective manner?
Let’s check out some of the top budget-friendly tips to get you pointed in the right direction.
The first piece of advice is to work with what you currently have. There’s a lot you can change about your bathroom, but it’s best if you don’t try to do too much. By working with the current layout, structure, and design, you’ll save thousands of dollars.
For example, relocating plumbing elements like a toilet or bathtub isn’t cheap. According to one design expert, it costs about $5,000 each time you move a plumbing fixture. That sort of price tag probably isn’t going to justify moving the toilet from wall to another.
There are also opportunities where you can upcycle design elements you currently have in the bathroom. For instance, instead of tossing the current mirror and buying a different hanging mirror, you could always add a frame by purchasing some simple trim from the local hardware store. (Here’s a good guide on how to frame a mirror from HGTV.)
Along the same lines of the last tip, it’s a good idea to cover and re-surface the current design elements in your bathroom when possible.
Tile flooring is a great example. One of the hottest trends in bathroom design is to replace outdated tile with vinyl flooring that looks like hardwood. Vinyl flooring is extremely cheap (typically just $2 to $3 per square foot), but the cost can add up if you pay someone to rip out your existing tile, dispose of it, and then install the new vinyl. What most people don’t realize is that Home Depot sells a vinyl flooring product that can actually be applied directly on top of existing tile.
Have a nasty looking bathtub that you want to get rid of? Think twice before taking it to the dump. It’s actually possible to clean up tubs and bring them back to life. This is a whole lot cheaper than a total replacement.
Sometimes it’s the smallest little design elements that make the biggest improvements. While replacing a fiberglass shower stall with a tiled-shower certainly provides a facelift, it’s also going to set you back a lot of money. What if you could change the look of your shower by simply replacing the shower hardware – like the door and showerhead? Or what if you swapped out the drawer pulls and faucets on your bathroom vanity?
Updating hardware and fixtures offers an option for freshening up your bathroom at a fraction of the cost. If you do this in combination with one or two big renovations, you’ll be shocked by how much better the space looks.
A lot of homeowners decide to swap outdated vanities when doing a bathroom remodel – and rightly so. But who says you have to spend $1,500 on a designer vanity in order to complete the job? One of the newest trends in bathroom remodeling is the use of reclaimed dressers and vanities.
Keep an eye out for old dressers at yard sales, thrift shops, and online. It’s actually fairly easy to take off the top, remove a couple of drawers, and then add a sink and countertop. Using this approach, you may be able to spend 50 to 75 percent less.
A bathroom remodel is one of those projects that the average homeowner can handle. You just have to be willing to get your hands dirty and learn a thing or two along the way.
For example, all you need are the right tools, and you can rip out an old shower, replace a toilet, lay down vinyl flooring, frame a mirror, swap out hardware, and paint walls. The only thing you might need a professional for is significant changes to plumbing. Other than that, everything is doable.
YouTube is your best friend when it comes to handyman work. Spend a few hours browsing videos one weekend and learn everything you can. You might even find some videos that completely walk you through the exact project you want to take on.
Since you don’t have an unlimited budget for your master bathroom remodel, you have to practice some patience and know when to draw the line. It’s easy for a simple paint job to turn into a shower replacement, which evolves into redoing the floors and swapping out the vanity. Before you know it, a $300 job turns into a $10,000 remodel.
The best thing you can do is set your budget up front and then refuse to go past it. Once you start running the numbers, you’ll find out what’s feasible and what’s not. This will force you to make some choices, but it’ll keep you from spending too much.
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