This Dated Bathroom Feels 2x as Big After a Makeover (I Can’t Believe It’s 30 Square Feet!)
If you live in a home for decades — or even years — you’ll probably be there long enough to see “Band-Aid” and “patch job” DIY projects begin to peel (figuratively and sometimes literally).
When Lesley Lorimer and her family of four moved into their bungalow home in 2015, they knew something would eventually have to be done about the dull brown dated bathroom tiles that covered 75 percent of the wall surface. The Lorimers resurfaced the bathroom tiles and tub with white acrylic paint in 2019, but they knew it was time to make a more permanent change when the paint began to crack and peel uncontrollably — and that presented an opportunity to transform the whole bathroom.
“Knowing that we would need to gut the entire room to remove all the tiles meant we could explore other possibilities that would help maximize our space,” Lesley says. After all, she was “dealing with a very small washroom that offered no storage.”
Here’s how Lesley and her family gave their bathroom a much-needed makeover (with much more storage!) on a $21,000 budget.
Goodbye, old tiles and tub.
While visiting a friend’s home, Lesley got the idea to replace the bathtub with a modern shower. “We almost never use our tub, and our kids had outgrown baths, so it made sense to replace the tub with a shower,” she says. The new shower feels “spacious, modern, and practical,” she adds.
The Lorimers worked with their contractor, Keilan Cook, to finally replace their bathroom’s tiles with white tiles that “would have a long shelf life,” along with black fixtures and wooden accents.
“From day one, seeing Keilan remove our pesky tiles and tear out our plaster walls, it felt so good to be free from these dated features I’d grown to hate,” Lesley says.
A pocket door and drawer storage make smart use of the available space.
Installing a pocket door gave the Lorimers additional floor space, and especially made room for drawer storage opposite the vanity and mirror. Lesley was inspired upon realizing that the other side of that bathroom wall was the double closet of her children’s bedroom.
Keilan borrowed space from those closets and added prefab drawers from Wayfair, built the bulkhead to match their dimensions, and simply slid in the drawers when they arrived. Lesley says the drawers store towels, toiletries, First Aid stuff, and more “without impacting our living space.”
An IKEA EKHET vanity looks like it belongs in a custom set.
The Lorimers also commissioned a custom shelf from local carpenter, Zak, who designed it to match their new IKEA ENHET vanity. “He used the same wood,” Lesley says. “They look like a matching set, which I also love.” The vanity, shelf, and medicine cabinet mirror from Wayfair create a much more modern setup. Lastly, the new blue-green paint color on the walls is PPG’s Frostly Glade.
Although saving up enough money for the entire $21,000 renovation took time, Lesley emphasizes that taking your time to budget for a room makeover is worth the wait.
“What felt like drips in a bucket from month to month adds up over time,” she says. “It felt like a huge accomplishment when we finally reached our goal. All the features work together so well, and it’s been transformed into a practical, enjoyable, beautiful space.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.