Bathroom Makeover: Before & After
5 Materials
$1000
2 Weeks
Medium
My husband and I have spent the past several years remodeling our little house in the country. The main floor of the house was in rough shape, but it had a nice layout and it was well built so we felt like it was a diamond in the rough that was worth saving. The first room that had to be redone was the upstairs bathroom. The other two bathrooms only had showers, and with three little kids, we really needed a nice, clean bathroom so we could bathe our children. I had no desire to salvage the existing tile-work or vanity, so we took them out and removed the linoleum flooring and started from scratch.
See my blog for more details and product information: https://www.countryesque.com/bathroom-makeover-before-and-after/
Before & After: DIY Bathroom Remodel
First, I tore out all the old tile around the bathtub. Even though the bathtub doesn’t have a shower, I still didn’t like that there wasn’t a waterproofing membrane around it (because, kids), so I put a waterproofing membrane around the tub that was three feet high and along the apron front of the tub using a waterproofing membrane.
I painted the top half of the walls a light blue color and then I installed my blue border tile first. My bathroom tiling was going to go halfway up the walls on all four walls of the room, so I wanted to be sure that I kept the border tile level across all the walls. In order to do this, I attached temporary 2×4 batten boards at a level height to support my border tile and installed them using white thinset mortar: (see blog for product information)
Once my border tile had dried, I removed the 2×4 supports and installed my subway tile around the tub. My tub was about one inch higher on one side than the other, so it was important that I tiled down to the tub instead of up. That way, I could use my level border tile as a guide and all my tile would stay level down to the lip of the tub. I used good old painter’s tape to keep my tiles in place as I installed them. This is a fairly small bathroom with all interior walls, so adding the white tile really brightened up the room. I also installed four larger tiles as a mosaic to add interest and installed a chair rail tile above my blue border tile that matched my white subway tile.
I installed cement backboard and a waterproofing membrane on the floor and then tiled the floor using a porcelain mosaic tile: (See blog for product information)
Note: I would not go with white grout for this floor. I ended up removing my grout and changing it to gray because the white grout looked grimy (because again, kids) and the pattern was difficult to see.
We updated the lighting and mirror, and purchased a new vanity from Home Depot. The vanity top is made of blue marble to further tie into the blue and white theme: (see blog for product information)
I do love how this bathroom turned out! It’s bright and airy even though it’s a fairly small space. Being a mom, I also love being able to wipe down the tile walls with a rag (has your three year old ever drawn on the walls with toothpaste? Mine has, so having a washable surface for the wall in the bathroom is a definite bonus).
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Comments
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2 of 92 comments
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Very nice! Thanks for sharing and all the tips for tiling. :)
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No any function for water saving
Frequently asked questions
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What is “membrane” you use it a lot?
Can you explain how the tile didn't need to be cut due to the height difference that you mentioned of the tub and how it made it better going top to bottom? How do you deal with height difference?
Did you use cement back board on the walls you tiled?