The bathroom was giving off serious 90’s cabin vibes, and everything was just way too yellow! So I gave this bathroom a DIY budget bathroom remodel for under a $300. Let me show you how.
Here’s where we started. Yes, it’s clean and functional, but I wanted to freshen it up. Paint can really make a great impact, so let’s paint this tired vanity to give it new life. In the photo below, I’ve already taken off the vanity doors to paint.
Here you can see the tub/shower unit is opposite the toilet and the vanity. Do you like the black elephant? Lol, it’s been with me since college. Don’t ask me why, but I’m OK with it.
Budget Bathroom Remodel Paint:
So, first things first, lets paint! I taped off the vanity, cleaned it with TSP to remove old dirt and grime, and gave it a quick light sanding to help the paint adhere better. Then my husband and I got to work painting. He requested to be removed from this photo, so I respectfully obliged. No, those are not my hairy legs, ha!
We did one coat of Kilz primer and two coats of Blackout Black on the vanity. Yes, this is the same black we used on the kitchen cabinets. I love good design consistency.
Next, I tackled the medicine cabinet. It was solidly attached to the wall, so I removed the doors and painted them outside, and just painted the frame where it was. Then, I also applied a stripping gel to the storage panty and scraped the finish off the golden-colored finish. You can see the frame looks a lot lighter here.
Here’s the side view of the pantry, stripped, scraped and sanded. I wanted to lighten it up but keep the wood look. This was a bit of an experiment.
Here are the panty doors with a coat of white wood stain. I’ll do the pantry frame to match. The white-stained pantry also got a coat of water-based polyurethane to give it some protection from water and wear.
New Toilet:
The toilet was really dated, and Home Depot was having a sale, so we picked up a fresh new porcelain throne. There are a ton of YouTube videos on how to change a toilet. I watched 5 or 6 of them and went at it. One tip: get yourself some toilet shims if your floor is not 100% level. This is an old cabin, so those shims were my best friend.
New toilet, who dis?
Countertop Repair & Paint:
The next part I wanted to tackle was the vanity countertop. It was cracked behind the sink (bad install?) and there was a large gap between the counter and the backslash piece. We’re saving money here, so I wanted to try and fill those gaps instead of replace the countertop.
I scraped the cracks clean of any caulking and old gunk the previous owners has tried to fill them with and filled them instead with Roberts Wood, Laminate, & Vinyl Putty. This stuff is meant for holes and gaps, plus it dries hard and is sand-able. Sounds good to me. I knew a good primer would conceal the color.
Here’s the crack behind the sink filled with wood filler. Do thin layers and let each layer dry to avoid cracking. Then I sanded it smooth to blend with the counter as best I could.
This is the filled gap between the counter and the wall piece. The putty will lighten as it dries. Be patient. Again, use thin layers.
Don’t worry. We’re going to paint this countertop and that wood filler will disappear! Here’s the counter all prepped and ready for paint. I used Rustoleum white spray paint & primer. The walls were getting painted afterwards, so its OK if they got a little spray paint.
White spray-painted countertop!
I gave the counter two coats of spray paint and then topped it with a layer of water-based poly. The water-based won’t yellow, and I’m happy to report, three years later, that the counter has held up well over time!
Let’s Paint the Walls!
This whole project was a learn-as-you-go endeavor, and I swear this wall paint did not look as blue-tinted in the store as it turned out! It’s a Behr paint in “Snow White” from Home Depot. My bad, lesson-learned: you need to test paint colors in all lighting situations. The blue really comes out at night here, lol. But I went with it. It’s kind of calming, and definitely the opposite of the old yellow coloring. However, I did not use a primer, so it needed two coats to cover the old paint. Here is a photo of the first coat. You can see the blue tint, but you can also see the old color coming through. Oh the lessons learned.
Budget Bathroom Remodel Finishing Touches:
Last but not least in this budget bathroom remodel, I took the old 90’s brass vanity light off the wall, gave it a quick sanding, and spray-painted it black. Suddenly, I liked it a whole lot more!
Then, because I was feeling very resourceful and crafty, I made some quick floating shelves from free pallet wood and painted them white to match the medicine cabinet. Check out the details on the DIY floating shelves here. But for now, here is the finished bathroom remodel!
The biggest cost here was the new toilet. Everything else was free or just painted or stained with a little elbow grease!
Project Costs:
Toilet: under $100
New toilet seal: under $9
White Spray Paint: under $5
Black Spray Paint: under $6
1 Gallon Kilz Primer: under $20
1 Gallon Black “Blackout” Cabinet Paint: under $20
1 Gallon White “Snow White” Wall Paint: under $20
Water-based polyurethane: under $20
White wood stain: under $11
Wood stripping gel: under $20
Stripper scraping tool: under $8
Roberts Laminate Putty: 3 tubes @ under $6 each
Misc paint brushes & sanding paper: under $25
Pallet wood for shelves: free on craigslist
White paint: free left from previous owners
Total: $282 + tax Woohoo! Not bad eh?
I kept the bathroom like this for about 3 years and then did another round of paint upgrades to fit my evolving tastes. Stay tuned for the Budget Bathroom Remodel Round 2 coming soon!
