Downstairs Bath Renovation: Final Budget and Source List

Well, this post certainly took a lot longer to put together than I thought it would! Be prepared for lots of links and lots of dollar signs. :)

But it was great to finally look back and add up all of our expenses for this project. I'm kind of surprised that we didn't end up too much over our original budget! And hopefully this post will be useful to anyone thinking about renovating a bathroom themselves. It wasn't cheap, or easy to DIY it all, but I think we would have easily spent at least twice what we did if we'd hired professionals.

Budget Breakdown and Source Links: Post-Demolition Rebuilding

• Subfloor - standard 1/2 inch plywood to match the existing flooring we left and new 5/8th inch over the entire surface

• New shower rough in valve kit ($97.90)
• New copper pipes for the shower, sink and adjacent laundry room, new sink and laundry valves

• Vapor barrier for shower and cement backerboard (1/2 inch for the shower surround and 1/4 inch for the floor)

• Drywall for the two long walls in the room, drywall mud and tape
• Lots and lots of miscellaneous nails, screws, caulk, tape, plastic sheeting and glue
• Larger tools like a tile cutter ($174.11), laser level ($85.41), and miter saw ($329.50)

When this was going to be a short 8 week project, I started saving receipts to keep track of all of the little miscellaneous purchases, but I gave up after a while. But based on my My Lowes account, we spent about $1,000 on this part of the renovation, inclusive of all miscellaneous expenses

Budget Breakdown and Source Links: Adding in Bathroom Features

• Laticrete 317 premium thinset (we got 3 50lb bags from a local contractor supply company for $36.00, the prices online are much higher due to shipping costs)

• Laticrete 333 super flexible additive (3 two gallon containers, also from a local supplier $44.00)
• Grout release (1 gallon for $18.95, and we needed much less since we only used it on the matte floor tile)
• Spectralock epoxy grout and color additive (4 of each for $95.60)
• Dream Perla 18 x 18 inch floor tile (4 boxes for $266.84, and only had 4 full tiles left over)

• Carrara Gris 4 x 8 inch shower tile (6 boxes for $534.00, and we had some extra left over)
• Carrara Gris 4 x 8 inch short side bullnose (52 bullnoses for $363.48, and we had some extra left over)
• Tiling and grouting supplies: Block trowel ($9.08), Notched trowel ($9.98), drill mixer attachment ($7.98), epoxy grout float ($8.98), grout saw ($9.98), extra sponges ($3.96), mixing buckets ($5.74), wedge spacers ($3.98), horseshoe shim spacers ($38.97), four corner spacers for the floor ($5.99)

• Misc electrical supplies (boxes, wiring, new outlets and switches, covers, price included with misc expenses above)
• Two Irvine wall sconces and two ceramic shades ($260.00)
• Wall primer and paint (already had the primer, $55 for the paint)
• Beadboard (3 panels for $59.94), chair rail (5 for $33.60, we also used this to frame the mirror and two art prints), PVC rot-free baseboard (2 for $31.54)

• Simpli Home vanity with marble counter top ($899.99, although I did end up painting it a brighter white with paint I already had on hand)

• Kohler "Archer" Sink Faucet ($155.77)
• Kohler "Archer" Tub and Shower Faucet Kit ($126.46)
• Tub trim kit ($25.48)
• Kohler "Archer" Toilet Paper Holder ($48.35)
• Kohler toilet seat ($37.96) and wall flange ($7.27)

We tried to reuse what we could, like the bathtub, toilet, the crown moulding and door and window moulding, and left one wall of drywall that was original. But when the bathroom was so dated to begin with (and given the fact that we were doing this renovation for ourselves in our forever home), we definitely splurged in a few places, like on our nickel faucets. The total for this part of the renovation was $3,204.87.

Budget Breakdown and Source Links: Finishing Decorative Elements

• Kohler 24 inch towel bar ($58.16)
• Kohler towel ring ($40.40)
• Canvas wrap wall art ($64.99) and two prints (prints were $59.98 and we made the frames out of chair rail ourselves) 

• Wood stool ($79.00)

• White towels (4 for $29.96), green hand towels (2 for $8.98) and green and white washcloths, similar (2 4-packs for $15.98)
• Counter top accessories: Rustic wood tray (I made it with scrap wood), apothecary jars ($59.95), cotton balls, mints and sponges ($3, from the dollar store), soap dispenser ($12.95)

• Window coverings (I made from basic waffle weave fabric, two yards for $11.96) and tension rods (4 for $17.98, that my husband cut a few inches off of because we have non-standard sized windows, and then I spray painted because they were too vanilla of a white to match the fabric)
• Mirror: we built the frame out of chair rail, and got a mirror custom cut, to fit perfectly in our frame in the space between our two sconces ($48.00)
• Cubby wall shelf ($98.00), and I already had everything on the shelves except the wash cloths, accounted for above

• Extra tall waffle weave shower curtain with built in liner ($59.99) and shower rod ($29.99)

• Toilet top toilet paper basket (already had)
• Trash bucket ($24.00, although I could have made myself for much cheaper, but in the interest of our time crunch, I just bought it)

This part of the renovation was the most fun (for me), but was also the least expensive, and the quickest to come together, since I'd had a good idea what I wanted the room to look like since this inspiration board I made back in July. Total for the finishing touches and decor was $723.27.

Which brings the grand total for our DIY almost complete gut bathroom renovation to: $4,928.14

So we ended up about $900 over budget, but I'd say that is pretty dang good, all things considered. We made the budget not knowing the full extent of damage to the subfloor, or that we'd need to replace a lot of plumbing, and hey, the few splurges we had we feel were totally worth it!

All in all, this was a really time consuming, difficult project to take on, and definitely not one that we thought we'd tackle in the first year of home ownership. But at the same time, we learned a heck of a lot along the way, built a lot of confidence in our abilities for future projects, and got a beautiful bathroom out of the deal. Plus, I'd guess we'd have spent at minimum $10k-12k if we'd hired it out, so it was definitely all worth it in the end. Although it might be a while before we tackle another bathroom renovation, I think doing the kitchen is going to pop up a lot sooner on our to do list.... :)