Bathroom Renovations Before & After

The long awaited bathroom renovation post is here.

Let's start from the beginning shall we?


I bought this house about 3.5 years ago. It was built in 1949, so... she be old. But in pretty good condition. There are 2 bathrooms in the whole house, one upstairs on the main floor and one downstairs. This bathroom was never in terrible condition, but this last year it was really starting to look pretty darn dated & like it needed some repairs. The tile on the floor was cracking, the grout in the tub was mouldy and old, the paint on the wall was chipping away. And the walls were umm... not too straight. Although it had been working well for us, we figured we should one day renovate it to prevent it from getting to that REALLY BAD point. I also, really didn't want a major renovation looming over Jonathan's head with a newborn. I wanted to be able to just enjoy each other and our baby for awhile before taking on another big house project. SO, it was decided that when we got back from our holidays late August, that the next 8 weeks would be hustle time... and well... it worked. We got it done ALL before baby Roth's arrival.

So, let's get into it. Grab a coffee or tea... or a beer. It's a long post.


Here's the before:

Dated and old wall colour. & fixtures... it was actually like a pale yellow. Dated baseboards. Holes in the wall & major cracking above the tub on the back wall. (This is actually where we found a tiny bit of water damage once we took the wall down). When I first moved into this house, there was a really old school sliding glass door instead of the shower curtain. So, that was removed awhile ago and a lovely boring white shower curtain with a curtain rod was put in it's place. Obviously that had to go.

To save on money, we kept the vanity & tub. And of course the cool mason jar holder thing my amazing carpenter hubby made for me.

We also kept this cupboard/storage unit to again, save on money. The backsplash tile is actually the same tile that was in the shower/tub area. Silly me though, I forgot to get a before photo of the tub area. But trust me y'all... it was pretty bad.

The floor. Not terrible, but there was obviously some uneven floor as there was a bunch of cracking going on and pieces coming up. Just needed something fresh and new!

Now onto the process...

1. Demolition

We discovered this cool little shelving unit behind out mirror. Also, the shower head was never actually screwed onto anything...

This bathroom was insulated with wood chips basically, which was common for that year. As you can see they sink which means the top bit of the wall is not actually insulted. Also, where that pink insulation is... there was a window there apparently at one point.

2. Re-framing, re-insulated & adding in studs as there were hardly any. Also adding in cement board on the back wall & of course dry wall for our new walls.

It was at this point that we ran into a bit of a plumbing issue. We were very grateful that everything had been going pretty smoothly. So, after not being able to find certain pieces, we got Jonathan's uncle and dad to help us and put in a whole new piping system for the tub, so instead of two handles, using the same shower head, etc. we turned it into a one handle system with a new shower head. Getting this help saved us at least $300, so we are so grateful for his uncle helping us!

Dry wall is all up & ready for mudding. Floor is ready to get tile put on.

3. Flooring

We found this tile at Habitat for Humanity. We went with a bigger tile, so we wouldn't need as many & wouldn't have to make as many cuts. The nice thing about a small bathroom is the money you can save! This floor cost us $36!

4. Mudding, Sanding, Priming & of course... tiling

Jonathan and I actually completed tiling the entire tub together in one day. Super impressed my pregnant body was able to keep up all day. We were pretty sore the next day though from the constant bending over & squatting. Walls are done, ready for paint, and the tiles we grouted later on.

5. Painting

Originally I was thinking of doing a more neutral green colour. But since there's no natural light in this bathroom, I felt it was going to look a bit muddy. So, we went with more of a clean fresh mint/green colour.

Now for the final touches and completed bathroom...

Please just ignore the yellow front of the tub. We have yet to figure out what to put at the base of the tub and to cover the yellow plastic look. Also, the shower curtain is a tad short in my opinion, so we may one day look for a longer one... but in the mean time, this will do.

New door framing & new toilet. We went with Kohler and got it on sale for about $250.

I'm in love with our like new tub & subway tile wall...

The tile grout is actually a lot lighter in real life but the pictures are making it seem darker. In reality it's more of a light silver grout.

Before & After:

And there you have it! Roth bathroom renovation complete in just 4 weeks. I have to give a final shout out to my husband. He would work all day, then come straight home to work on the bathroom till late in the evenings. He did the majority of the work, while I did cleaning & assisting where I could. He's a rockstar & I'm so beyond grateful for him & for all that he does. 

And as a final note... keep in mind, it is very doable to renovate an entire bathroom all while keeping your costs down. This renovation did NOT cost us $10,000 because we chose to reuse some things, get things second hand & of course did the work ourselves.

Now it's time for us to sit back, relax & enjoy the fruits of our labour...

And hopefully soon, we can enjoy our baby after my impending labour. ;)