Small Bathroom Remodel

Turning a tiny bathroom from gross, old and sad to fresh, classic and crave-able.

When we moved into our house even though we didn't have time to redo this bathroom immediately, I decided to demo it right away. It was so horrible that I couldn't look at it for one more day (and I also knew I wouldn't be using it any time soon).

“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of Marble.” -Augustus

Design Inspiration - Marble

This is a #smallbathroom so we could afford to use top of the line materials, for me that means #marble. Here is a picture of marble-look porcelain tile vs. the real thing, I think you'll see the difference. There are pros and cons of working with both however. Marble is usually pricier, obviously, and can be harder to cut as it is more fragile. Once installed marble is also more delicate and can show signs of wear like water marks or stains from makeup and needs to be cleaned gently. Pros of marble are that it looks good from all angles (tile will have a cut edge that looks raw without some sort of finishing edge) and marble also has a classic look and feel that will likely stay in style for another hundred years to come.

Work in Progress

This remodel took us about a month once we really got going to complete. A big time and cost saver was that we kept the jetted tub rather than replacing it. Although it looked in rough shape you'd be amazed what #SoftScrub, #GooGone, and a lot of elbow grease can do to clean up fiberglass. We also chose to buy a simple vanity with a top with an integrated sink, which meant we didn't have to wait for countertop installers to make something custom for us. Tiling was the real time drain on this project - as a first time installer this took me about 4 times longer than I thought it would - there were a lot of late nights where I spent some quality time with some marble subway tile and thin set.

Final Thoughts

Don't be afraid to take on a small bathroom in your own home! If you plan to keep the same layout and a major element (such as the tub), like we did, the project can be very manageable. You would be amazed a what you can learn on YouTube and HGTV!