Hi guys! This is Kristin from , I am an interior designer who gets to work on projects all over the country via online interior design. And I am lucky to hang out here once a month, creating a custom Mood Board or Room Design just for you readers. But instead of sharing a client design with you today, I wanted to do something a bit different. I wanted to show you a peek into my very own home with a recent project of mine: my $950 budget bathroom makeover
Let’s start with a not-so-fun-fact:
Bathrooms are the most expensive room to remodel per square foot.
Yup, most people surprised by that. While a kitchen may have a bigger price tag overall, per square foot, your bathroom is the most costly update in your home. Over my last 13 years of being an interior designer I have literally designed hundreds and hundreds of bathrooms.
So how you can you update your bathroom without a full remodel? That is actually what I want to show you how to do today! I’m going to share a glimpse into my very own home with you. I had the exact same problem as a lot of you. When we purchased our home four years ago our Master Bathroom needed some serious updates. Don’t get me wrong: it isn’t horrible. It is just pretty boring and outdated.
If we had decided to gut the whole bathroom and start over, we were looking at a price tag of around $40,000. Instead I updated it and only spent $950. How did I do that? Read on!
This was our original Master Bathroom when we purchased our home four years ago. And I never touched it because I figured it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to make it what I wanted.
But then I started thinking: I could do some simple updates with a “mini makeover” that would work in the intermediate before we got to remodel it. Well guess what? By the time I was done with it, I loved it so much that I don’t think we will do a thing to it. Believe me, I was completely surprised by that. Here is the best part: I didn’t use any power tools, I kept all of the main items in the bathroom, and simply updated it with some, easy-to-do items. And I spent less than $1000 to do it all.
My $950 Budget Bathroom Makeover
So what did I do to transform our bathroom for a mere $950?
To start with, here is what I DIDN’T do! I DIDN’T replace everything. I kept nearly 90% of the existing bathroom. I kept our existing:
Vanity Cabinets
Vanity Countertop and sinks
Flooring
Toilet
Shower, fixtures, tile, and door
Bathtub, fixtures, and tile surround
Lighting
The only “mini construction project” I did was to replace our faucets. That was it. Everything else is simple decor updates.
Starting with a Design: $950 Boho Bathroom Mini Makeover
The first thing I did was create a Mood Board that showed all of the updates I wanted to make. That way I could see the whole design before buying a single thing: saving me both time and money. Once I came up with a design I liked, I did a lot of shopping around to see if I could find more budget-friendly versions of the items I liked. I also looked for items that would make a big impact since I wasn’t changing any of the main items in our bathroom.
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Bathroom Makeover Shopping List
And today I want to share the entire plan and shopping list from my bathroom makeover with you! Simply click below on the item to take you directly to the source. Please note, some of these items I found at Home Goods (such as the rattan baskets), so we’ve included similar options below. The soap dispensers, candles, and gold tray are from Target.
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Cabinet Paint: Benjamin Moore
Wall Paint: Benjamin Moore “Simply White”
Updating the Bathroom Vanity
As you can tell from the existing bathroom photo, we have a very large vanity! Honestly, it isn’t at all how I would design it, but I wanted to keep it, along with the existing ivory countertop and integral sinks. I kept all of our cabinets, and painted them in Benjamin Moore’s “Hale Navy”. Then I replaced all of the cabinet hardware with and from Home Depot (at only $4/each). I looked for cabinet hardware that would match our existing drilled holes to keep the hardware swap easy.
Related:
By doing these two small updates, it automatically made our existing ivory countertop look 100% better! As I mentioned before, the only plumbing fixture I changed out were our faucets. I replaced the dated crystal knobs with . In order to keep our countertop, I made sure to find faucets with the same drill pattern so we could simply swap them out.
Updating the Vanity Mirrors
Honestly, the thing I used to hate the most about our bathroom were our ugly mirrors. I am a symmetry girl through-and-through so it drove me crazy to see our mismatched mirrors in two different sizes. Plus, the unframed glass was pretty ugly.Instead, I found two modern, metal framed mirrors to replace the existing mirrors. These are called the . Because of our bathroom’s sloped ceilings, I already had some architectural features to deal with. These sleek mirrors made such a huge difference!
Painting in a Bathroom Makeover
Paint is my #1 favorite way to update any space. It is inexpensive, anyone can do it…and it is easy to change down the road. I mentioned that I painted our existing vanity in Benjamin Moore’s “Hale Navy”. I also updated our ivory colored walls with a crisper, purer white shade. I painted the walls in Benjamin Moore’s “Simply White”. Even this minor shade change from a yellow-ivory wall color to this crisp and clean white made a huge difference. For about $40 for a gallon of paint.
Related:
Updating the Bathroom Floors
Our existing floor aren’t horrible, but they certainly aren’t what I would have chosen. While they are still neutral tiles, they are laid on a 45 degree angle, which was a very common thing to do in the 90s/early 00s, which gives it a bit of a dated look. But it would have cost thousands of dollars to rip it out and replace. So what do you do if you have a floor you don’t love?
Cover it up with something so eye-catching that you don’t even notice the floor itself!
This is such a great trick to use in any space. In this budget bathroom makeover, I found this dreamy, boho inspired runner from (also available at and ). And the very best part? This gorgeous, brightly patterned rug was only $44! And by far, that has been the biggest item people have commented on. This one little item makes all of the difference in this bathroom makeover.
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Budget Bathroom Decor Updates
And whether you are doing a full bathroom remodel, or just a mini update like I did, the finishing touches are what make all of the difference. I spent a small amount of my $950 budget on some well placed decor items. The first one was this black and white beach photo that I found on Etsy. I purchased it as a digital download for a mere $7, had it printed myself and framed in an inexpensive frame. I also added these two woven rattan baskets, scored from HomeGoods, to help storage extra towels.
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Finally, since we have such a large vanity, I decided to add a decorative tray in between the sinks to help break up the countertop. This wood tray from Target is filled with a glass vase (with clipping from my own front yard), some decorative candles, and a small glass jewelry box-all from Target. New soap dispensers finished off the look. All were budget friendly finds, but added a lot to the final look of our bathroom.
Related:
More Ways to Update your Bathroom on a Budget
If you are looking for budget friendly ways to update your bathroom, then Remodelaholic is the perfect place to start! Here are some other bathroom projects that will get you inspired for your own makeover:
Bathroom Mini Makeover without a Remodel
And I have one final source to help you with your budget friendly bathroom remodel. I created this FREE worksheet called “75 Ways to Update your Bathroom (without a major remodel)”. You can grab this worksheet, along with exclusive Bathroom Mood Boards and Shopping Lists all in my :
A huge thank-you to the entire gang at Remodelaholic for letting me share my bathroom remodel with you today! If you have any questions about this project or about how works you can email me at !
Cheers,
Kristin
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