Master Bathroom Makeover

Last year, my husband and I decided to overhaul our master bathroom.  When we bought our home, the bathroom looked very much like a dated “cookie cutter” master bathroom.  Very sterile, and didn’t have much personality.  Plus, the vinyl flooring was stained throughout and there were several cracks in the white tile by the tub.

Since my husband is super handy (lucky me!!)  we decided to take on the task of renovating the bathroom ourselves!

What took the longest time was coming up with a design concept.  We didn’t want a huge expense in terms of moving the tub/shower/toilet and wanted to keep the plumbing and electricity all in the same spots.

The major change we did want was removing the white tiled “marshmallow” as we called it so that the countertop was even from one side to the other, instead of being raised a few inches.

So we scoured home decor magazines, Pinterest and DIY shows on HGTV, and came up with this:

After we had the basic concept nailed down, it was time to pick a color scheme.  I wanted something that was mostly neutral so we could add pops of color (via towels, shower curtains and accessories.)  Plus, I didn’t want anything too crazy because it could hurt our future resale value.

Here’s what we settled on (the flash makes everything have a yellow hue, but it’s a mix of grays, blues, browns, and cream):
Vanity: deep espresso wood
Countertop: poured concrete (gray) with white raised sinks and brushed aluminum faucets
Tile: Coliseum via Menards
Mosaic: Krystal Slate- storm via Menards
Walls: Alabaster frame via Hallman Lindsay  (fantastic brand…we use Hallman Lindsay in our entire house!)

We shopped around for a long time for vanities and the things we saw either weren’t the right size for our space, was the wrong color/finish or they were WAY too expensive.  So, we decided to get a custom vanity built through a family friend at Cabinetry Plus.  It was so nice to be able to pick and choose our finish, drawer layout and pulls!

We got our faucets and raised sinks from Build.com.  They have a huge selection and some of the best prices around compared to other home improvements storefronts and sites.

The next step in the process was gutting the bathroom.  (Luckily, we have a guest bathroom that we lived out of while this makeover occurred.)

Then, we painted the walls, installed the vanity and started the drywall/tiling process.  My husband was such a rockstar on this!  After the large tiles and mosaic tiles were all laid down, the grouting commenced.

Meanwhile, we got started on the vanity top.  Although we would have loved to gone with granite, it was much too pricey since we would have needed such a large slab.  That said, we decided to make our own out of concrete.

This was quite the process!  My husband set up custom molds and cutouts for the sinks.  We ended up making two slabs since one giant slab would have been incredibly heavy and hard to move into the house upstairs.  We got a countertop specific concrete and added dark gray concrete coloring to make it darker than a standard slab of concrete (both of these are available at any home improvement store.)

Carrying these slabs upstairs was quite the workout- let me tell you!  After they were installed, my husband tweaked the plumbing and then added the sinks and faucets (we also moved the faucet on the tub from a vertical mount on the “marshmallow” to a horizontal mount, giving it a much more streamlined look).

We also framed the existing mirror and added a new light fixture. The last finishing touches included some monogram art from All Things Charming, a new shower curtain, and a few other accessories.

Here is the end result:

We are SO happy with the result and we were able to keep the cost down by doing the project ourselves.  The actual renovation probably took a good two months on weekends, evenings, etc. but it was well worth it in my opinion!  #proudDIYmoment

Linking up with Remodelaholic.com.