Bathroom renovation with a limited budget

Last Updated Oct 14, 2016 · Written by Rob Schneider

Bathroom Renovation

Your bathroom is looking dated and worn, but you don't have a big renovation budget. If you're willing to roll up your sleeves, you can give your bathroom a makeover for under $2000. With professional help, you can give your bathroom a major renovation for under $5000. Here's how to get a bathroom reno with a limited budget.

1. Painting Ideas

2. Resurface Your Bath, Basin or Toilet

3. What About Your Vanity?

4. Your Shower Screen

5. Do Your Costings First

Painting Ideas

When we think of cheap renovations, painting is the first thing that comes to mind. Paint is inexpensive and can be a DIY project. If you don't want a plain colour, consider buying wallpaper designed for wet areas. Modern wallpaper comes in photo-realistic designs. You may not have enough of a budget for natural brick or stone veneer, but you may find wallpaper that looks like old brick or stone.

You want to change your colour scheme, but the colours you want don't match your tiles. Does that mean you have to hire a tiler and pay to have your tiles removed and replaced? Not necessarily. You can repaint your tiles, too.

Start by reading our Guide to Painting Bathroom Tiles. It gives the basic instructions for painting tiles. Your paint supplier will tell you what you need to know about the tile paint you choose. You needn't stick with one plain colour, either. You can purchase stencil kits for your feature tiles or buy different colours and create a feature wall using complementary paint colours.

There are only two catches to painting tiles:

1. You can paint floor tiles, but it's not recommended. Foot traffic will wear away the paint.
2. As an amateur, you may not get the results you want.

You have solutions to these problems. Your floor tiles may just need cleaning, polishing and regrouting. You can do the work yourself or hire a grouting expert to refresh your floor tiles. If you want a more professional look on your wall tiles, you can hire a painter with experience painting tiles. Many specialists have an artistic flair and can help you with your design and colour coordination. Don't rule out painting your wall tiles yourself, though. If you do a careful job and use the right paint, you might be surprised by the results.

Before you start choosing colours, think about the colour scheme you want. If you're leaving your floor tiles, find colours that don't clash with them. For inspiration, have a look at our Bathroom Design Ideas pages. You'll find hundreds of photos of bathrooms with a variety of colour combinations, from minimalist black, grey and white to more brightly coloured bathrooms.

Resurface Your Bath, Basin or Toilet

If you paint your walls and tiles, you'll probably find that your bath, basin or toilet look a little dingy in comparison. Between buying new ones and hiring a plumber, those can be major expenses. Fortunately, there are budget options: you can resurface your toilet, bath and basin. White is the most popular colour, but there are coloured finishes if you prefer.

Resurfacing your toilet, bath and basin is probably not a DIY job. You can buy the paint, but bath and basin resurfacing specialists will give you a smooth and longer lasting finish. Our hipages article, How Much Does Bathroom Resurfacing Cost? covers the costs you can expect to pay to have resurfacing done by experts. Between your tiles and other resurfacing jobs, letting professionals do the work for you can slash your bathroom renovation bill by 75 percent.

What About Your Vanity?

Does your vanity need a makeover? Read What Kinds of Kitchen Cabinets Can I Paint? before you go looking for a replacement vanity. The article is geared towards kitchen cabinets, but the materials and techniques apply to bathroom vanities as well. While you're at it, you can replace the handles, too. Choose your handles before you paint. If your new handles don't fit into the existing holes, you'll need to fill and sand the holes before you paint your doors and drawer fronts.

You may decide you want to get rid of your old vanity and replace it. Doing this might stretch your budget, but before you decide to buy a standard bathroom vanity, think about your other options. An old desk or chest of drawers can make a great vanity. You may need to repaint or refinish it and a plumber will need to install the basin and taps, but you will have a unique vanity that can be the highlight of your bathroom renovation.

Your Shower Screen

If you have an older bathroom, your shower screen may look dated. Measure your existing shower screen and see if you can buy a new one in a standard size. Even frameless shower screens can cost under $400 today and framed or semi-frameless shower screens cost even less. If you can replace your existing shower screen in the same location, replacement can be a DIY job or you can hire a handyman to replace it for you. How Much Does a New Shower Screen Cost? will tell you the costs of new shower screens and their installation costs.

Do Your Costings First

You can renovate your bathroom for under $2000, but a full renovation will probably cost more. Do your costings before you start. List them in order of importance and start with the renovations you can afford. You can always pick up where you left off and finish the job later, but you'll need a plan. While you're planning your budget bathroom reno, think about lighting and your vanity mirror, too. Better lighting and a new mirror can be the finishing touches your bathroom needs to be perfect.

You want your completed budget renovation to look right and you don't want to have to do some jobs over again. For example, if you want to replace your vanity, you don't want to have to tile or paint the walls behind the new vanity. Plan ahead and use your imagination and you won't have to. The wall behind your vanity doesn't necessarily have to be tiled. You can paint or cover the area with a splashback or you may be able to find a table or other piece of furniture that covers the area behind the vanity.