DIY Bathroom Updates: Usher Your Home into the ’20s

When you purchase a home that is twenty or more years old, you have to update.

Aging bathrooms need attention: discolored grout, outdated tile, obsolete fixtures, odd colors, and mixed metal faucet handles….  Styles that worked twenty or thirty years ago don’t pass the test today.

A complete bathroom overhaul costs upward of $10,000 depending on the size of the bath and the extent of the work to be done. An upper limit to the cost does not exist—remodels can be as expensive as you want. 

What if you don’t want to spend that much? If you are a DIY home redesign enthusiast, you can update a bathroom without professional help. Or at least, with only minimal help.

Wall color

Changing old wallpaper or the wall paint color is the quickest way to update any room, bathrooms included. Strip outdated wallpaper, sand the walls, and paint a new fresh color. Paint over outdated wall color with inspiring—and modern—hues.

Fixtures

Bathroom fixtures immediately change the look of the space. In this bathroom, I exchanged the mixed-metal chrome-and-brass 90’s fixtures for sleek, matte black fixtures. The total cost of the towel rod, hand towel rink, toilet paper roll holder, cabinet handles, and sink faucet was less than $200. The transformation was immediate.

Grout

For grout that is discolored, you have two options that don’t include a total tear-out. You can grout over top of the existing grout, which works well if the existing grout is damaged or chipping. The other option is to use a grout colorant, if the grout is in good repair but discolored. I have used both of these options on different spaces, with mixed results

I grouted over existing grout in my former laundry room. The grout adhered well, without chipping or cracking, and it transformed the appearance of the room. In one former home, though, I used white grout colorant to brighten the yellowed grout in the shower. The colorant looked amazing at first, but did not hold up well with scrubbing and cleaning. While the colorant provided a good short-term result, the long-term result was disappointing in a room with heavy foot traffic.

Countertop & sink

This is one renovation that I would leave to a professional due to the complexity of removing the old countertop. In this half bathroom, I exchanged the Mediterranean tile and ceramic with a quartz countertop and white ceramic sink. The price tag may be higher than what you want, but if you are considering a semi-remodel, the countertop and sink are an easy, one-day project for a professional.

Floor tile

I have personally installed floor tile in three different bathrooms in houses that I have owned. The first time, I tiled over linoleum that was in excellent condition, and the process was seamless. In the same house, I removed the upstairs bathroom floor tile—which was glued down solidly—and installed new tile. Removal of the old tile was the most difficult aspect of the remodel project.

Fast forward a few years. Last summer, I removed the stained, baby blue tile from the floor of an upstairs bathroom. One would think that I would recall the difficulty of tile demolition, but apparently I have a terrible memory. A 5 x 6 foot space took me an entire day of demolition. My wrist sported a giant bruise from where I hit my hand instead of the chisel. 

The next day, I planned for several hours to install the new marble flooring, but it took me almost twelve hours. I ran into the same situation with grouting. Since we used 12 x 12” marble mosaics on a backer, grouting was difficult. Each sheet of mosaic tile required attention to detail that I just didn’t have after several days of work. However, when the project was completed, it looked fabulous!

Removal of old sliding shower doors

I know that some people really like sliding shower doors. Since I do the cleaning in my house, I do not like sliding doors at all. I never have good luck keeping the slides clean from soap scum and debris. When I did a mini-renovation in my daughter’s bathroom, I removed the sliding shower doors. 

Surprisingly, they removed easily. Three screws attached the shower door to the shower surround tile, and silicone caulk held the base of the slide to the lip of the tub. I removed the screws, then used an exacto knife to separate the caulk from the ceramic tub. The sliding door system removed without difficulty, and the holes in the tiles were easily patched with white grout. Clean-up is much easier now.

Paint your cabinets

Why are people so afraid to paint cabinets? Beats me. I’ve painted a lot of cabinets. Most of the time, they turn out nicely. When they don’t, I just sand, re-prime, and hit re-do. Paint transforms a bathroom quickly, and since bathrooms tend to be small, it isn’t even that much work.

What type of paint should you use? You should use a cabinet-grade paint, such as Benjamin Moore’s Advance, which cleans like an acrylic paint but settles and dries hard like an oil-based paint. Oil-based paints also give a nice result, but they take many more hours to dry completely.

Be fearless!

With the abundance of DIY videos available for free on video platforms, and the accessibility of home improvement supplies, don’t be afraid to test your mettle. Home improvements may take you a while if you aren’t seasoned, but you will learn. There are few projects that you will do that cannot be undone. You will have the satisfaction of seeing a project through from its inception, and you will have the bragging rights to say, “Yeah, I did that!”