Bathroom Updates: The Big Reveal!

We’re finally finished with our basement bathroom renovation (read all about it here, here, here and here), and we’re eager to show you all our hard work. But, first, let’s take a look at how far the bathroom’s come. Here it is before we started any work on it:

It had that same mosaic grungy tile we tore out of our kitchen:

And the sink had seen better days.

So, we got hard to work by installing a new sink scavenged from Jarrett’s parents, laying a new floor, switching up the medicine cabinet, and creating a shower surround out of galvanized roofing material (which we’ll give you a complete how-to for in a separate post). Here’s the grand reveal:

It’s a really small space, as you can see, and getting some good pictures was especially hard. I actually had to piece together a few pictures to give you a full shot of the shower. Here’s one corner of the shower with the full galvanized shower surround and cedar trim:

We used 1×4 pieces of cedar that we treated with Thompson’s Water Seal to trim out our new shower surround. We picked cedar, of course, because it’s rot-resistant. Hopefully the Water Seal will keep it from graying as well.

We were also able to keep the existing shower head and faucet knobs to keep things as economical as possible. The shower curtain that we had hung in the bathroom originally also fit nicely into the new space.

Down below, we simply coated the shower basin with a fresh coat of epoxy designed as a tub and tile refinisher. You might recall that we actually used the same stuff to turn our avocado green tilework in the upstairs bathroom to white. We had plenty left over from that job, so we used the same can to liven up this shower basin. It takes a few days to cure but is really easy work. It’s completely self-leveling, so any errant brushstrokes were totally hidden by the time it all dried.

We extended the cedar trim and galvanized roofing panels outside the shower for the small spaces adjacent to it to keep some consistency on that side of the room.

We also used cedar in the cutout section beside the medicine cabinet as well as along the ledge under the window to create extra shelving space.

We also painted the ceiling black and replaced the bare overhead lightbulb with this great directional light. It creates a really nice effect in the bathroom (but makes for some pretty harsh shadows in photos – sorry about that!).

And did we mention we did all of this on an extremely tight budget? Here’s the breakdown:

• paint (Behr and RustOleum): $35
• cedar trim: $12
• Water Seal: $7
• Galvanized Panels: $35
• Screws: $10
• Caulk: $16
• Sink: FREE
• Light Fixture (IKEA): $10
• Mirrors (IKEA and Lowe’s): $15
• Trash Can (IKEA flower pot): $4
• Flooring (Armstrong Peel & Stick Tiles) $12
• Shower Curtain (CB2): Already Owned, so FREE
• Toilet Paper Holder (IKEA): Already Owned, so also FREE
• Whale Hook (Urban Outfitters): $2

TOTAL: $158!

Not bad, right? Granted, we ended up buying this IKEA sink for $75, which turned out to be a disaster, and we never used it. But, maybe we can pick up a few bucks on that by unloading it on Craigslist? Either way, we’re pretty satisfied!