Home Decorating: Bathroom Remodel on a Budget

When it comes to home decorating there are few rooms that have quite the impact of a bathroom or kitchen when being decorated. There is something wonderful about taking a tired old bathroom and making it seem bright and shiny once again. Most people, however, cringe at the thought of a bathroom remodel fearing the absolute worst when it comes to their financial situation once all is said and done. The good news is that small steps can lead to big changes in rooms as small as bathrooms. These small steps do not have to have large prices in order to be highly effective.

My suggestion with a bathroom remodel is to assess where the worst blemishes and eyesores may be. Painting the walls can be a good place to start but you should first decide whether you are planning to remove any cabinetry. This is one room where it is best to save the painting for later in the project rather than the beginning. The vanity in many bathrooms takes up a good deal of real estate. Gone are the days when chunky bathroom cabinets were the popular choice for bathrooms.

Now people want the bathrooms to have the appearance of a wide-open space. This means that bathroom cabinets and bathroom vanities are becoming smaller rather than larger.

Most homeowners find that the removal of bulky cabinetry in the bathroom often leads to some degree of patching required for the drywall and noticeable gaps in flooring. These will need to be addressed fairly quickly, which means that now is a good time to select color options for the walls and flooring. Smaller bathrooms do well with lighter colors on the walls in order to give them a larger appearance. Use towels and decorations to bring in darker accents but keep the walls light and bright. Also choose paint that can withstand the high humidity of bathrooms.

Flooring in a bathroom also needs to be able to withstand high heat and humidity as this room is rather abusive to floors and walls. For this reason, hardwood is not the floor of choice for most bathrooms. Ceramic tile is an excellent choice and not terribly expensive. There are also some laminates that are designed to respond well to a high humidity environment such as will be found in a bathroom. Choose flooring that will accent the walls and the overall sense of decor you are hoping to achieve when decorating your home and bathroom, as this is not something you are going to want to change often.

The toilet in a bathroom remodel is fairly simple to purchase but I recommend leaving it be unless it absolutely needs to be changed. This is not a simple procedure for the novice and experts are expensive. In this case "if it ain't broke don't fix it" is an excellent motto to live by. The same holds true with the bathroom shower. If, however, you simply cannot live with your shower (or bathtub) as is, you may want to try hiring professionals to come in and resurface your tub. This is much less expensive than purchasing a brand-new tub and will have yours looking bright, shiny, and as good as new. Again you can avoid the high cost of a plumber despite the fact that you are paying for professionals to resurface.

To top things off, you will be amazed at the difference that new knobs, fixtures, and hardware can make in a bathroom. Add a couple of lamps for subtle lighting and some decorative touches of your own and you have a brand new bathroom without spending a king's ransom in order to do so. The shower curtain and 'guest' towels should be your largest splurges in your bathroom, as they will tie the room all together. Your shower curtains and towels will blend the colors and designs in order to create the overall atmosphere you should be hoping to achieve in your bathroom. And all of this can be accomplished one step at a time no matter how sparse your budget may be.

The Bathroom Makeover:

Boost Your Home's Resale on a Tight Budget

by Bathroom Refurbishing

One truism in real estate holds: the resale value of one of the most important rooms in a home, is that of the bathroom. A bathroom can be a deal breaker for many sales. These days, with the housing market on rocky grounds, and with home sellers reluctant to dish out thousands into up-scale, expensive renovations, there's a fresh eye looking to the cheaper and less time consuming option of refurbishment.

Refurbishing involves making use of what you already have in a bathroom. Beginning first with the walls. A great way to spruce up and liven up any space, including the bathroom, is with a fresh coat of paint. You'll want to choose a color that ties in the new look and feel of your bathroom- something that'll keep the space light and bright and welcoming.

If you have older bathroom cabinets that are looking somewhat down trodden you might consider re-surfacing them. If they are wood, you might also re-stain them. Another consideration is to paint over the existing surface. In this case, you'll want to make sure you use the appropriate base of paint, and that you've properly treated, or sanded the cabinets before-hand. You can then add new hardware to your re-surfaced cabinets. This punctuation will help update the look and feel of your bathroom. Take a look at our online gallery of cabinet accessories.

Replacing the existing counter-top can be a great way to modernize your bathroom, and usually as there's little counter space in a bathroom this will not set you back that much. Granite, or granite looking countertops are universally popular, appealing and are easy to fit into many different decorating schemes and are offered by US Cabinets Plus.

If you can't seem to fit your existing lavender sink, bathtub and toilet ( circa 1965) into your modern refurbishment, you might want to consider replacing these fixtures. Otherwise, you can try to work around these retro elements and tie everything else back into them. The later, will of course be the cheaper way to go, although it may present more of a design challenge. But, set a budget and see how creative you can be with your financial limitations.

Some other important details to attend to are the bathroom vanity, the lighting fixtures and the floor. You might consider replacing all of these, or if you're on a tighter budget think about re-vitalizing them.

Accessorizing once you've re-established the bones of your bathroom, can be great fun. Here, you can really tie everything into your "new" bathroom. Think about adding some color coordinated plush towels and designer soaps. You might also find some nice photographs to have framed and then carefully hang them. Also new window treatments and a shower curtain can work wonders to pull everything together.

There's truly so much possible with any space, and within any budget. So don't hesitate to put your creative energies into a bathroom refurbishment that'll surely boost the resale value of your home. Visit our premanufactured gallery for a host of cabinetry styles.