Main Floor Bathroom Remodel

After 4 months or so, our main floor bathroom remodel is finally completed. It took a month for the granite countertop to be ready for pickup and then we waited for our much-abled but inexpensive contractor to come and complete the project.

What we did:

• Removed the wallpaper
• Replaced the countertop, faucet, toilet, light fixture, shower rod, exhaust fan, and floor moldings
• Primed and painted the walls and ceiling
• Sanded and re-varnished the cabinet doors
• “Waxed” the shower stall tiles
• Added a new towel ring and towel bar
• Patched the wall behind the toilet
• Added new cabinet hardware

Here are pictures of “before” the remodel:

The toilet fitting had a leak so that’s why the wall had to be repaired.

Here are pictures of “after” the remodel:

The cabinet doors were worn on the edges. A friend told me that since they are not “real” wood (they are veneer) I could gently sand them with 220 grit sandpaper then use a clear varnish on them. Instead of doing the edges only I did both doors and it worked wonders. (Now I need to refrain from going through the house and re-varnishing all the doors and cabinets that have the same problem. That’s a good project for the winter months.)

One of the contractors who came out suggested I “wax” the shower tiles as it keeps the scum off them so there’s less cleaning involved AND they look a little shinier and newer. I thought this was a great idea and it didn’t take long to do it.

I had received bids on upgrading the upstairs guest bathroom a few months ago and doing something similar although I was replacing the linoleum tile in that room. Their projected costs (including supplies) was about $7000 and that is IF we gave them the contract to have the master bathroom remodeled also.

The labor cost to have the main bathroom done was around $450. We picked up the the countertop, toilet, exhaust fan, light fixture and the other miscellaneous items. Our contractor picked up any plumbing, electrical and wood supplies he needed and those were included in the $450 cost.

Not bad, eh? The saying “you get what you pay for” doesn’t apply in our case. Our contractor (who currently owns a painting company) is a handy person on the side. He used to own an electrical company that dispatched electricians throughout Minnesota. So, he’s a jack-of-all-trades.

Because he is so busy with his current jobs, we can’t hire him to do our master bathroom. BUT, he is willing to do the upstairs guest bathroom for us. That one will be a similar project but we’ll need to have new tiles, a new floor and a new tub installed so costs will be higher I’m sure.

Another “new house” project to check off.  Now to find some nice pictures for the walls …