Before and after bathroom renovation at the flip house

Today I am thrilled to share with you the “after” photos of the downstairs bathroom at the #fliphouse. This particular room was supposed to be just a quick cosmetic update (ha!) but it quickly turned into a complete gut job.

However, I am happy to report it is now done and I couldn’t be happier with the results. This was the room that I officially cut my construction teeth on, so to speak. There were a lot of challenges and a huge learning curve, to be sure. But ultimately, I’m glad I went with a total overhaul of this space.

The only things I salvaged from this space were the cast-iron bathtub, which is in perfect condition, and the ceiling.

After I demolished the walls and took out the flooring, vanity and shower, I hung and finished new drywall. Then I painted the ceiling and walls. I painted the ceiling with Zinsser® Ceiling Paint (Paint & Primer in One). This product goes on light pink and dries to a bright white, so you can see exactly where you’ve painted. I’m using this paint on all the ceilings throughout the house. It’s water-based, so you can clean it up easily with soap and water.

For the walls, I chose Valspar Ancient Stone (347-2) from Lowe’s. Nicole Curtis of the show “Rehab Addict” used this color in many of her flips in seasons 1 and 2 of her show. This is a beautiful warm neutral shade. I love it so much, I may use the same color in the upstairs master suite of the flip house.

After paint came the flooring. I installed 12×24-inch luxury vinyl “sticky” tiles from Lowe’s. I chose the Oyster Travertine groutable tiles. They cost a little over $1 per square foot.

For the grout, I mixed up a combo of the Antique White and Saddle Gray colors. The installation of these tiles was super easy and I’m so happy with the results. I’ve installed sticky tiles before (about 12 years ago) and I had trouble with some of them staying sticky back then, so I was leery to try the product again. But these seem to stick really well and I think the grout really helps seal and keep everything in place. I’ll be installing a similar version of these in my own kitchen this spring. This floor is inexpensive but I think it looks high-end.

I updated the nasty built-in cabinetry that was previously used as a linen cabinet by removing the old doors, adding shelf bottoms, priming and painting the heck out of the shelves and adding decorative fronts and molding to them. Total cost to update this linen closet? $10! (I apologize; I don’t have any “before” shots of these shelves.)

You’ll also notice in the attached pics that I updated the door hardware to include a set that actually has a lock on the bathroom door. I chose the Schlage® Keep It Private Bed & Bath set, which cost me about $20.

For the sink and vanity, I chose this unit from Lowe’s. It was fairly inexpensive and the size worked really well in the space. I loved that it already had the top built in. The faucet was off the shelf at Lowe’s as well.

I spent a little bit extra to get a mirror with a medicine cabinet because of the need for more storage in this bathroom.

This one worked well with the color of the vanity. Again, it was off the shelf at Lowe’s.

The other bathroom accessories are mostly from from T.J. Maxx and Hobby Lobby.

The stuff we did that you don’t see or may not notice in the attached pictures? Insulation, new toilet, new tub and shower fixtures, new wiring, new plumbing, new ceiling fan, new light fixture, new molding around the window, new baseboard and ceiling molding …

All together, I have a little over $1,200 invested in this bathroom. What do you think of the exhausting transformation?