Remodeling a Small Bedroom into a Bathroom

Remodeling a Small Bedroom into a Bathroom

by The NewlyWoodwards

I'm excited to be guest posting today at Remodelaholic! Thanks to Cassity for having me! I'm Kim, half of NewlyWoodwards. At our online home, I gab about all our daily adventures - renovating, decorating, gardening and just generally DIYing. We'recurrently in the midst of renovating a (soon-to-be) great home from the late 19th century - our third remodel. I guess you could call us gluttons for punishment.

Today, I'm here to share a 2007 renovation project from our current home that I hope you love as much as we do. It's probably my favorite room in our house. (I say that about every room, in case you were wondering.)

When we bought our first home, it had four teeny bedrooms and one bath. Oh yeah, and it was ugly.

Luckily, it got better.

But back to the bath. When we bought the house, the only bathroom was on the first floor. Because I'm a bit spoiled, I decided that we must have a bathroom on the second floor with our bedroom. I mean, can you imagine getting up in the middle of the night for a glass of water and having to go down 18 steps? And then up them again? Horrific!

Luckily for me, one of the bedrooms on the upper floor was ripe for a transformation. (This would be your before photo. And the only one, too, because I only had a few moments before my husband began ripping out that scum carpet.)

It couldn't have gotten much worse, right? It was a postage-size bedroom. A twin bed would not have fit in there. But it made a relatively large and luxurious bathroom for a home built in 1917. With two large windows for lots of light.

I brought together my dream team of my three favorite men - my husband, dad and father-in-law - and they were able to make it happen for under $1,500, start to finish. 

And now for the after:

Better, right?

I pretty much based the entire bathroom on a shower curtain from Ballard Designs. I 

liked the color. And I still do. In fact, the room has barely changed in three years. Still 

love it today.

The two main concerns for this bathroom were budget and organization. Here are my tips for each.

Consider buying off-the-rack. Go to the home store. Immediately, you'll find something that you love and cannot live without. And, most likely, it will be the most expensive thing in the store. (If you are anything like me.) Instead, try to actually consider less expensive items. Even if it's not your very favorite. I'm not saying to go with something you hate. But, consider. 

We went with a stock vanity and simple white countertop. The light was only $4 from Home Depot. The mirror was $35 in the home decor section of Menards. I loved other things, I really did. But I love this bathroom, too. And all the parts of it together. 

Which leads me to...

Be flexible. Everything may not go exactly as you want. Initially, I wanted a different layout in this bathroom. But it was going to be A LOT more work, time and money to change out the plumbing to the way I wanted. The bedroom happened to be right above the downstairs bath, which made it simpler to run the water and tap into the sewer pipe in a certain configuration. And now, the truth is that I love this bathroom, as is.

You don't need everything. Please don't buy all the 'stuff' that they sell at big box stores. Step away from the toilet rugs. It doesn't seem like a lot of money, but please don't buy all the racks/towels/toilet seat covers. It adds up.  Hooks are so cheap and look much neater than a towel rack.

And would you consider skipping the 'decorative towels' and only buying towels you can use? Please. There are towel-less children in this world. Use your towels.  And then bleach them and use them again.

And my one major tip for organization... 

Create a place for everything. When you are renovating, make sure to think about what you will store in the space. In this room, we have a designated place for makeup, hair stuff, medicine, extra towels, extra toiletries, lotions and cleaning supplies. Plenty of space, and everything is always out of sight. It really does make it 

simple to keep the bathroom clean and organized.

So, that's our bedroom-to-bathroom remodel in a nutshell. Hope you liked it!

If you have any questions or are interested in more remodel madness, stop over to NewlyWoodwards.