Small Bathroom, Quick and EasyRemodel

The vanity was dated and over-large for the space, the linoleum was coming up, the walls were done in an ugly faux wood plank paneling, and, thanks to accidents by the cats, we could not get rid of that certain odor. It was time for a refit.

As we are on a fixed income, budget was a major consideration; we had to do all the work ourselves with help from friends and my grandsons. That is a major budget-saver right there: DIY (Do It Yourself).

Who Puts Paneling In A Bathroom?

Well, the people we bought this house from, that's who. Considering all the other problems we've had to fix since moving here, we were not overly surprised. These were people who prided themselves on DIY "improvements," yet they should never have been allowed near tools or building materials! We had to completely gut and re-do our kitchen in 2007, due to some very dangerous shortcuts they took.

The Process Step-by-step, in photos, the stages of the project are shown What is not shown is the exact how-to of each step, due to the fact that I had to be on the other end of a tool of some sort, and that makes it awkward to also take photos.

However, this was about as low-budget a project as we were able to make it. It cost under $300 for the materials, which included new, thin drywall, new flooring, new medicine chest, light fixture, vanity, texturing and paint.

Know What You're Doing As DIY projects go, this one is for very experienced folks who are familiar with things like building codes and who have done construction projects of some sort in the past. This is not a beginner-level project. I grew up helping my father fix things, and my husband used to be a general contractor years back, so we know what we are doing.

That said, this was a relatively simple and straight-forward task, but because we both have a few physical issues at this point in our lives, we took our time, and it took us about a week. Back in our prime, this would have been a weekend project.

As you can see from the photos, we ran into some nasty surprises. This is always a possibility when remodeling an older home. Be mentally and financially prepared! In this case, we had our suspicions, based on what we'd gone through with the kitchen, and a few other things around the property.

Remodels are not something you just tear into on a whim. Be sure to start with a check of local building codes, and adhere to them. Your city hall will have that information.

Research what you need for your project, plan it out and don't get ahead of yourself, and it will go smoothly.