Bath Remodel-Tips and Tricks for Saving and Splurging

 In my Master Bath Reveal post, I promised I’d give you the sources for all the elements we put in the space. I’m going to do that today, along with giving you our tips and tricks on where to save and where to splurge in a bathroom remodel!

Honestly, we didn’t DIY this room like we usually do, and when we got the price back from the contractor it was looking a little more expensive than we planned …so we made a careful inventory of what we could cut to save money. But how many of you know that when you start talking about saving on a room makeover, inevitably there will be a discussion on what to splurge on?!?! Every bathroom has to be functional but leave a little money in the budget for some fun! You know, every room needs a WOW factor, it can be a painting, a mirror or a piece of furniture. A WOW factor doesn’t have to break the bank… (like my chandelier that I love…it is (to me) a WOW factor but it was well under $200.00!)

Oh, and by the way,  what is a WOW factor for me might not be the same for you! Finding your WOW factor is part of the planning and design process. And balancing the budget between function and fun might take some time. 

Our Splurges

For us, here were the splurges (and by splurge, I don’t mean these are the most expensive choices out there-they’re just things we didn’t try to go rock bottom on)

The tub – tub filler & risers: This is the first thing you see when you walk in the room and they, along with the Tudor-style window, really do set the mood for this space…

*The Tub: Victoria & Albert – Marlborough (this tub is a little pricey-over 2800.00 but we found it HERE  for around half of that!)

* The Tub Filler & Risers: Huntington Brass Wyndamere (w/out porcelain) *online the filler and risers were over $1800.00- we got them for just around $1100.00

The Window was custom made by a friend of Mike’s but we got a price for $1400.00 (we didn’t pay that, but we would have because this was something we really wanted)

The Marble Countertop: I really wanted marble …I have nothing to say except …I really wanted marble. We got the countertop through our contractor at a local shop and it was $1200.00. (If we had been low on money, I would have given this up without shedding a tear 🙂 There are plenty of other gorgeous options that come in cheaper.)
Switching the shower and the water closet: This was also a bit of a splurge- but making the shower bigger was one of Mike’s non-negotiables. I can’t really estimate the cost accurately because it included switching the plumbing, a larger shower door, sheet rock work, a new water closest door…

BUT, the good news is that we were able to off set some of the costs! So let me tell you how we saved!

How We Saved!

 Tiles: We picked inexpensive ceramic subway tiles (as opposed to the marble subway tiles I originally planned to use) for the shower.

We used ceramic, marble-look tiles for the floor and the shower tile inset (as opposed to the Carrera Marble tiles I originally planned to use).

I was worried about not using marble BUT, let me tell you honestly…I LOVE this floor! The dark grout and the nonporous, easy to maintain ceramic meets all my expectations! And by using the ceramic tile we cut our tile bill almost in half!

All the tile came from HERE

Lighting!

Chandelier: I wanted a large chandelier in the center of the room and I wanted it to make a bit of a statement. I spent hours online pinning chandeliers of all kinds before I decided I wanted a crystal chandelier. Again, I spent an afternoon online trying to find an affordable crystal chandelier, finally I found this one on 2 websites. It was a really good price at just under $300.00…but just for grins, I typed in the product info on Amazon…(affiliate link)

And low and behold: Crystal Chandelier Lighting 28ht X 28wd 8 Lights Fixture Pendant Ceiling Lamp was$129.00!!!

There are 2 catches to this super inexpensive chandelier: 1-it’s not crystal. All of these beautiful prisms are glass… Well. Who. Cares. (I’m sure someone cares, but not me.) And 2- the chain that came with the light was WAY too short. After going to a couple of lighting stores we ended up at Ace Hardware. They sell LOADS of different style chain and we found an exact match!

We Re-Used Some Things!

We went through the old bathroom before the demo and weighed all of our options for reusing what we had… we came up with 2 things that I estimate saved us hundreds of dollars…

The Water Closet Light 

It’s cute and there was no reason not to use it!

The Sink Faucets

This was a tough call, while we loved the style of the faucets (and they were in great shape), keeping them meant we had to use brushed nickel finishes on the sconces and on the shower faucets…in the end, the ones I picked out to buy were $180.00 a piece and saving $360.00 by using the old faucets was well worth it!

 The Sconces : At first, I ordered 3 kind of expensive sconces. When they came they were too big and didn’t really give me the thrill they should have for the money. On a whim I ordered these from The Home Depot  and are you ready? They were 29.99 each!!!! I saved over $300.00 from my original order!

In case you like the stain on the cabinets:

We had the cabinets custom made and the cabinet maker asked me to pick a stain. I knew I wanted a gray with a touch of brown. I bought 6 different stains and found one, Weathered Gray that I really liked. I asked him (the cabinet maker) to use the weathered gray but to add a touch of brown. Ya know, men don’t like measurements like ‘a touch’ ! He wouldn’t stain the cabinets until I saw a sample and okayed it 🙂 It was perfect. He said he added just a shot glass of brown stain to the quart of weathered gray.

So that’s it! The contractor did the rest of the work and it was included in the bottom line. I’d tell you how much, but I think it would be different according to where you’re located!

But if you’re in metro Atlanta, give these guys a call!(Our Contractor)—> The King’s Carpentry 

Have a wonderful day my friends ~ ox

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