Redoing a bathroom on the cheap

[salliekate]

Our 2nd bathroom is a jack and jill bathroom between the kids' bedrooms.  Currently it has blue tile on the floor, walls, and shower.  The sink desperately needs to be replaced, but we can't do that without damaging a good bit of tile around it.  It would be near impossible to match the existing tile, so we're planning to just retile everything.  If you've picked out inexpensive tile recently, what did you choose?  Any color suggestions?  I'd really like to do white, but my mother is convinced I will hate it because it will show every speck of dirt.  TIA!

[bunnymendelbaum]

We just redid our bathroom with a large format cream-ish tile. I like it, except the floor shows every hair and speck of dirt.

For deals, call your local tile place (the manufacturer's showroom) and see if they have any overstocked, returns, etc. We did that and got our fancy tile for a crazy low price. I'm an architect, so they gave us an extra discount, but I bet they'd give anyone a deal on overstock/return stuff.

[salliekate]

@charky the tile is for the floor, shower, and walls.  I'm not sure what we're doing for the vanity because we have a lovely air vent that in the way of most vanities.  

bunnymendelbaum that's a great idea!  I'll definitely call around to see what's available.  Do you wish you had done another color?  If so, what color?  

[downtoearth]

We did black honed marble hexagonal tile on the floor of our last bathroom b/c it was on closeout at the tile place. Tile looks like this with dark gray grout - easy to clean and doesn't show dirt very well at all: www.buytiles.com/view-product/mb34/grout-and-adhesive.php


I just pinned a darling bathroom with white everywhere and black tile on the floor. Might be an idea you would like - it's a kids bathroom with subway tiles everywhere and black tiles or penny rounds on the floor.

pinterest.com/pin/133208101450862411/

[kitty]

I would do white on the walls and shower and a darker color on the floor (gray?).

[bunnymendelbaum]

I like the cream in the walls, but I'd like to have done darker on the floor. They are also 12x24, so there aren't many grout lines to disguise stray dirt/hair.

[Susie]

This is the tile we put in our half bath last summer:  www.besttile.com/index.php?mact=Products,cntnt01,details,0&cntnt01productid=114&cntnt01returnid=53&cntnt01returnid=53

We used the 13x13s, which I think was around $7-8/sf.  Not bad.  This is it installed:


It freaking hides everything.  Almost too well!

We also looked at the basket weave pattern of the same tile.  WHOA.  It was like $30/sf.  No thanks. 


Some of the natural stone basket weaves that I also considered were in the $12-14/sf range:

[bunch]

I think your biggest cost is going to be the labor more than the tile, so you might want to start by talking to a contractor. Tile work is not cheap. I've heard of having tile reglazed (professionally with a sprayer) so that may be an option as well if you're looking to go white.

[InBetweenDays]

Depending on how big your bathroom is and how much tile you need, it could be worthwhile checking out some salvage yards. We have purchased so many things at the salvage yard - including remnant tile and coutertop pieces - for really cheap.

I would NOT do white tiles on the floor. We had that in our old house and hated it because the grout always looked dirty. Now we have a very dark greenish grey with dark grout and it is very forgiving with dirty and spills.

[salliekate]

Thanks so much for all the recs, info, and tips. I have a contractor coming by next week to look at everything for us. If he thinks we can just resurface the sink (is that what you do for porcelain sinks??), we may just do that.

[FoxInFiji]

Apr 8, 2013 15:13:55 GMT -5 bunch said:

I think your biggest cost is going to be the labor more than the tile, so you might want to start by talking to a contractor. Tile work is not cheap.

This.  Your biggest cost is going to be the labor not the materials. 

We DIY'd our main bathroom with inexpensive white tiles. 



Here's a better picture showing the floor tile size and layout before we grouted.


The 12x12 shower tile was $2/sf and the 18x18 floor tile was $2.15/sf.  The gray veining in the tiles hides a lot and the larger tiles means less grout lines to worry about.  We went with a light gray grout color and used epoxy grout in the whole bathroom as well.  So it isn't porous, doesn't stain, or ever need to be sealed like regular grout.  I my research the number one complaint people had with their white floors was the grout itself or solid white tiles.  We've had this bathroom done for a year and it's been super easy to clean and keep looking nice. 

I would avoid tiling a countertop but if you did decide to do that epoxy grout is the way to go there.  It's typically used for countertops and commercial applications. 

[salliekate]

Oooh, FoxInFiji, I really like that tile.  What kind is it? I'm definitely going to do a dark grout because I've heard that from just about everyone who has tile anywhere.  

[FoxInFiji]

It's American Olean tile but they don't make this color anymore. Daltile makes one that is very, very similar though and at the same price point. It's Daltile Navelli in Carrera Star. Here's a picture comparing them from my blog. The Daltile is on the right.


Link: threeacres.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/tile-tile-more-tile/

[salliekate]

I'd thought about a pedestal, but I'd really like some storage in there. This will the be the kids' bathroom, and right now there isn't even anywhere to put a toothbrush. It's a super small space. If I have to do a pedestal, I'd thought about putting a small shelf or something above it, right under the mirror. Do you think that would look ok?

[lavender444]

Our Lowes sells reminate pieces of Quartz through a local stone yard. We just redid our bathroom and we were able to go to the stone yard and find the color quartz we wanted out of their reminate selections. Materials, cuts, templet, installation and sink mounting was $300 for a 48 in vanity. We got it for less than 1/3 of the original price.