How We’re Finishing an Entire Bathroom for Under $1500

We’re about to get another bathroom. I’m surprisingly excited.

If you’re keeping count, that makes bathroom #5 in our home. Gag, I know. Believe me, I never wanted to live in a home with five toilets to scrub. (And I vow to never live in another home with so many bathrooms).

So why in the world are we making another one? And why am I so excited?

Well, we’ve made a big decision. We plan to sell our house in 2017 (to move to one with less bathrooms…and less square footage overall).

To get this house ready to sell, our realtor highly suggested finishing the bathroom in the basement. The rest of the space is finished and the bathroom is roughed in. She said the finished bathroom will make the basement “fully functional,” especially since there’s a bedroom down there.

I’m excited because I’ve never designed a bathroom before. I never done anything design-wise in a bathroom other than painting the walls.

So although I didn’t want another bathroom, I did want to try my hand at designing one.

Now, because we are selling the house, we need to keep this bathroom reno budget-friendly and buyer-appealing (in other words, neutral).

Our realtor estimates we will get about $4,000 return on investment for this extra bathroom. So my goal is to spend less than that, so we get all our money back plus some.

To make sure this bathroom appeals to a variety of buyers, I can’t go too crazy with my design choices. We need to keep it neutral…but don’t worry, it’s not going to be beige or boring.

Here’s what I’m planning…

Clean, simple, sophisticated. Under $1500.

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1. Windsor Park Vanity – You know I love the look of painted furniture, so when faced with a bunch of boring wood vanities with plain white tops, I jumped at the chance to bring home this gray beauty. The top is a solid surface designed to mimic marble. The best part is this stylish lady with the vanity top and matching mirror was only $259! That’s a whole lot of style for a bathroom at a teeny-tiny price. When I saw this was the last one in stock at my local Home Depot, I didn’t waste a minute finding help to load it on a cart and get it in my car. Thankfully I have a minivan and can bring home vanities on a whim. (I did drive around with it in my car for a week until we found time to unload it.) Bonus: It’s fully assembled and backless, so it slides right into place. You can still order it online at that unbelievable price.
2. Brushed Nickel Faucet – Because all the doors in our basement have brushed nickel hinges and hardware, I decided to keep it simple and use brushed nickel for all the bathroom hardware too. This faucet comes in at under $80!
3. Vanity Light – So much style for less than $60. This is probably he weirdest thing I’ve ever ordered on Amazon. Yes, you can order lighting on Amazon and get free shipping with Prime. I got this light the next day and love it so much more than any of the lights I saw at the home improvement store.
4. Shower Curtains – When we had this bathroom roughed in, we opted for just a shower pan instead of a full shower enclosure. I hate cleaning glass shower doors about as much as toilets. Plus, I prefer the look of shower curtains to add some much needed softness and pattern to a bathroom. For this shower I’m planning to use an extended length shower curtain liner on a double-rod with a pair of these Scribble Curtain Panels. I thought $69 for the curtain panels was a bit pricey until I started looking at the poor selection and high price of extra long shower curtains. These are going to look so much better (and they can move with us and be used as curtains in our future home).
5. Shower Head and Valve – I looked high and low and these just don’t come cheap in brushed nickel. This one is $149, but I love the style.
6. Shower Tile –  To keep it simple and inexpensive, I chose classic white subway tile for the shower walls. Everyone likes subway tile.
7. Dual-Flush One-Piece Toilet – I’m oddly excited about our toilet choice. First, I quickly decided I loved the clean look of the dual flush toilets that have the buttons on top of the tank instead of a handle. Besides good looks they’re water saving too. (Okay, this toilet might see some action before we move…we have to try it out, right?!) Second, I chose this particular toilet because I like the one-piece design. It looks more streamlined and will be easier to clean. This toilet is a bit pricier than builder-grade, but at $169 I think it’s still a good deal.
8. 2’x3′ Overdyed Rug – Although we will probably never use this bathroom, I will need to style it to sell. I am so excited that vintage overdyed rugs have become trendy enough to warrant knock-offs. This one from Target is soooo good. During a sale I got this 2×3 size for $20. This one will go in front of the vanity and I’ll put a smaller neutral bathroom rug outside the shower. But this rug is what you’ll see when you walk into the bathroom. (If you like this rug, it comes in a runner and a larger 5’x7′ size too.)
9. Silver Strand Floor Tile – This is another place where I didn’t want to choose something too plain or beige. I was happy to find these large 12×24″ ceramic tiles that have a sleek, modern look. They have a grid-like pattern on them that looks like linen. The best part: $1.68 per sq. ft.
10. Towel Bar Set – Once I found the shower head I wanted, I looked up the matching towel bar set…keeping it simple. I would have preferred to use the matching faucet on the vanity too, but at double the price, I decided it was okay if they weren’t a perfect match. They are the same metal finish.
11. Sky Pebbles Art – Have you seen the art prints at Minted? I love their collection. This piece has the perfect colors and relaxing vibe for this bathroom. This print in 24″x24″ size is $89 and framing would be another $110+, so I might DIY a frame or mount the print on wood to keep costs down.
12. Bamboo Spa Bench – When we originally planned out this bathroom, we told our contractor to leave out the tub and just do a shower. I’m so glad we did, because this bathroom feels very spacious now. With all the extra floor space outside the shower we have room to add a small spa bench in my favorite bamboo. This bench

As of yesterday, the vanity is sitting in the bathroom and looks amazing. We already have the vanity light as well. Late last week I brought home samples of the tiles and I’m waiting to hear from the installer on scheduling. My goal is to have this bathroom complete by the end of March. I’ll be back then with a full reveal.

So what do you think? I was a little nervous to share my first bathroom design, but given the tight budget, I’m ecstatic about how this turned out. What’s your favorite element?