Young House Love

Home Decorating, DIY Tutorials, & Shenanigans

  • Shop Our House
  • Our Previous Homes
    • Our Richmond House
    • Our Beach House
    • Our Duplex
  • Before & Afters
    • Our Current House
    • Our Previous House
    • Our Beach House
    • Our Duplex
    • Our First House
    • Our Second House
    • Our Showhouse
  • DIY & Decorating Tips
    • Most Popular
    • Home Improvement
    • Painting
    • Cleaning & Organizing
    • Crafting & Art
    • More . . .
  • Podcast
    • Getting Started
    • Show Notes
  • Shop
    • Our Fav Home Finds
    • Our Lighting Line
    • Our Books
    • Book Club Picks
    • Black-Owned Businesses

Young House Love » Reader Redesigns » Reader Redesign: $1K Goes A Long Way

| By John Petersik | June 28, 2012 | 117 Comments

Reader Redesign: $1K Goes A Long Way

Now that we’re back home (and back in the swing of things), let’s start this off with a deck sneak peek. Oh yes, more holes are happening. So rest assured that we’re working towards a passed inspection (remember when we failed here?) and we hope to have an update on that early next week. So be sure to hold your breath for us!

Approved 6 Auger Going In

But back to our Reader Redesign. Despite this email starting off with a cheer to my alma mater’s rival, I couldn’t help but share this awesome bathroom makeover with an even more awesome price tag. Plus, although we may not agree on college teams, we can definitely relate to a bathroom that feels less than welcoming and functional. Here’s Melissa’s note:

What’s up John, Sherry, Clara, and Burger? We are just down the road from you in Blacksburg (go Hokies!) and wanted to share our main bathroom reno with you. We have five kids and squeeze home projects in whenever we can. When we bought the house, the only thing we weren’t crazy about was the size of the bedroom and attached bath, but we loved everything else, so we took the plunge. The “Before” (90’s linoleum lighthouse/sailboat honey oak themed bath) did not feel updated at all…

Melissa Before

We didn’t want to pay for a big addition or re-model, so we worked with what we had and gave ourselves an $1,000 budget for new floors, a new marble counter, fixtures, lighting, shelving, accessories, etc.

Melissa After

Down came the oak cabinet above the toilet to open things up a bit and we installed floating shelves and baskets to hide all of our stuff. We removed the mirror and replaced it with a clearance one from Lowe’s. A wire magazine rack from TJ Maxx was added to balance the off-set toilet. We kept the vanity and painted it with Benjamin Moore’s Impervo Paint in White Dove, but installed a new marble top and faucet from Home Depot.

Melissa After Mirror

We went right over the lineoleum with allure laminate flooring from Home Depot – it’s water resistant and we’ve loved it in our downstairs bath (it’s really easy to install yourself).

Melissa After Floor

The shower curtain is just a basic waffle weave shower curtain from Target – like the one in your bath! The paint color is Fossil Grey from Glidden’s old colors. Total spent: $995 for everything… towels, toilet paper holder, garbage can, the whole shebang.

Melissa Towels

Thanks for looking/reading! If you’re ever in town and want to go to a game, we would love to have Clara come play! – Thanks, Melissa

Didn’t Melissa do an amazing job? It’s awesome to squeeze in new floors, counters, accessories, paint, and shelving for under 1K – and we love that she worked with what she had when she could (like repainting and retopping the vanity). It looks like they added at least 5K of value to their house with that update and most people wouldn’t believe it wasn’t a total gut job. You can see more of their makeovers on Melissa’s blog too. What’s your favorite part? Sherry’s obsessed with the mirror and those floating shelves and I think that new flooring and marble top is the icing on the cake, er, vanity.

Psst- We picked a winner for this week’s giveaway, so click here to see if it’s you.

More posts from Young House Love

Filed Under: Reader Redesigns

Three Festive Fourth Of July Table Settings
Father’s Day, Animal Friends, & Cheesy Grins

Comments

  1. Avatar for JessicaJessica says

    June 28, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    Those…towels!…*faints*

    Reply
  2. Avatar for vicky svicky s says

    June 28, 2012 at 8:07 pm

    BEAUTIFUL!!!

    Reply
  3. Avatar for Jenn LeighJenn Leigh says

    June 28, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    I total feel like I missed out on Haven. Here’s to hoping there will be another next year!

    On another note – is it wrong that I would like to go visit a bathroom. Not like, I got the gotta go’s, more like I want to sit on the floor and bask in its greatness!

    Thanks for the inspiriation…that paint color may be appearing in my house :)

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 28, 2012 at 8:44 pm

      Haha, no way! There are at least a dozen bathrooms that I’d love to just sit in and hang out! Haha.

      xo,
      s

  4. Avatar for AmandaAmanda says

    June 28, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    I LOVE the floating shelves and the grey color scheme! I also really like the chevron patterns! They are so cute and trendy! It definitely looks like a whole bathroom re-haul!

    Reply
  5. Avatar for JennJenn says

    June 28, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    Love this bathroom. We have a small 90s style master bath that we want to work on updating in our home (along with about twenty other projects we want to work on!), and this gives me some great ideas. May have to check out the laminate flooring and floating shelves. Love!

    Reply
  6. Avatar for ValerieValerie says

    June 28, 2012 at 9:33 pm

    The bathroom redo is fabulous! I just had to chime in with a warning to the homeowners who did it – DON’T WASH THE SHOWER CURTAIN. lol I had the same one and assumed it was washable. It basically turned into wash cloth after a spin through the washer. I checked the tag after that and it was dry clean only. I was so upset! Ah, well. :D

    Reply
    • Avatar for melissa*320 sycamoremelissa*320 sycamore says

      June 28, 2012 at 11:59 pm

      We were warned about that by our readers, so I just washed it and then hung it back up to dry, and it was fine. Maybe they have improved it?? Thanks for the heads up!

  7. Avatar for ThreshaThresha says

    June 28, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    Can’t believe that is the same bathroom….it looks great! My favorite parts are the the wood flooring and the white shelves.

    Reply
  8. Avatar for mpmp says

    June 28, 2012 at 10:21 pm

    First and most important, the correct alma mater teams are the VCU Rams and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks! (I’m not putting those together in a cheer, though.)

    I’m swooning over the wire magazine rack! I’m the East Coast’s biggest magazine subscriber and really need to get mine off a dusty side table I shoved in my master bath. Well done, Melissa!

    Reply
  9. Avatar for KarlyKarly says

    June 28, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    LOVE the bathroom re-do! I was at the TJ Maxx in Christiansburg yesterday and LOVED all the different black wire baskets! I totally love the way they were used for magazines!

    Reply
  10. Avatar for Amy @ PaintWineRepeatAmy @ PaintWineRepeat says

    June 28, 2012 at 11:24 pm

    Good luck with the ongoing deck! I love the mirror and the open shelving, really brightens and opens the space up! :)

    Reply
  11. Avatar for mrs.iHB @ iheartbudgets.netmrs.iHB @ iheartbudgets.net says

    June 29, 2012 at 2:10 am

    Love this bathroom! Great inspiration for our severely out-dated bathrooms and on a BUDGET! My favorite part is the open shelves and that mirror….oh and the magazine rack…lol :)

    Reply
  12. Avatar for ShelleyShelley says

    June 29, 2012 at 2:17 am

    Looking good!

    Reply
  13. Avatar for Jessica @ Mobile Toilet HireJessica @ Mobile Toilet Hire says

    June 29, 2012 at 3:11 am

    The designing is appealing. I’m really interested on the allure laminate flooring and I was looking for a water resistant and something easy to install, this was a great assistance.

    Reply
  14. Avatar for how2homehow2home says

    June 29, 2012 at 9:00 am

    Excited to see more from you deck! It’s going to be exciting!

    $1000 to redo the master bathroom is not bad at all. You guys did a fantastic job! Great post!

    Reply
  15. Avatar for LindseyLindsey says

    June 29, 2012 at 9:23 am

    It looks like you have a lot of Hokie support on here- myself included. I don’t know John, maybe you should trade in some Hoo fashion for some Hokie gear? Just a thought ;-)
    I tell you, I’m really getting on this floating shelf bandwagon. First kitchens, now bathrooms, so light and airy… love!

    Reply
  16. Avatar for CharityCharity says

    June 29, 2012 at 9:53 am

    Looks great! Love it. How DO you remove those builder grade bathroom mirrors? Do you have to have a professional do it? Let’s just say I may have begun the process and realized I had no idea what I was doing….

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 29, 2012 at 10:24 am

      Here’s hoping Melissa drops in with that info! I remember seeing some mirror-removal pics on her blog. Looked like a lot of work!

      xo,
      s

    • Avatar for melissa*320 sycamoremelissa*320 sycamore says

      June 29, 2012 at 2:40 pm

      NO! Don’t do it :)Well, maybe if you get a pro. We read this article saying it wasn’t hard, but it was a pain and ripped off big chunks of drywall that we had to repair. Most of it is covered by the mirror now, but we wouldn’t recommend it again if it is glued to the wall. More here: http://www.320sycamoreblog.com/2012/03/winners-more-master-bath-questions.html

    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 29, 2012 at 2:42 pm

      Great advice Melissa!

      xo,
      s

  17. Avatar for Jenelle Ricci @ Del Mar DesignsJenelle Ricci @ Del Mar Designs says

    June 29, 2012 at 9:54 am

    Love the redo! The bathroom actually looks a little bigger now that everything is cleaned up with a lighter color palette. Love the flooring!

    Reply
  18. Avatar for Plein JanePlein Jane says

    June 29, 2012 at 10:30 am

    Melissa, did you replace the sink as well as the counter? I love that rectangular sink! Our bathroom sinks are that early-’90s “shell” shape — gah!! They make the rooms look so dated, no matter what I do to the rest of the space. Great job!

    Reply
    • Avatar for melissa*320 sycamoremelissa*320 sycamore says

      June 29, 2012 at 2:49 pm

      Hi Jane~the sink came attached to the counter. You can see all the details & prices here: http://www.320sycamoreblog.com/2012/02/master-bathroom-details-pricing.html
      Ohhhh, we had the shell shapes in our last home in Texas! The memories of ripping those out. And we wondered why no one wanted them on freecycle?? Good luck!

  19. Avatar for Barb AdamsBarb Adams says

    June 29, 2012 at 10:37 am

    Where did they find those great floating shelves? Wonderful job on the reno.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 29, 2012 at 10:38 am

      Here’s hoping Melissa will drop in with that info for ya!

      xo
      s

    • Avatar for melissa*320 sycamoremelissa*320 sycamore says

      June 29, 2012 at 2:41 pm

      Home Depot! More here: http://www.320sycamoreblog.com/2012/03/winners-more-master-bath-questions.html

  20. Avatar for Katie SusskyKatie Sussky says

    June 29, 2012 at 10:41 am

    Where did they get the mirror???

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 29, 2012 at 10:44 am

      It was on clearance at Lowe’s.

      xo,
      s

    • Avatar for melissa*320 sycamoremelissa*320 sycamore says

      June 29, 2012 at 2:45 pm

      Sherry is right! It was an Allen + Roth mirror on Lowes clearance, wish they still had them. They have a black quatrefoil style that I love: http://www.lowes.com/pd_304390-13535-LMCLH22ES_4294856763__?productId=3093977&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

  21. Avatar for EveEve says

    June 29, 2012 at 10:55 am

    Love the whole room, especially the laminate floors! I’ll have to check out something similar for our bathroom when we go for the mini revamp of our bathroom. The mirror is great too!

    Reply
  22. Avatar for StacyStacy says

    June 29, 2012 at 11:20 am

    Love the redesign & the HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  23. Avatar for BeckyBecky says

    June 29, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    LOVE the his and her towel hooks. Okay, and the the his & her magazine rack ;)

    Reply
  24. Avatar for OysterWhiteOysterWhite says

    June 29, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    Just a tidbit on the bicycle fetish…go to urban octopus.com, you both will love it!!!
    Cheers!
    Melissa in SC

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 29, 2012 at 12:31 pm

      Off to check it out…

      xo,
      s

  25. Avatar for AnitaAnita says

    June 29, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    A little unrelated to the redesign, but since you mentioned your alma mater… John, a couple of days ago I was looking through my facebook feed and saw a pic of a guy I went to hs with taken at UVA graduation in front of the chapel. I thought the guy standing next to him looked familiar and it turned out to be you! Such a small world!

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 29, 2012 at 5:39 pm

      No way! Who’s the guy who went to high school with? Alex or Stan? Either way, both were my roommates for the last two years of college (we were in the same fraternity together).

      -John

  26. Avatar for AnitaAnita says

    June 29, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Too cool, yep, it was Alex. I actually went back to cville for my 30th bday a couple of weeks ago and am happy to report that Little John’s is still just as delicious. Have a great weekend, guys!

    Reply
  27. Avatar for AmandaAmanda says

    June 30, 2012 at 12:31 am

    I love the laminate flooring, I have been looking at the allure product line, but can’t figure out what color you used. Would you PLEASE let me know!!?? Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 30, 2012 at 7:53 am

      Here’s hoping she drops in with that (you can also click over to her blog and ask there, which might be faster). Good luck!

      xo,
      s

    • Avatar for melissa*320 sycamoremelissa*320 sycamore says

      June 30, 2012 at 10:12 pm

      Hi Amanda~
      we used the allure flooring from HD in pacific pine. Much more here: http://www.320sycamoreblog.com/2012/02/master-bathroom-follow-up-questions.html

  28. Avatar for Joanna whiteJoanna white says

    July 2, 2012 at 9:20 am

    Nice!! I have been wondering about the use of wood-look laminate in a bathroom. It looks amazing. Modern, clean, warm and timeless. I also like the idea of floating shelves with baskets to open things up. Gorgeous!

    Reply
  29. Avatar for Ashley @ sunnysideshlee.comAshley @ sunnysideshlee.com says

    July 2, 2012 at 9:54 am

    I love that redesign! Although it’s laminate flooring, it looks great and really makes the bathroom much “warmer” in feel than the outdated previous version! And way to stay under budget!

    Reply
  30. Avatar for SammiSammi says

    July 2, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    What is the name of the color of the allure laminate wood floor you used?

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      July 2, 2012 at 1:11 pm

      If you scroll back in the comments she dropped in with that info. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  31. Avatar for Paula M.Paula M. says

    July 4, 2012 at 4:02 am

    Wow! Fantastic makeover, especially at such a low price!!

    Great job!

    I love everything about it – the color choices, the layout, the little touches.

    Love the vanity top (I’m partial to the square or rectangular style sink openings these days), and the open-shelving is an attractive, clever idea — though maybe not for earthquake country, where I live. Years ago, one of those little Clinique flip-style pocket mirrors fell into my apartment’s open toilet — a clean, flushed toilet, don’t worry, LOL! -but neither I nor a plumber could get the mirror free or break it up, since it was in a hinged, hard-plastic case; the landlord actually had to get the toilet ripped out and another one installed. Eeeeek.

    Reply
  32. Avatar for Paula M.Paula M. says

    July 4, 2012 at 4:03 am

    P.S. I also love that flooring! From the photos, you’d never know it was laminate. What great choices!

    Reply
  33. Avatar for Erin @ The Great IndoorsErin @ The Great Indoors says

    July 6, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    Haha– this is actually one of the bathrooms I used for inspiration in my guest bathroom rehaul! I think I just found the image on Pinterest and didn’t connect with the blog itself. I’ll have to hop over to Mellisa’s blog and thank her!

    Erin

    Reply
  34. Avatar for NicoleNicole says

    August 16, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    Love the shelves! Thank you so much for the inspiration… I’ll be using a few of your great ideas.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John and Sherry smiling against pink backgroundHey, we’re John & Sherry. We’ve fixed up 7 homes, written books, designed products, started a podcast, and then downsized & moved to the beach! Here you’ll find over 3,000 DIY projects & home updates. More about us…
*This site contains ads and affiliate links*
See our disclaimer & privacy policy to learn more

Latest Finds

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

SHOP OUR LIGHTING

Young House Love Shades Of Light Capiz Chandelier

GET POSTS BY EMAIL

We’re Digging

Traditional Rug
The “Magic” Rug
Smokeless Solo Stove Firepit
Smokeless Firepit
Woven Storage Ottoman
Storage Ottoman
Subtle Pink Rug
Our Bedroom Rug
Blue Air 211 Air Purifier
Our Air Purifiers
Faux Potted Olive Tree
Faux Olive Tree
Kohler Memoirs Toilet
Our Favorite Toilet
Soft Striped Rug
Soft Striped Rug
SEE MORE OF OUR FAVORITE FINDS > >

  • About
  • FAQs
  • Press
  • Contact
  • :)

© 2023 Young House Love ® · Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · A Fun Wordpress theme on Genesis Framework · Hosted by Liquid Web