We Did it With DIY! Main Bathroom REVEAL

May 20, 2022

We Did it With DIY! Main Bathroom REVEAL

In Fall 2021, we announced we were joining the One Room Challenge (ORC), an 8-week DIY challenge where you renovate one space in your home. We chose our main bathroom to demolish and renovate.

8 weeks turned into 8 months, and here we are, finally done.

This was BY FAR the most difficult DIY process ever, not only because we've never done tiling or grouting before, but also because we've never done a full-room demolition and makeover.

We took this room down to NOTHING and built it back up. We only had to hire one plumber to check our shower plumbing (he fixed it up a little) and one glass company to install our shower glass door (we weren't going to try that ourselves).

Other than that, we did EVERYTHING ourselves:

New vanity - from Costco
New bathtub - from Amazon
New tile flooring
New toilet
Tiled bath/shower
Built new shower floor + niche
Painted closet and toilet room
Toilet room cabinet makeover + art
New baseboards
New mirror

Overall, we saved THOUSANDS of dollars taking the DIY approach. Plus, it's who we are! Even with a baby on the way, we managed to pull this off.

Our original quote was $12-13K, just for labor only. We spent around $6-8K total. The only downside was it taking 8 months to complete, lol.

We used Floor & Decor tiles for the shower/bath and the floors. We mixed our own grout for the shower/bath and then used pre-mixed grout for the floors, which was way easier but also more pricey.

The hardest part was just finding the time in our busy lives! Jonathan works from 5am-5pm and we had other projects and collaborations going on as well. Plus, we were going through the IVF process at the time and doing egg retrieval, transfer, and getting pregnant in November! Now I'm 30 weeks pregnant and can enjoy the whole space before the baby gets here.

One of my favorite details is from Delaney Hardware. They gave us new handles for our doors and bathroom accessories. We painted our doors black and added their handles!

We also love their gold toilet paper holder and gold robe hooks. It adds a great touch of gold in the bathroom (I originally wanted all gold/champagne faucets and everything, but it was hard to match! So we went with black Speakman faucets and Moen shower fixtures).

I don't take baths, but we've been using the shower every day and it's been amazing! We actually lost a little bit of space in the shower but it doesn't feel like it because now the tile is flat against the wall instead of dealing with a plastic shower insert like we used to have.

The sliding door entrance is another amazing touch we love. We worked with National Hardware and used their Designer sliding door kit to hang this door! We found the door at a local Phoenix auction for $100!

And of course, the bathroom wouldn't be complete without my final purchase—the Arhaus mirror! It's my biggest decor spend, but it's so worth it to me! Jonathan took a bit of convincing, but it's a piece we'll keep with us forever.

The one thing I may add in the future is a bamboo shade blind—we actually had one ready to go, until we realized it was completely see-through at night! Not great for a bathroom. We may add trim to the window and a new roller shade in the future.

Here are some things we learned while DIYing our own bathroom renovation:

1. Plan out the steps BEFORE you pick up any tools: Luckily we mapped out what sections we were going to work on first, second, third, etc. That made the flow a lot easier.

2. Be prepared to live in a MESS for a while. It was highly stressful to have a mess of a bathroom for months, but that's all in the past now.

3. Tiling is the worst. JK, but kind of. The grout sets pretty quickly, so we had to work in sections, and it's messy and not the easiest. Once we got into a groove it was better, but my arms and back were sore after tiling and helping Jonathan.

4. Ask for help! You can DIY most of a bathroom renovation, but if you're not comfortable with plumbing, lighting, etc., ask for or hire help!

Here are some more photos of our finished bathroom!