Picardy Project

building shit & raising girls

The Bathroom was Just a LITTLE Expensive

I am slightly embarrassed to say how much this bathroom cost because it is a pretty fucking penny. But, I’m all about keeping things completely honest, so let’s get started (and remember, I always round things to the nearest $5)

There were many necessities that we couldn’t avoid or skimp on
These necessary items include things like: $380 on framing, plywood, wonderboard and drywall, our casement window: $330 (we needed to make it egress by code because we have no window in our bedroom thanks to the idiot who “renovated” it before us), new electrical: $140, all new plumbing (which includes the mud job): $370. Phew. 
Next up were the other necessary items we needed but picked out which ones we liked best
The medicine cabinet cost us $120 (including the cabinet, new hardware and new hinges), our shower fan was $160 (yes, a lot, but we wanted to make sure it was quiet because this bathroom is right off of our bedroom and sucked really good), the pocket door was $270 (that includes our salvage door, the frame and all the necessary hardware), our shower faucet and valve were $230, paint was $45 and our toilet was $140. 
There was lots that needed to be purchased in order to tile
We spent $80 on waterproofing materials and $295 on thinset, grout, cement and sand. The tile is a bit ridiculous. Our floor tile was expensive, which balances out the cheap wall tile. At least that’s what I tell myself because looking at how much we spend on our floor tile makes me want to barf a little. The shower floor tile was $190, the main floor tile was $500 (yes, go ahead, barf) and the wall tile was $265 (phew). We spent $80 on our tile quarter round and $50 on our wood tile trim. 
The cubbie…
…was $70
The glass enclosure…
…was $1825
And lastly, all the other organizing and finishing items
Our toilet paper holder was $10, 2 sets of towels were $65, the tension pole storage was $20, other organizing items were $15 and our rug was $10.
Also, I always add $300 to our project tab for things I know I forget (romex, outlet covers, and all that other fun stuff).
And of course, we probably saved $800+ by having our sink, faucet, and shower hook gifted to us by American Standard/Porcher (and we still have 2 towel bars and a toilet paper holder we didn’t use) . We would not have spent this much on those items had we paid for them ourselves, but those were the items they generously decided to gift us after all of the problems we had with their sink in our main bathroom.
Holy crap, let’s total it all up
General services (framing materials, drywall, etc.): $1220
Fun services (medicine cabinet, pocket door, etc.): $965
Tiling madness: $1460
Cubbie: $70
Glass enclosure: $1825
Organizing and finishes: $120
Miscellaneous: $300
Grand Total: $5,960
Ugh. Now, bathrooms are generally the most expensive room per square foot in the house, but this room clocks in at our second most expensive (second only to our kitchen and possibly our main bathroom, though I wasn’t as good at keeping track of specific room budgets back then). And seriously, that price makes me take a really deep breath. I absolutely love this room and am so happy with the way everything turned out, but we did pay a lot to get what we wanted. I don’t even want to think about what it would have cost if we hadn’t done nearly everything ourselves. That price would probably make me keel over and die. 

Comments

  1. Basically you got a gorgeous customized bathroom built to your specifications for a STEAL. I got a crappy bathfitter tub and wainscotting for the same price 🙁 PERSPECTIVE!!!!

  3. If you'd hired this out you would've paid $30K and it wouldn't look as nice. The finished product looks SO expensive. I'm totally impressed that that's all you spent.

  4. We remodeling our bathroom ourselves. If it turns out half as good as yours while not being twice as expensive I will die. This is amazing!!!!

  5. Bathroom looks awesome! I would have loved to see what a contractor would have charged because it probably would have made you feel a lot better about it. We have a 5ft by 8ft bathroom that we spent about $4K and we didn't even move any walls or plumbing. It's amazing how quick it adds up.

  6. Thanks you wonderful readers! I'm so happy to hear that you think this is a good price, I was seriously feeling a little bad/ashamed having spent so much. Thank you for your reality check 🙂

  7. We did the same thing — I almost fainted when I added it up, too – and came up with about the same total for our bathroom makeover. It's the glass that did us in, too — we paid 1800 for our shower glass — without that part, it was closer to 3000, which is not bad at all for a bathroom remodel. I wish we could have installed that ourselves, but it's the one thing we figured we should hire a professional for – I think the learning curve on that one would be too expensive!

  11. Hi, Meryl! It looks lovely. As a longtime professional cleaner and housekeeper to mansions, I can tell you your bathroom measures up!
    May I recommend, if you haven't already done it, I urge you to apply Rain-X to both sides of the shower glass. No matter what the installer says they put there already, Rain-X will not affect any coating they used, simply it would add a tiny bit of more protection. The material goes on in approximately ONE MOLECULE depth/thickness, and lasts a good while. Glass has surprisingly a lot of texture on the microscopic level, and the coating fills in those and repels water, soap, and anything that lands on it. Cleaning is then as simple as a quick spritz with a diluted Citra-Solv and wipe away, either with a squeegie or cleaning rag. The stuff is highly alcoholic based, so have hubby do it, and use that nifty exhaust fan, so you and your little Cashew won't be flying high. Best wishes, Pat in New Hampshire