See the final new bathroom renovation reveal

We made it! The bathroom renovation is finished and everything is functioning. Only a month and a bit later than planned too (kill me now). Of course, there is still a little list of defects that need fixing before we sign off, but for all intents and purposes, this reno is done. Come with me as I condense the rollercoaster ride of two months into a single post.

The inspiration for the bathroom renovation

If you would a refresher on the whole design process, I wrote about that in designing a budget bathroom. The idea was a bright, clean, calm feeling, with plenty of space to move around and lots of storage. Along the way, I had to give up a few decorative ideas, including:

• brass tapware
• wallpaper
• wall sconces
• metal-framed shaving cabinet mirrors

That said, I think we managed to land on some good compromises that were functional, pretty and (importantly) within budget.

Before vs After

Look at all that space! Despite the ups and downs, I am really very happy with how the bathroom has turned out. Where before we were squeezing in and around things, now we can move easily about the space without feeling crowded. What was once a strange mix of grey, blue and brown is now fresh, bright and cohesive. Instead of peeling laminate storage, we now have this chic and capacious vanity and cabinet.

I love the extra functionality and I am really enjoying the ability to have a hot shower again! It’s also really nice to have your mirror over the vanity and sink again. I love the handles on the vanity so much. Would you believe they’re just from Bunnings?

One thing I feel a tiny bit iffy about is our tile choices. I love the marble look and the Federation-style floor tiles. But I’m still not sure how I feel about them together, especially with the darker grout. We went darker to make cleaning easier, but it does make a bigger feature of the walls. Given the floor is also a feature, there are times when I wonder ‘is it too much?’

But at other times, I love the complexity of the patterns, which gives it so much more life than plain tiles. Perhaps, if I was to do it again, I would choose plain white wall tiles with white grout. That would certainly allow the floor to sing more. But then again, I think that could end up feeling a bit cold and clinical. And keeping white grout clean is the actual worst.

So yes, a bit torn on that one.

What I wish I knew before starting a bathroom renovation

So many things! I read a lot online and asked a few people who had undertaken a reno for their advice. But I still felt completely at sea for a lot of this process. While this didn’t lead to any catastrophic issues, there was a snowball of inconveniences that made the process more stressful than it needed to be, as well as ending up with a few little things that I regret.

• Research every individual element of your bathroom before you get in touch with a contractor. By this I mean, decided on the type of bath you want, figure out what reach your faucets/spouts will need, understand your lighting plan etc. Obviously, you will need input from the professionals about what will work. But we found we were looking into things on the fly, as we didn’t realise we would need that information.
• Ask to see an example of everything your contractor will supply. Two examples of this for us were the window and the shower screen. We discussed the window and shower screen with the contractor, and thought we were on the same page. We wanted a single window, with no ability to open, as we didn’t need that function in the bathroom. We also wanted hinged shower screen, but one that would keep water in. However, the contractor supplied a window that could open (in cream, not white as discussed) and the gap between the hinges on the shower screen we have leak like billyos. If we had asked for examples of what they thought we meant, we could have nipped that in the bud. Neither of these things is a catastrophic issue for us, but that’s more by luck than anything else!
• Be pushy and trust your gut. This is our biggest regret. The bath was put in the opposite way to what we wanted, with the plug on the far end from the taps, instead of directly underneath. This means, when you stand to have a shower, the sloped end of the bath is in your way, forcing you to stand further out than is ideal. We only discovered this after they’d fully roughed in the bath on day three. I asked them a few times about it, trying to see if they would turn it around for me. They told me various things like ‘the plumber said this is the only way’ and ‘this is how all shower-baths are done’. I wasn’t 100% convinced, but was worried about cost increases or damaging the relationship by asking them to rip it out and put it in how I wanted. In hindsight, my gut feeling was right and I should have pushed for it to be changed for better shower comfort. Again, this isn’t a huge deal, but it is just that level of irritation which is a real downer when you’ve paid big bucks for a brand new set up.

So how did our budget hold up in this bathroom renovation?

Not too bad, actually.

We started out with our ‘ideal budget’, which was based off some online researching and chats with those who had done a renovation about five years prior.

We then re-calibrated significantly in the face of inflation, post-covid supply issues and the quotes we were getting from contractors. In the end, we added 60% on top of our ideal budget.

Based on the new budget, we worked hard to source the supplies and find a contractor and bathroom design that would get us at (or under) that top line. In the end, we will be approximately $3,500 under the top of our recalibrated budget. I’ve still got a few things to return that we didn’t end up needing, so we might hit a full $4,000 saved which would be nice.

Considering that this will be our bathroom for (hopefully) 30+ years, there aren’t many things I would change about the way we allocated money. You could make it cheaper if you sourced things second hand, went for more basic tiles or did some things yourself. For us, it made sense to hand this one to the professionals. If the layout of your bathroom is fine, it would save you money as well, since you don’t have to pay to move plumbing around.