We moved into our 1970s ranch three months ago. It was clear, as our home inspector described, that it had some “deferred maintenance.” Our master bathroom, while tiny, had many maintenance issues. We still cannot use the shower in this room, that’ll be a story for a future post.
Addressing these projects have given me a lot of content for future posts about affordable updates that have a big impact.
For only $50, we dramatically transformed our bathroom – my proudest DIY project so far!
After living with a dingy master bathroom floor, we were able to dramatically transform the room on the cheap!
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During our first tour of the house, I was convinced that by replacing 100% of the flooring, we could make this house magnificent. I stand by this declaration, despite those fleeting moments where I feel completely overwhelmed by the to-do list.
Like most new homeowners, between coming up with the down payment and the higher priority projects, we haven’t had room in our budget to the update flooring – yet.
All of the rooms are in need of a flooring upgrade since they appear to be at least 30-40 years old. One room that I found most desperately needing a flooring renovation was our tiny master bathroom.
I imagine at one time this sheet vinyl was white with light blue flowers. But after decades of use and fading from the sun it was horribly yellowed. Despite hours of scrubbing on my hands and knees with different products and DIY solutions, it was clear the yellow discoloration was here to stay.
Drab and Dingy Looking Bathroom Floor – Yuck!
To me, this room always felt dirty and dingy, even though I knew it was cleaner than any other room in our house.
So I started reading up on different types of easy to install and affordable flooring options to consider as an interim option until we can save up for, what I call, “the good stuff.” In this case, the good stuff would be real stone or tile.
After doing some research online, and talking with a few friends and family members who have also been updating older homes, we settled on peel and stick vinyl tiles. My sister-in-law said they did the same “short term” flooring solution to cover dated flooring years ago without any problems. I was sold!
The Bathroom Flooring
While there are many peel and stick options on the market, I made up my mind that I wanted a plank style in a neutral white/gray tone. It proved challenging to find a plank style in a color and pattern that I liked.
When I finally found a product at Lowe’s that met the look I was going for, we checked it out in person. And, surprisingly, found it to be thicker and more resilient than we imagined.
So we purchased a box then and there, with only a rough estimate of our bathroom size done by counting out feet literally using my husband’s feet. This was a lesson learned – always measure a room before you go shopping for new flooring. The box came with 36 tiles and we only ended up using 17 planks. We will use the 19 left over tiles for another project.
Another blogger, Brook with Re-Fabbed used the exact type of vinyl flooring we have (but in a different color) for a kitchen backsplash. I’m holding onto our leftovers with similar intentions.
The Heating Vent Cover
This was a detail that I overlooked but my husband noticed right away. There actually had been a heating vent cover, that was white with many rust spots. After the flooring was in, we measured the old cover and went out and bought a new one. Another small and inexpensive update that can make a big difference in terms of how freshly updated a room feels. Throw in a new bath mat, and we had a crisp looking master bathroom. It evens feels bigger than before.
We completely transformed our bathroom for under $50!
Here’s project budget details:
-
Photo: Nanu Home Luxury Vinyl Planks (Lowe’s) = $1.28 per plank x 17 planks = $21.76
- Baseboard Vent Cover (also Lowe’s) = $16.48
- White Caulk (left over from a different project) = $0
- Bath Mat (TJ Maxx) = $7.99
Total: $46.23 (plus tax)
The Bath Mat
I couldn’t find our exact bath mat, but here are a few similar options I found online.
As for the actual installation of the flooring, the lovely herringbone pattern shown on Lowe’s website didn’t seem to make sense with our tiny amount of visible floor space, so we went with a staggered pattern. Due to the size of the room, only one of us could work on it and my husband took on the task. I really only helped take off the door and advised on staggering.
Tools
Our tool situation is a complete disaster. We have not fully unpacked them let alone organize them. In addition to a sharp utility knife, we needed a metal square to cut the planks to size. However, we could not find ours. What we did find was my Quilt Square
The Installation
To do the installation, we cleaned the existing floor really well and let it dry completely. We weren’t sure how well the planks would stick. If need be, we could go back to the store and buy a flooring adhesive product. Fortunately, they stuck down just fine over the old vinyl floor. We chose to install the flooring without grout to get it done quickly.
However, we did come back and caulk along the gap where the planks met the baseboard. We used a waterproof bathroom caulk that worked splendidly.
I cannot believe how easy and quick this flooring update went. As you can see from the after picture, our bathroom seems so much cleaner and brighter. Seeing how much of a change switching out flooring can have makes me excited for future room upgrades. Look out ratty pink carpet, we’ve got our eye on you!
Older Homes
Like anyone who has ever fallen in love with an older home will find, they need some TLC. We have found that our 1970s ranch has more character and space than the newer homes in our price range. Yet the to-do list can get overwhelming. While it has good bones, there are many projects we’ve completed and still have many more we need to work on.
On Pinterest and blogs, I’ve found so many awesome projects and ideas. Their stories not only inspire me to keep working on our house, but have inspired me to start this blog to share our journey with making our house a home.