Remodeling your bathroom

You want to remodel your bathroom, but you don’t want to break your budget. Which is easy to do with any home renovation project. It’s easy to spend $25-thousand dollars on a bathroom renovation, and sometimes you only need to spend about $250 dollars. Before you even begin to remodel, you need to make a list of what needs renovating and what can wait. Think about which elements in your bathroom you most want to change and start on those first.

Unless you’re DIY-ing your renovation, you’ll use a general contractor or contract out the work yourself. The latter requires some know how, since you’ll need permits, oversee the work and more. To save money, you might consider doing the demolition yourself.

Either way, hiring someone to do the work will cost a decent amount of money. Keep in mind when laying out your bathroom plan that moving lights, plumbing or putting in a window will cost more than sticking with the bathroom’s original layout. It doesn’t mean you can’t vary some areas, but pick and choose to avoid sticker shock.

One of the major costs in a remodel is moving fixtures, such as the toilet, sink and tub. If you can keep the same floor plan that you have now, you’ll spend less on plumbing. Then there’s the cost of the fixtures themselves. If you must have that luxurious glass vessel sink, then pick a standard white no-frills toilet.

Tile is another major expense, not only the tile itself but the labor involved in installing it. You can limit the tile to the floor and the tub surround with a drop-in shower stall. If you're lusting after an iridescent glass tile mosaic, consider using the expensive tiles as accents in a field of more pedestrian porcelain ones.

Decide if you want to spend your money on a total-body shower wall or a completely tiled shower. Instead of running tile up the wall, think about beadboard wainscoting for a period look or a cool paint color if your design is more modern.

In a kitchen, solid surface or stone countertops might take up a quite a bit of your budget because of sheer square footage. In the bathroom, you can get away with granite or even marble, if you're smart about it.

A single-sink vanity won't take a lot of stone. If you want two, then pedestal sinks and a refinished side cabinet or bedside table with a remnant of granite or marble on the top will save you money, give you storage, and have you in step with today's trend of furniture cabinetry versus built-in.

If you are interested in adding natural stone to your home, office or retail space, contact us at GMS Werks and we would love to help you create the space you’ve always dreamed of!