Restoring Harmony
One of my favourite tricks for giving a tired bathroom some low-budget zing is to break out the specialist paint, and gloss straight over the top of the shabby tiles, vanity, bath… but sometimes those old surfaces are simply beyond a cosmetic refresh. That’s when it’s time to gut the old bathroom and take the opportunity for a total rethink of the space.
A bathroom is often one of the smallest rooms in the house, especially in older properties, so squeezing the maximum out of the space, without making it feel poky, is always a design challenge. As this was a 1950s retro-style house, it was important that the bathroom was not uber-slick or it would look out of place. I was after a modern bathroom that retained a slight retro theme.
No risky business
Unfortunately, before I could get onto any of the creative challenges, there was some important remedial work to be done: removing the asbestos. No matter how small or large the amount, I always leave it in the hands of licensed asbestos removalists. It’s expensive, but what price do you put on your health and peace of mind?
Leveraging the layout
By removing a linen closet adjoining the bathroom, I was able to claw back floor space so the new bathroom could accommodate a larger vanity and a new toilet. The width of the bathroom leant it almost perfectly to the length of a bath, so I flipped the bath so it ran under the window. Along one wall, I now had space for the toilet and a large 900mm vanity with a mirror above.
Waterworks
The new layout inevitably required new plumbing. While it’s always recommended to avoid changing the plumping lines when you’re renovating, to save on costs, sometimes it’s absolutely worth the expense if it allows you to create a far superior look and more practical layout. That was certainly the case here. Keeping all the bathroom services along one wall kept plumbing costs to an absolute minimum.
Treasure hunt
While labour costs are nearly always the heftiest cost of any bathroom renovation (the most notoriously trade-intensive room), you can always save on fixtures and fittings by going in search of bargains yourself. Auction sites and clearance sales are often good hunting grounds, otherwise Bunnings offers a quick one-stop shop – which was the option I chose here. I was able to pick up a new bath, vanity, toilet, glass screen and all the tapware, for under $1,000.
Take it to the max
High gloss, floor to ceiling tiles will always make your ceilings look higher and the bathroom look bigger, so opt for this if you can. Tiles are cheap, and the extra labour to bring them a few notches higher is always worth the investment in my books.
Minus the work to remove the asbestos, the new bathroom cost about $7,000 all up. Given how much a contemporary, well-planned bathroom boosts the value of any property, it’s not a big investment for the end result – and it’s a layout rejig and update that could apply to many old bathrooms out there. On this sort of spend, you can always expect to double your return on investment.
ABOUT CHERIE
Cherie Barber is a TV renovator on Network TEN’s The Living Room and runs renovating for profit workshops. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATON
