In our 2020 project goal list, I mentioned that we would be renovating our guest bathroom (70% done as of today!), but had no plans to tackle anything more in our master bathroom after we did our budget refresh last fall.
But, once we started working with our contractor on the plans for our guest bathroom, we found a really wonderful product that opened up the budget to do BOTH bathrooms at one time.... for less than half our original budget.
Back when we purchased this home, I had 3 contractors provide estimates for doing a subway tile shower surround (leaving the pan) in our bathroom, and re-installing a bathtub in our guest bathroom with the same subway tile surround. The cost for both bathrooms (together) was over $5000 for the tiling alone! That didn't even account for labor, plumbing, or supplies. We decided we were fine with our shower as it is. It worked fine, it just wasn't our style.
But, while doing research for the guest bath, I found this product called the Delta Upstile system. It's an acrylic surround (like what we had) but it is in a bright white with a subway tile pattern (and even has textured grout lines!). The BEST and coolest part about this system? It has an inlay where you can lay REAL tile of your choosing! Completely 100% customizable to your style.
The Upstile system comes in a shower and tub base and praise the L O R D -- the dimensions were actually perfect for the spaces we needed. The estimate I had for tiling our shower surround with real tile in October 2018 was about $2400. This shower surround system costs $474. I'll share more about the bathtub in a separate post when it's all done, but the estimate we had for installing a tub and tiling was over $3000 for that room. This system -- tub and surround included -- was $655. So, to recap: original estimate for both rooms = $5400.00. Cost for supplies (without labor) for both bathrooms using this system = $1129. Ca-ching!
We decided to go ahead and re-do both bathrooms at the same time while we already had the contractor there. I'm so glad we did, because the results are stunning and we are loving having a master bathroom that feels completely finished.
As a refresher, this was our before from when we purchased the home:
And this is what it looks like now. We did 90% of this reno earlier this fall. You can read about that here!
I just absolutely LOVE that you can lay real tile in this system. It really is the best of both worlds. You can completely customize the look to your style, and it elevates the whole thing to look like real tile.... for a fraction of the cost. AND the maintenance! Having this acrylic surround makes it so easy to keep clean, since there are minimal grout lines to seal and maintain. I am a happy camper!
New counter tops: $650
Shower surround: $1000 with labor
Tile (back splash and shower): $320
New fixtures (sink and shower) $220
Floor paint: Free (already had on hand)
Bead board wall: $26
New toilet: $300
Medicine cabinets + install: $450
Total: $2966.00
Not too shabby, if I say so myself! This feels like a massive improvement on a (relatively) minimal budget....Especially considering we did this in two stages over about 6 months. This was definitely an investment in time and money, but we love having a crisp, clean bathroom to use every day, and it was worth the elbow grease to get it here! **saying this emphatically to remind myself the work remaining in the guest bathroom will be worth it too!**
