Modern Half Bath Renovation on a Budget

The half bath was the first full room we renovated. The day we got the keys to the house we ripped out the dated shell sink and sticky mirror. I actually made a mood board for this space the second we put a bid on the house. After looking at inspiration, here are the plans I designed for our modern, budget-friendly half bath renovation:

Starting a reno with a powder room was actually a really nice way to dip our toes in the water. We knew we were having the tile in the kitchen professionally replaced and the half bath is so small we just had them include the square footage in our quote. It ended up being around $150 which was worth it to us. 

The keyword in this post is BUDGET. We had JUST purchased a house which didn’t leave much room in our bank account to dive right into renovations. So aside from the floor work, we did everything ourselves. I wish we had better before pictures of this space but we were really eager to get to demo and didn’t even think about it. So here’s the bathroom before and during demo:

Don’t panic…it started to look a lot better once the floors went in. I chose an inexpensive white hex tile from Amazon but went with a charcoal grout for a more dramatic effect. This was a bit different from my plans because it was cheaper and worked best for our time-frame.

I ended up buying a sink off of Facebook Marketplace for $50 and a light fixture at Ikea for $20. (They don’t sell it anymore but they have this new one that I like even better.) I searched all over for an affordable mirror that would work with the style I was going for and ended up finding one at Target. Once I painted the walls (top is Behr “Polar Bear” and the bottom is “Recycled Glass”), all that was left was the finishing touches!

I saw Suzannah Stanley from the blog Create-Enjoy renovated her half bath (for under $400) and had the most beautiful towel ring from Urban Outfitters. So I went with that and a toilet paper hanger from Amazon.

Now for the final reveal…here she is in all her glory!

Here’s the cost breakdown and product links:

Tile – $175 | Tile Work – $150 | Toilet – $100 | Sink – $50 | Towel Rod – $12 | Mirror – $60 | Light (similar) – $20 | Paint – $50 | Toilet Paper Rod: $14 | Faucet: $119

TOTAL: $750

Okay so here me out. I know $750 sounds like a lot for a half bath. It actually ended up costing more than I expected. But we didn’t NEED a new toilet (the previous one was awkwardly small but worked fine). If we did the tile work ourselves and bought a more budget-friendly faucet, the total would come out to around $400–which is very reasonable!

So what do you think? Did we make the right design choices? I’d love to hear how you worked within a budget for your spaces!  

For more before and afters, be sure to check out our house tour!

 (note: we replaced the baseboards several months later so I did not include that cost in this post, but baseboards for this small space cost about $50)

*This post contains affiliate links*


Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Add a comment

  1. Susan says:

    Great job! I love this reno and your sense of style!

  2. Michael says:

    I think it turned out fantastic! I think $750 is pretty reasonable for a bathroom makeover. Great job!

    I love the “recycled glass” paint color.

  3. Habattach says:

    Great Blog! I love this post and found it very amazing. Thanks a lot for sharing.

  4. Ashley says:

    Did you use behr recycled glass or Sherwin Williams recycled glass? I love the color you picked but can’t tell which it was.

    Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

X