Guest Bathroom Refresh & How I Saved Money ⋆ Growing Up Kemper

Whew…what a whirlwind! From July 16th-Monday morning, I had some of my favorite people in the world staying with me at my house. Days and nights full of smiles, laughter, and catching up. My cheeks hurt from laughing and my heart is full of love. It was much needed, so wonderful, and I’m refreshed and ready to finish out my summer with a little bit happier heart.

Before the guests arrived, I mentioned that my guest bathroom downstairs was very much in need of a simple refresh. Something that would change up our builder-grade vanity and add some color on the white, patterned walls.

And thank goodness we did.

After taking out our vanity, we realized we had a leak that was starting to cause water damage on the walls and the on the underside of the cabinet. How long had this been happening? Where was it coming from? Was this going to be massive work or was it simple? It was time to demo and get to the bottom of it.

As we began to rip out the vanity, a portion of the tile, and a bottom foot of the drywall, I just had to put my two cents in that if I didn’t want to refresh our bathroom, we never would have known this and we may have been in for a much bigger issue down the road. Soooo, I should be thanked for my assertiveness and proactiveness, right? Jerod didn’t laugh…😉

Luckily once we ripped everything out, we realized this was an issue with our toilet in the space and it was a very simple fix with a new wax ring that costs roughly $5 and some replacement drywall. Whew!

And then allll the pretty things got to be added in. Paint, new hardware, a new vanity, sink, faucet, and a mirror. All of which took a few nap times over a week to finish. Now THAT’S my kind of project! Nothing ground-breaking. Nothing costly. Nothing that takes weeks of planning, building, creating, and finalizing. A quick refresh that makes a huge difference in less than a week’s time.

I’ll source products below, but more importantly, I want to share where I saved some major money on this project.

The vanity I installed in this space was found on Facebook Marketplace for….ready….$50. It was brand new, still in the box, and had been sitting on that listing for weeks, making it easily negotiable. The reason why it was for sale was because it was sent without the sink and they missed the return window. Unfortunate for them. Extremely lucky for me. When Jerod went to pick it up, he checked to ensure all hardware and parts were included and happily brought home a $50 vanity, originally priced at $469 on Walmart.com (sourced below).

As for the sink, enter my favorite store for DIY project: Habitat for Humanity ReStore!! If you have never been, please promptly go to their website and see if there is a store near you. I’ve purchased all my door knobs in my house (including my front door knob that was priced at $139 at Lowe’s) from the Restore, in their original packaging, for a fraction of what you would pay at a big box store. When I redid the kid’s bathroom last year, I purchased the double sink vanity top for under $50 and in fabulous condition there. Crown moulding for the laundry room? $6 for a 12′ piece. Vessel sink for this bathroom refresh? $15 and in mint condition. Find a store near you and go see a whole new world open up before your eyes!

And finally, I purchased a gold can of spray paint and I sprayed pieces in this bathroom to be able to match the fixtures and hooks I purchased. No need to get a new shower rod…spray paint it. Bathroom vanity came with silver hardware…spray paint it. There’s truly nothing a good can of paint can’t fix, guys.

A small refresh for a small space with a big impact. I love a little project that brings a huge change and making subtler changes in this space not only saved us from major damage, but also brought so much joy into a rundown room.

Until next time!

xx Rachel