Bonnie’s bathroom renovation before and after: The reveal of her new bathroom

We’ve been busy renovating Bonnie’s house the past few months and one room that’s finally finished (well 95% finished) is her bathroom! Today we’re sharing all the before and after photos, and also sharing the budget — something people rarely tell you! We certainly learnt a lot from this bathroom renovation and next week we’ll also share our top lessons.

For now, let’s take a look at the space we had to work with and how we transformed it!

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Bathroom before

Of course, Bonnie’s original bathroom (like the rest of her house) was brown as far as the eye could see. The bathroom was tiled half height in retro square tiles and smaller square brown tiles on the floor. Despite the dated finishes, the bathroom had an overall good flow and layout.

Budget

Bonnie first planned to spend under $5,000 on her bathroom by doing a quicker cosmetic bathroom makeover. This would have involved installing a new vanity, tapware and repairing the missing or broken tiles, and resurface the tiles in white (using a company like Resurfacing Australia). But there was quite a pronounced smell in the space that made us worry there were issues below the tiles and a larger reno would be needed.

As Bonnie plans to live in the house for some time, we decided to do her bathroom once and do it well — and thank goodness we did! Once we removed the tiles, we discovered rotten stud-work and mouldy gyprock that needed to be replaced, asbestos, that the ceiling had fallen off the batons, and other water damage.

In the end, we ripped everything out — bathtub, shower, vanity, toilet, all tiles, lighting. We also levelled out the floor so the shower was at the same level and not raised. As well as this, we filled in a second doorway (from her bedroom into the bathroom) as it was creating dead space in the bathroom that could be better used for storage.

This of course blew out the budget. In the end, the total cost was $17,000. This cost included all professional trades, including removal of the asbestos, fixing rotten stud-work, repairing the ceiling, plastering, waterproofing, tiling (this time up to the ceiling and not just half height), repairing plumbing and installing all new products, new lighting, and painting too.

Here are some pics of the damage and demo stage…

Bathroom after

We’re so thrilled with how the bathroom is looking now! Despite all the hidden surprises and issues along the way — and boy were there a lot of those! — Bonnie just loves her new bathroom. Although we kept the same layout, it feels more generous in size with its light and bright ambience. Tiling to the ceiling also creates a more luxurious look. The black tapware and hardware add a modern bathroom vibe, while the timber top vanity injects warmth.

All that’s left to do in here is build some additional cabinetry next to the vanity to take advantage of the extra space we created when we filled in the doorway. This isn’t a top priority right now though and so we’ll wait to get something custom made down the track.

We hope you enjoyed this tour of Bonnie’s bathroom! Did you pick up any ideas for your reno? What’s your favourite design feature? Chat with us in the comments below!

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Disclaimer: some of the products featured were discounted or provided. All opinions expressed are our own.

‘After’ photography credit: Thorson Photography