They quoted us £20,000 for a bathroom – we did it for £3K!

BEFORE THE FIRST RENOVATION

Our Budget Bathroom Makeover

When you’re dreaming of your beautiful new bathroom and the quotes come back super high… your jaw just drops.

£20,000, £25,000… and that’s before you’ve set a contingency. What if you find rotting floor boards under the bath? Gulp.

A shocking quote can really make you question everything: Can we even afford this? Are bathrooms really that expensive? Am I being ripped off?

It makes you consider abandoning your dream bathroom completely because you think it’s not possible with a tiny budget.

This has happened to so many renovators (including me, in the past)

But after making every mistake in the book in this bathroom (and experiencing one very dramatic bathroom disaster), I found a way to refresh this space and get my dream bathroom for a lot less.

We slashed our bathroom costs from £20K to just over £3K – and the results are pretty similar to the high-end version I originally designed.

In this post, I’ll walk you through what we did, the costly mistakes we made the first time, and how we saved thousands on our bathroom costs – so you can create a bathroom you’re proud of without going thousands over budget.

The Story: Our bathroom fails (and the shower screen that shattered 😱)

I have to tell you the backstory first, or none of this post will make sense.

One random Tuesday, I was sitting in our home office, slurping a cup of tea, quietly getting through some emails. Then I heard the loudest crash and my heart jumped through my skin… 👀

I ran into the bathroom and whispering “what the ffff!” The shower screen had decided to leap off its hinges and shatter into thousands of tiny pieces on the floor. No idea how. No idea why.

I rushed to brush up tiny bits of glass, trying to dodge getting cut, as my cuppa tea went cold 😭

we designed it all wrong the first time

This is the second time we’re doing this bathroom. Back in 2016, long before I was an interior designer, we renovated this bathroom with no real plan, no clue about finishes or layout, no understanding of costs and just hoped for the best.

We got it done in a rush. And it looked fine for the first year or so… But after the honeymoon period, the leaks started and the mistakes began haunting us. I swear this damn room was cursed and has cost us so much money in temporary fixes over the years because we failed to get it right the first time.

HOW IT LOOKED for YEARS AFTER THE FIRST RENOVATION WITH LEAKS GALORE & NO SHOWER SCREEN ANYMORE.

• We didn’t fit adequate ventilation
  So grout & finishes quickly got mouldy despite my constant cleaning efforts.

• We fitted a cheap, flimsy bath
  Which could never be fitted stable no matter how many times we paid contractors to try. It caused grout cracks & water leaks, consistently. We got so bored of re-grouting the grout that kept cracking, that we stuck a line of gaffa tape over it – sexy!

• We chose the worst panelling positioning, ever
  MDF should never be positioned in a splash zone. Even when you’re rushed and desperate to get it finished.

• Grout was cracking in the floors

• The silicone was so mouldy

• And so many other mistakes!

For years, the issues just had to stay as they were until we had the funds to renovate the bathroom again properly in the future. Arghhh loads of lessons learned - we wish we had our online courses back then 😖

The breaking point (literally)

That day when the shower screen shattered, we’d got to the end of our tether after years of problems. We just had enough. We looked around the bathroom… The Gaffa tape elegantly waterproofed our cracked grout. The patchwork of stains left on the ceiling beneath from the years of stressful leaks.

It was time to do this room properly. To design my dream bathroom. So I got to work.

The Dream Redesign (and the £20K Bathroom Quote)

After the shower screen smashed and we realised we had to do this again, I approached the bathroom like a proper design project – the same way we now teach our students in our renovation courses with proper plans, mood boards, layouts, and supplier lists to take the stress out of all the decisions.

Having a clear plan from the start made all the difference.

We initially budgeted about £20K for the new bathroom design. And I know that might sound like a lot, but it’s a pretty average price for installing a mid-range bathroom nowadays. We wanted to get this room done right. Once and for all.

We planned a bespoke vanity, artisan tiles, underfloor heating, all the bells and whistles.

I knew the design I was creating would come in around that price and I had a lot of fun designing my own lighting from scratch, designing my own vanity unit from scratch, and having my team there to discuss options and lean on to create these showstoppers in the space.

But guys, something unexpected happened. A curveball we didn’t plan for.

That’s when everything changed

Neil and I fell in love with the £20K bathroom I was designing, and we started to firm up quotes and dates to start the work…

As I said, the quotes didn’t shock us since the team we work with are reasonably priced for the outstanding work they deliver in our client’s projects. If you don’t believe me, look at the kitchens we work on together. They cost a fraction of high end kitchens for the same a better result.

But we started to question our decisions.

It wasn’t a question of whether we could do this new bathroom. But whether we should.

We started debating whether it was really that sensible to spend £20,000 on this dream bathroom, when we’ve been living in this house for 10 years and might plan to sell soon. This is a house already at its ceiling price, by the way.

With this reality check, we pivoted our entire plan. (Sidenote: it reminds me of when we ditched our £80,000 extension last minute too 👀)

Our new challenge became: How do we bring the same design vision to life – but on a fraction of the budget?

What we ended up with cost just over £3K 👇🏻

OK, it doesn’t look as good as my original dream version, but it’s close enough! And it’s insane to me how much more high-end it feels in here with such a small amount spent. Let me show you how we achieved it.

How we did it for £3K (without sacrificing style)

We instantly put in place cost-saving methods and smart strategies to address the main issues and leaks, and worked to achieve a timeless design that would age more gracefully than our previous, rookie efforts.

• We changed none of the plumbing layout
  This alone saved us thousands in labour & material costs and avoided the mess, time, and risk that comes with moving pipes.

• We dropped the non-essentials

  Yes underfloor heating & new wall lights would have been an amazing upgrade, but we had a leaky, smashed bathroom we needed to prioritise. Focussing on the priorities saved us thousands on the nice-to-haves which required labour, electrics, plastering & new flooring.

• We focused on upgrading some finishes only
  After the leaks were fixed – we fitted a reinforced acrylic bath & a patented shower screen that reroutes water run off – we spent our budget on finishing the room to a higher standard. New tiles, a blind and a new colour scheme which breathed new life into the room.

• We revived existing fittings
  With a simple swap to the light fitting, a lick of paint to the vanity unit and a re-grout of the floor tiles, we’ve kept this bathroom refresh simple and affordable, without needing to hire electricians or invest in a new sink, tap and vanity unit.

Ultimately, when it comes to your project, I can’t stress enough how much impact just changing the tiles & colour scheme will have if you’re trying to keep it low budget. But just avoiding mistakes in the first place is the best way to make savings long-term as you won’t be re-doing work. Our online courses walk you through the exact steps – from layout planning to finding trades – so you can feel confident and stay in control of your budget. It’s honestly what I wish I had access to back in 2016.

What we got quoted vs What we spent

Here’s a quick overview of how the pricing & our savings break down:

The main savings were made by heavily reducing the scope & labour costs. We abandoned all bespoke joinery & did a minimal refresh on our existing cabinets, wall panelling & bath panel. I found a bargain blind & Neil did all of the decorating himself, following the supplies & techniques in our professional Home Decorating course which saved us £1,000 in decorator’s fees.

And honestly, we know it’s not a huge transformation but we’re chuffed with the results given we spent so little.

How you can save thousands in your bathroom renovation

Now, you might be reading this thinking: “Fi, our bathroom looks like your 2016 before pic, I need to do a full renovation on mine.” But there are still some straight forward tips you can implement into your project right now, no matter how big or small the scope is – which will reduce your costs massively:

• Plan a layout that avoids moving pipes

• Have a vision to work towards – not just a wish list (and if you think you aren’t creative, you’ll like this)

• Don’t be afraid to revive your existing vanity unit – new handles & paint scheme can save you hundreds

• Avoid choosing the wrong materials & layout which will only cost you more to fix later (this is the approach we apply to projects now, to prevent costly mistakes)

• Take the time to source fittings yourself to get the best quality at the best price (if you want to fast track the days of research, you’ll like this)

If you’re dreaming of renovating your home but you’re worried about costs, decisions or mistakes, our online renovation courses give you so much guidance through every stage with clarity and confidence. You can check them out here.

Closing advice for your bathroom

This has proven to us once again that you don’t need to spend a huge amount of money to get the bathroom or home you love.

With the right plan, a clear design vision, and savvy spending, it’s totally doable on a modest budget. And even if you’re staring at a bathroom that looks far worse than our ‘before’ picture, applying our cost-saving methods will ensure you’re updating your space in a way that hasn’t broken you financially.

I help renovators save money & prevent costly mistakes in their projecrs via our online courses & community. Join & get the support you need.

Alternatively if you’re keen to take the stress off completely, get your bathroom all designed for you by an interior designer (me) – check out my Bathroom Design Pack to speed through your project. With shoppable links to get materials and finishes right the first time and avoid mistakes, this is packed with my vetted suppliers, colour schemes, lighting, sanitaryware & careful design direction. You’ll get a design by an interior designer, with none of the hefty design fees.

Thank you so much for reading about our bathroom refresh, and I really hope it’s helped you learn something.

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It’s so great to connect with you and to be able to support you with your project!

Speak soon, I hope!

Fi