Renovating the bathroom with little effort and money

Sometimes it happens that we rent or buy an apartment in which the bathroom has a few defects, and our finances do not allow us to do renovation madness, or we do not want to invest our apartment in it, and the settlement with the owner is not an option. Then what? You can then try a small renovation instead of a huge renovation. Naturally, we assume that the bathroom is in a “usable” condition and requires slightly more than cosmetic changes.

Let the walls be our starting point. Most of the bathrooms, including our model one, have tiles on the walls. What if they are ugly, discolored or just not to our taste. In the latter case, you can still get tired, but why? It is enough to go to a good DIY store. Two possibilities open up for us here.

The first is to buy paint for the tiles and simply change their color, the second, to buy tiles / mosaics that can be put on existing tiles, they are fixed on a tape that is glued with wall glue. Paint is naturally a cheaper option, but also less creative, unless we have artistic skills. The cost of such paint starts from about PLN 60-70. Before painting, tiles should be vacuumed, washed, degreased, remove all stickers and dry. We paint with a roller or brush.

In the case of tiling on tiles, there is a bit more work, but it is definitely cleaner than in the case of nailing old tiles, smoothing walls and all the rest. A “slice” of such a mosaic is a cost starting from over PLN 30, the size is about 30 × 30 cm. Here, too, the surface should be properly prepared, i.e. cleaned, degreased and dried. Then, using the glaze glue, we assemble our mosaic. After laying and drying, the spaces between the mosaic tiles can be jointed. And that’s the end of our work with the walls. It went fast right? And we didn’t even make a lot of mess.

The bathroom, however, does not only consist of walls. We still have a bath / shower, washbasin, furniture (if any) and a toilet, if it is not separated as a separate room

Shower tubs can be calcified and devoid of shine. We can remove stains from the bathtub with a solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide (proportion 2: 1), apply it to the stain and rinse thoroughly after about 30 minutes. You can get rid of the stone from the nooks and crannies in the corners or by the battery and the battery itself with vinegar. Make a compress in the place where the stone has accumulated and leave it for 20 to 30 minutes. Then wipe the place, rinse and wipe dry. Of course, you can use ready-made preparations from the store for these activities, but neither ecological nor cheap. However, if our bathtub seems to be irresistible, in the case of an enamel bathtub, we could try to sand and paint it, but some experience is required here because it is easy to make a false move that will affect the entirety of our project. Another option,if you do not want to disassemble and replace the entire bathtub, buy a tub insert, this one, the so-called tub in the tub. For an old cast iron bathtub, we buy an acrylic insert a bit smaller than our bathtub. The procedure is not very awakening because only a fragment of the outflow is cut out to fit everything. The rest is done as standard, the joints between the wall and the bathtub should be secured with silicone.

The washbasin, if it needs cleaning, is treated with the same cleaning methods as the bathtub

There are also two approaches to bathroom furniture, if we want to renovate it. The first is to buy furniture paint and repaint it to your liking or buy a veneer. The first option, as in the case of tiles, gives us a uniform color and texture, while the second one gives us the possibility of fancy patterns (the first one is also possible, if we have artistic talent). In both cases, we can replace the handles in the cabinets. The disadvantage of the second option, i.e. veneer, may be its detachment under the influence of water and steam, if the furniture is not veneered professionally enough.

A toilet, in the context of a toilet seat, is a critical place. It is easy to find a stone in which bacteria multiply. The stone appears not only where the water stands, but also under the kinks at the upper edges of the toilet. We can also deal with vinegar here. Pour it into the toilet and leave it for an hour. If the scale is larger, the vinegar can be heated a little, but not too much so that the toilet does not crack due to the temperature difference. Remove the stone in the edges with a toilet brush, if it is too strong, place a vinegar compress for an hour.

Less than a major renovation, with the effort and financial effort, we have reached the end of our renovation. Now we only have cosmetics in the form of additives that we like.