I wrote a post on how to re-do your kitchen for under £100 and you’ve all really enjoyed the tips so I’m here with part two: how to redo your downstairs toilet for under £100.
We did a complete re-decorate of our bathroom for under £100. The only thing I haven’t added in here in the price of our tiles (£100) but I didn’t want to make an assumption that your flooring needs re-doing.
There are plenty of low-cost ways to update your flooring. I’ll go into detail about a few options later in this post.
Before photos:
Tiles
Re-tiling a bathroom – or anywhere for that matter – might seem like a big, expensive task.
These tips are really helpful for people who’ve just moved into their homes. They want to make their houses feel like their own but they don’t have the money (because buying a house is expensive) to re-model all the rooms they don’t like.
Neutralising tiles with tile paint is a really quick and effective way of getting the results you need on an inexpensive scale. That way, you can save up for a bathroom re-model and still enjoy looking at your current set up. Win-win.
I’ve spoken about the V3 tile paint, £24 a lot (I used it on my kitchen, too). I’ve trialled a couple of others and this gives the best finish by far.
I used the colour white satin to get the desired look. It can also be used on panelling so if you’ve got some panelling in your toilet (I’m jealous) you can sand it down and use this.
What to do with the walls
I think the downstairs toilet is great for experimenting. Does it really matter if it’s a bit bolder or out there than the rest of your house? It’s a toilet. Go wild.
We painted ours Off Black By Farrow & Ball. Sure, for me that’s not that bold given that I love black in a home, but I’m probably not brave enough to paint any other walls in such dark colours.
The black and white contrast was exactly what I was looking for in this space.
Although we picked a Farrow & Ball colour, we got the paint mixed up for a lot cheaper from B&Q’s paint mixing station. They will colour match anything for you. We picked up a small pot for £25. You probably won’t need a larger pot in a downstairs bathroom because it’s such a small room.
We also painted the radiator this colour. I’ve never been that happy with the finish of the radiator, but I definitely prefer it in the black over the original white.
Flooring
I mentioned earlier that I didn’t include the price of the flooring. That’s mainly because not all of you will need new flooring but also because it varies hugely in price.
A great stop-gap if you’re short on cash and have every intention of re-doing the bathroom in the future is to paint the tiles on the floor in the same way you might paint wall tiles.
This won’t last as long because of general wear and tear, but you could always re-paint them if you’re planning on saving up over a couple of years.
We decided to invest in new tiles because we probably won’t get round to re-doing this bathroom for at least five years. We were happy with the toilet and basin and aside from the aesthetics of the room, it’s all in good working order.
Home furnishings
Let’s move onto the fun stuff.
A toilet is a great place to show personality – it’s quite low risk as far as experimenting goes.
Because we went for the black and white theme, I wanted a moody style throughout. I used one of James’ photographs from Iceland on the back wall to really cement the theme of the room into place.
There’s plenty you could do with the walls, but I think it’s best not to have anything protruding too far out of them. It’s a small space, so don’t make it feel smaller with hefty shelving or thick frames.
I got the photograph printed along with a few others from Printed.com for £12. Then I framed it in a classic RIBBA IKEA frame (the best frames in my opinion) for £19.
It makes a clear statement on the wall, but it doesn’t dominate the space. I’d highly recommend getting a mount to go inside the frame so that whatever you choose isn’t pushing up against the edge of the frame. I think this looks a lot classier & mostly the mounts come free with the frame.
Make sure you consider that when choosing your photograph or picture sizes.
Little extra tips
When you’re short on money, I like the idea of shopping my own home. I use my house like a shop and wander round picking things up that could work in a different room.
If you’re anything like me, you might’ve decorated a room and then never put something back up or found that something you used to like didn’t go with the decor. Check to see if anything can be added to your new room from around your house before you go out and buy new things.
I bought my woven ‘spice rack’ from Fetch & Sow, my favourite vintage homeware store, for my kitchen, but then realised how great it’d look hung on the wall as shelving. I love this. It’s one of my favourite little bits of my home.
After photos:
