First step, bathrooms. How do you create an interesting out-of-the-box bathroom on a budget?
1. Consider a pedestal sink
Pedestals are much more affordable than a standard vanity, look pretty and keep a bathroom feeling open and airy, but I know - no storage! The key here is to create storage elsewhere, such a cabinet with a mirror or shelving elsewhere in the bathroom. The advantage? These items are much cheaper than putting in a standard vanity unit. You can even use them as a pair to create a double "vanity".
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| Better Homes and Gardens |
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| Better Homes and Gardens |
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| Home of Emma Reddington. Featured on Design Sponge. |
2. Shelving is a budget storage option.Not everyone can afford beautiful built-in cabinetry and custom storage solutions. Open shelving is affordable and can be beautiful with a touch of creativity.
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| Via 320 Sycamore blog. |
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| Better Homes and Gardens |
3. Get away with budget-friendly plain tiles by dressing up the walls with bold paint or wallpaper.I really love this idea. You can get away with a very simple white tile on the floor and walls if you go bold elsewhere. Why not try some wallpaper, stencil or just a bold paint job?
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| Featured in Canadian House and Home. |
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| Cape Cod Summer House by Traditional Home. |
4. Use creative grout to dress up basic tiles.
You've probably seen this idea everywhere with the dark grout on subway tiles, but it can work for all tiles. I love the idea of a dark 300x600mm tile in a brick pattern, with white grout lines.
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| Designed by Tommy Smythe. |
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| Home of Nina Gotlieb. Featured on Design Sponge. |
5. Use shower curtains rather than screens.
I know we all love the easy cleaning ability and open feeling of a good glass shower screen, but shower curtains are much more budget friendly and allow you to change the look the bathroom quickly and easily. Don't buy a white plastic one - let your imagination run wild!
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| By blogger Chez Larsson. |
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| By Faiella Design. |
6. Add a fabulous mirror.
Builder grade mirrors are square and let's be honest, a bit boring. Why not save the cash while you're building and put the money toward an interesting mirror which will add a bit of style and personality to your bathroom?
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| Designed by Stacey Brandford. Featured in Country Living. |
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| Designed by Muriel & Marion. |
What do you think? Do you have any other great budget ideas for me?
Brilliant ideas, I think you have it covered.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did notice when we were picking the basins for our house, was that stone and glass vessel basins were cheaper than the builder's standard semi recessed basins. So if you are cute, they can make a brilliant money saving feature.
I have (almost) finished our new bathroom which was done on a small budget. I made our vanity - I used an eBay bedside table (around $70) and revamped it by painting it white and putting a white porcelain vessel basin on top. It looks amazing and no-one else will have one in their house. I love the look of timber (above) but it does not comply with Australian standards in wet areas! There are some interesting tiles that look like timber (both white painted and stained) that we considered but went for standard large grey ones instead.
ReplyDeleteYou've thought of it all!! Beautiful bathrooms! Paying attention to the shower curtain and making an impact on the walls are great ideas and the open shelving looked very cool!
ReplyDeleteI know your new house will not look like a mass produced Anna. We owner built and saved money by going to one plumbing supply place and getting them to go through their catalogues to find cheapest brand. Our large (1200) wall hung vanity was only $500 instead of custom build $$$$$. It is two pac with ceramic top. I them changed the handles over with US bought handles. The aim was to find amazing mirror to go on top but practicality won and I instead got a shaving cabinet which I shopped around for and picked up for $150. Differrent though to owner build the thing about building with a builder is that they ofen include everything in price so sometimes it is better to see how you can work with their choices that are already in the price..... I would always suggest choosing the most neutral (and I don't mean chocolate brown and beige) look and then adding your decor flair at the end...
ReplyDeletenice opinion. thanks for posting.
ReplyDelete