Old Ugly Bathroom Makeover for Cheap!
An old ugly bathroom makeover doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. If you want to attract the best tenants or buyers, don’t leave that old ugly bathroom alone!
We had a shoestring budget. Our rental is located in an area where values are rising. Our quality of tenant was low, each tenancy was problematic. And each move-out left the property worse than before.
How do you attract a better quality tenant?
Tenants that will pay rent on time, and take care of the rental property are most particular about the condition of bathrooms and kitchens.
Make some improvements! They don’t have to cost a lot of money. The improvements don’t have to include stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. There are smart, simple and inexpensive fixes and improvements you can make to spruce up any old looking space.
Old Ugly Bathroom Makeover BUDGET?
How much can you spend on your bathroom improvements, to be able to recoup that money in extra rent within the next few months? How long will it take to pay off those improvements with the extra money you’ll be able to charge once complete? What’s your goal?
If the bathroom is located in a rental property, are you happy with the quality of tenant you’ve been getting? If not, consider it might be that ugly bathroom that’s the main problem!! The nicer the renter, the nicer the tenant! Planning on selling the property? With these inexpensive fixes to your bathroom, you’ll make potential buyers MUCH happier.
BATHROOMS ARE VERY IMPORTANT to the decision making process of most every tenant and buyer. If the main bathroom is old and ugly, it WILL turn off the best tenants. And it will prevent you from getting top dollar when selling.
Before Photos of an Ugly Old Bathroom
Where do you start in a bathroom like this?
Start by making a list of the worst elements. Top of the list should be the things that aren’t working/need to be repaired or replaced. Slowly go down the list by prioritizing, leaving anything not crucial to the makeover at the bottom. Top of the list most important, bottom least important. From there, start your budget. Top of the list will most likely be the most costly things to address. Start doing research, asking around, getting some handymen or professionals to come in and write up estimates for you. Stalk the aisles of Home Depot and Lowe’s and write down prices. Some stuff you can do yourself, save yourself a lot of money, even if you aren’t very handy.
Our First to-Do List for our Old Ugly Bathroom Makeover:
- Toilet: Old, ugly, low to the ground. Tank elements also old, bottom seal bad. No budget to replace. Solution: replace insides of tank, replace seat ($40).
- Bathtub: Old, yellow. Rust spots. No budget to replace. Solution: resurfacing ($350-600, lasts 3-5 years)
- Light fixture: old, ugly. Replace with new (same width back plate, 3 light fixture, $75)
- Sink faucet knob cap: replace with 1.5″ Moen new cap ($2-5)
- Bathtub faucet knob cap: replace with 1.5″ Moen new cap ($2-5)
- Bathtub showerhead: Old, ugly. Replace with attractive handheld ($35)
- Window crank repair: window functionality is not a necessity, repair will depend on budget and expense
- Walls: freshly painted walls make all the difference! use satin or semi-gloss in bathrooms ($50)
- Floor: old terrazzo, stained and dirty. Minimally clean, sand/clean/seal if budget allows
We decided to have the bathtub and tiles resurfaced.
This decision was a no-brainer. Do we REPLACE the old ugly bathtub and surround old ugly yellow 60’s tile? OR do we have them resurfaced/painted?
Several THOUSAND dollars vs. several HUNDRED!! Resurfacing porcelein can be done on tubs, sinks, tiles, windsills… and we did it all! It’s a 1-2 day job and lasts several years. The very bottom of the tub will be the main place that will show wear. But to do a touch-up every 1-2 years costs less than $150.
The porcelein is sanded down, everything is masked and taped up, then the special product/paint is sprayed on. It’s dry within a few hours, but we didn’t use the water in the bathrooms for a full two weeks to ensure full dryness throughout.
While the resurfacing was drying, we had the walls painted a light neutral beige. We always recommend either light neutral beige or white for rentals. No colors. Because these floors are old, stained terrazzo and we don’t have the budget for new flooring, the beige walls help blend with the terrazzo. White walls would have accentuated the floors looking old and stained.
We also replaced the old light fixture with one we found on Amazon for about $65. We replaced it with the same width fixture with a solid back so that we wouldn’t have any drywall repairs to do or holes to fill. We also installed a nice $35 handheld shower sprayer. BEST RETURN ON YOUR MONEY is to give your tenants a nice new handheld sprayer. They are super cheap, very useful in keeping the bathtub clean, and you can install it yourself, super easy!!!
Tip: If you’re resurfacing a tub or tile for a rental property, include the cleaning /maintenance instructions inside your lease in the form of an addendum or instruction sheet. Make sure your tenants know (in writing) how to maintain, not to use abrasive cleaners, etc.
Handheld Shower Heads are convenient and better than a regular spickett. they also help keep the bathtub and surrounding area more clean.
Small bathroom with limited storage space? Add an inexpensive shelving unit! We use this one on many of the rental properties we manage.
This extra long bathtub mat provides safety from slips and falls, as well as protecting the bathtub itself. These come in lots of colors too!
These are links to the exact products we used for this project. We do significant comparison shopping and while the prices do fluctuate sometimes, at the time we used the products they were rated best with the lowest pricing available at the time. We hope you find these links helpful so you can do your own comparison shopping. If you do make a purchase, we may make a tiny commission fee which helps us to run this site, and in which case… we thank you sincerely because we love providing helpful information and tips on real estate, improvements, maintenance and management.
This project took 3 weeks to complete,
mainly because we chose to give a full two weeks
for the bathtub/tile resurfacing to dry and set completely.
Tip: Most light fixtures can be installed with bulbs shining down or up towards the ceiling.
We like the bulbs facing up so we don’t see the bulbs, and it gives a little more overall diffused lighting to the entire bathroom. We chose a fixture that was very easy to assemble and install, and takes regular bulbs.
We learned the hard way, always purchase light fixtures that take REGULAR easily purchased 60 watt, or LED equivalent bulbs)!!!
We ALWAYS use “daylight” color bulbs for all of our properties, rentals, homes for sale and old ugly bathroom makeover projects. Even IF you aren’t doing an Old Ugly Bathroom Makeover right now, simply changing the color of your bulbs to Daylight will make a big difference in brightening and whitening!
If we find an incandescent or “warm white” bulb (yellowish white) WE REPLACE THEM!!!
“Daylight” color bulbs provide a much more natural light and makes everything look more clean. It is brighter than the regular bulbs which can seem too yellow in some spaces. Daylight bulbs also produce (in our opinion) much better photos for any marketing you may need to do to find a great new tenant. “Light and bright” should be the goal.
Pro Tip: Bathtub Faucet Backplates (Bathtub photo #2)
Notice the faucet backplate in Bathtub photo #1? So often these days when owners redo these older bathrooms they replace this wide backplate. We say… leave it!!! This is original to the 1960’s. It’s not as fashionable these days as replacing with tile. Most plumbers wouldn’t think twice about removing this backplate.
HOWEVER… IT IS ACTUALLY A VERY VERY SMART SOLUTION and will save you A TON OF MONEY TO KEEP IT!
Why? That big wide faucet backplate comes off and leaves a large enough space to get to the water pipe behind the wall. Eventually these plumbing joints will leak or become problematic. Eventually the pressure valve will need to be replaced. With a large access space, NO NEED TO REMOVE TILES OR CUT INTO DRYWALL!!!
There’s enough space to make the repairs, and simply screw the back plate back in when done. This can save up to $1000 on a plumbing leak repair that’s happening with or behind the faucet!
Pro Tip: Drain Covers (Bathroom photo #2)
In conclusion: it’s worth spending a little extra money and time to update and improve outdated elements in your rental property. And in turn, you’re likely to attract a better quality tenant.