With all our new found sale cash The Boy and I have been discussing how best to spend it. One HUGE item that is in desperate need of a fix up is the back bathroom/laundry room. It’s the last big interior project at the house and I’m hoping with a little over $3,000 and a lot of kindness and help from our friends/family (who remodel bathrooms for a living) we can whip this thing into less ugly and more functional shape.
Wonder what it looks like right now? Brace yourself. Check it out HERE.
One potential hurtle is the laundry hook-ups and current plumbing. In order to keep costs down, we want to keep everything installed as closely to the current plumbing as possible. So that means…
-The shower needs to stay in that area for the drain and fixtures.
-The dryer needs to go as close to that weird exterior door as possible to reach the 220vlt (which will need to be shortened and dropped down through the attic and INSIDE the house instead of how it’s run through the door frame now). We also need to figure out a way to vent the dryer…
-The electrical, drain and two sets of hot and cold facets are located underneath the window. The sink and washing machine therefore need to be installed in that area.
-The electrical panel needs to be flipped into the toilet “poopicle” closet.
Another way for us to keep costs down is to keep our current dryer and buy a new washer (our vintage washing monster from the 80’s is getting GROSS). Squeezing both the washer and dryer in that area doesn’t leave a lot of room for a sink (remember – it’s already plumbed for a sink in that space) so we need to build a custom cabinet and install a tiny bar sink. I love this simple Lagan one from Ikea, and at only $26.98 it seems to fit in the space and the budget. Combine it with a simple modern faucet and you got a sink to fit in an impossibly small area! I’ve been going a little crazy trying to wedge everything in that space, but I have all my measurements figured out correctly (finally) and it looks like it will fit.
Underneath the sink we would need to build a simple custom cabinet to hide all the plumbing and store cleaning supplies, extra toilet paper, soap and other ugly laundry room stuff.
Oh, and another way to keep costs down is to stick with the VCT floors that are already there instead of replacing them with something else.
For the shower we would need to completely gut the original corner shower structure and storage closet next to it to expand the space and make it functional (since it totally isn’t now). This is where the bulk of the budget would go…
I want to build a little half wall to divide the shower fixtures from the sink and then install a glass door to help stop water spray and leakage on the VCT floor. A glass door would also help let some light into that dark shower corner. I think it would also be great to have a little bench so that – for once – I could shave my legs in comfort.
Hopefully we could do a simple rain shower head with a simple/modern shower control. The drain wouldn’t have to be moved, which is a plus, but we would have to slightly adjust the plumbing for the shower head and control.
The shower and back splash behind the sink / laundry would get tiled in super simple white ceramic subway tile in either a vertical pattern or stacked in a grid (instead of the offset pattern in this sketch-up version). I would probably just go with that cheapo white subway Daltile or American Olean from Lowes in order to save some $$$. Hopefully we could install a little inset shelf area on the wall to put shampoo, soap and other shower things.
We would also need to buy an exterior door, but I guess that could wait if we totally run out of funds.
The big thing for us to watch out for (and if you came out to the house for the sale, you saw it first hand) is that we CANNOT over improve for our neighborhood. In reality, we already have – but – trying to make this laundry/bathroom actually functional and aesthetically pleasing on a tiny budget is going to be a huge challenge. We can’t just gut and redo everything, so we need to be smart with our cash, work with what is already there and keep it simple enough to fit with the style of the rest of the house. My dream would be to totally gut it and lay it out better than than this, but this project is going to be a compromise from the start. I want to be able to do laundry in that room without being a gymnast and take a shower without having to duck down the whole time and be frightened of the flesh eating disease I might be contracting from the disgusting beige tile that won’t get clean.
49 Comments
That’s a great plan.
Oh, man. I thought I had more to say. I hate it when this happens.
I know, it’s like the most drawn out plan ever. I tried to answer all possible questions and wrote WAY too much.
This project is terrifying me! I’m trying to figure out all the loose ends.
hmm, only thing if i were you – i wouldn’t keep the door to the toilet area. i’d knock that out.
I would keep the wall as a divider but I wouldn’t close it off. seems like it would make the space even smaller.
maybe you could use that door for the opening of the room itself! i know you said you might skip that but you’ll need a door if people are taking showers in there!
Hi that looks like a lovely plan, there is one thing to consider with the drain in the shower. I lived in an apartment with a modern shower like that and even though it looks fabulous there were some minuses.
Consider having the edge of the shower a little higher, unless you are super confident of you drain being efficient.
And the placement of the drain, try not to have it where you might actually be standing when you shower because then you always have to be minding your step, that is how it was where I lived, and it was surprisingly annoying.
I have seen some drains that are kind of long and go by the innerwall so the shower has a slight slant to there and that seems like a good system, something like this:
http://www.advancedwetrooms.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/unidrain_1.jpg
How fun is sketchup by the way!?
I love your blog, one way to save space with the washer dryer is to find a stacking set. I was able to get samsung front loaders scratched for less than a grand for the set. they work well in my 1925’s bungalow/cottage. I know its extra money but it has totally been worth it. freed up a lot of space
We wanted to get a stacking set, except we don’t actually have space for it. It was going to block the window or door if we did.
I like that drain Kris!
Hi! love love your house.
do you really need to keep that shower? is it the only one? seems that you could end up with a nice laundry/ powder room instead. though intimidating, none of that stuff is difficult to move around and it looks like you have some handy friends
the other one in the pink bathroom is not really a shower – we ghettoed in one, but it’s awful for the plaster. This would be our main shower when completed…so I want it awesome.
We just shoe horned a bathroom into (2) walk in closets and I feel your pain trying to get everything to play nice. And we were not even dealing with a laundry and washer.
We wanted a bench…well I wanted a bench in the shower…but it got nixed first round because of labor (but with your handy friends you might not have that problem). We thought we were going to need a glass door by the way and it turned out the over spray is less than you think. I really didnt want the glass door and trying to get the hardware to work and be not a fortune…plus one more thing to clean. I’ll send you a picture of our layout. At least wait till you run the shower to see if you really need the glass door.
Layout looks good though…door on the toilet has pluses and minuses. You might want more storage for the laundry…maybe above the washer?
Would you consider moving the toilet to the area where the washer and dryer is, and getting a stackable unit to put where the toilet is now? I have a stackable unit (in my kitchen, unfortunately) but it works great.
I will have to reread your post to try and figure out what may or may not work, but it would make sense to rearrange everything so that all the bathroom stuff is in one room. (I know you know that Im just thinking out loud.) It looks like the toilet area could house a stackable just fine, but it might mean shortening the shower slightly by moving that wall.
Going back to read the description again….
We are really trying to keep costs down by keeping all the plumbing the same. I would love to move everything but it would be crazy $$$
then do some thing about your garage doors. your house would look even nicer
Man, you have thought this through! I think that, considering your very real constraints, that this is a very reasonable plan. I give a big thumbs up to the shower divider wall and backsplash with subway tiles. I also tend to agree that I would get rid of the door/frame/wall to the toilet just to keep things more open and spacious. One other thought is that the faucet for the utility sink could be a taller/industrial style faucet, maybe even with a pull-out. Oh, and if the counter is wood, it would prob need to be sealed well – or go with corian or some such.
1. Don’t sweat the detail description you’ve written; I took 10 years to decide what to do with my master bath. I knew something had to be done but couldn’t decide what, then when I did decide, I KNEW what I wanted. One contractor wouldn’t take the job because I kept refusing his suggestions (of cosmetic things, not functional suggestions).
2. Do you think you could live with an “apartment-sized” stacked w/d unit? They are narrower and, I think, shorter. That said, I would be willing to give up a few inches of that window for a stacked w/d OR would suggest investing in stackable w/d and then mounting a countertop across the top of them and setting the sink in that. I, too, think you will want shelves or more storage near the w/d.
3. Check with your water and gas utilities to see if they have any rebate programs on high-efficiency washers & dryers. I got money back (like $125) from my two utilities when I bought front loaders. You can probably get 12-months-no-interest payment plan, and even if the w/d are a bit pricey now, they do save $ over the long haul, and you can take them with you when you move.
4. There are quite a few tiny sinks on the market; I ordered a Kohler one, round undermount, no faucet deck, from Big Orange. Something like $60. Just in case you’re not feeling the IKEA love on that particular sink. The one I got is about 13″D…honestly a bit small for washing the face. I have to do quite a bit of wiping up the countertop.
5. Be careful with your shower seat if you are taking your drawing literally–maybe one of those wall-mount teak jobs (or how about a freestanding stool?) instead of what you have drawn–which may make the shower doorway not to code (too narrow?) but also a very sharp and potentially dangerous corner on the outer edge of that sink.
6. I, too, could forgo the door on the poopsicle. You’ve got a lotta doors going on in a small space there. Put something on the window(s?).
FWIW….
On the outer edge of that SEAT
If you do the little inset for shampoo and stuff, make sure the bottom of it is slightly angled. Enough for water to drain out, but not so slanty that things will slide off.
When we redid our bathroom back in our old condo, we had a WINDOW in the tub/shower area. The old tiled windowsill was totally grotty from standing water and being used to store shampoo and stuff. [[shudder]]
Anyway, instead of using tile for our replacement windowsill, our tile guy used one of those marble door thresholds. No grout to upkeep (and potentially fail). Easier to set at angle for drainage too.
I seem to remember that they weren’t that expensive, and were available at Orange Store, but I’m not finding anything online to link to. Or maybe a countertop place could sell/give you a scrap piece of stone?
BTW the trouble I worried about with bar sinks is that they don’t have an overflow drain. Again, FWIW….
Love your ingenuity! In my experience, moving the electrical panel is usually very, very expensive. Also, it usually can’t be in a small enclosed space and covered by a door when open.
Love the idea of a stackable where the toilet room is. I am assuming the plumbing is expensive to move because you are slab on grade – if you have a crawl space under the house it would not be as expensive and be worth the $ to move.
The niche in the shower will probably have to be moved to another wall, as the water line up to the shower head will interfere with its current placement.
Water from the rain shower head will not reach the bench at it’s current location. Most rain shower heads shoot the water directly down, with little or no movement around the shower. You might want to move the bench to the other side of the shower (where the controls are) to help with shaving legs or consider another type of fixture.
There is a window in the toilet room, we can’t do a stackable in there – it would cover it up.
one more thing…you might want to put the pipe for the shower and the shower head in the wing wall next to the sink…that way you do not have to disturb the exterior wall, not water will freeze (not that it would where you are…but it is something I always think about for Philly.
With a little help, you can totally make that happen for $3,000. Keeping the plumbing as-is is key!
I did my (very small) bathroom for $3,200 which included expanding a shower very similar to yours. If it helps, I wrote a very detailed breakdown of my budget here: http://www.thriftylittleblog.com/2009/10/bathroom-budget-breakdown.html
sorry for the scattered thoughts…the tiled cubbie in the shower…great idea. Sloping it …also a good idea. running the pipes through it for the shower…not such a good idea. Cubby should be off to the side or on another wall…unless you have awesome plumbers who can do gymnastic type things with pipes…
I love it! I really think this is the best and most well thought out plan, money restraints considered. Can’t wait to see more progress!
Excellent that you have friends/family with some experience to help you with this project. I have a similar bathroom situation (you have to walk through the master bedroom to get to the one bathroom in our house!), and I’m looking forward to following you on this project.
I love the Sketchup Model. I find it helps TONS to visualize the space before work begins. Best of luck, and happy grouting!
I did the cheap white subway tile from lowe’s for our kitchen backsplash (yes, in a stacked pattern). we weighed shelling out for the fancy stuff, even held up samples next to each other, and it just wasn’t worth the extra money. and? it turned out even awesomer than I thought it would. 10 cents per tile. hoo ya.
I love the look of subway tile, straight stacked or staggered. However, consider the time it will take to lay the tile. If you will be paying someone to install, I would go with a larger tile. Subway takes a long time = expensive install and more grout lines to seal.
Also, how about the sink being between the washer and dryer, somewhat centered under the window? Cover the tops of the washer and dryer with a counter top and buy side-loading washer (saves H2O). You could even have doors hiding the washer and dryer and under-the-sink area. Get an extension mirror to mount on the left side of the window; then, when you want the mirror in front of you while at the sink, you can just swivel/ pull it there!
Makin’ lemonade out of lemons…rock it gurl! It will be awesome.
love your house and read your blog often. also, thinking outloud…..understand the $$ and moving plumbing….but agree with switching the toilet to a stackable and keeping electrical the panel where it is. esp if you are using it as a main bathroom. just seems nicer to throw your laundry in the bathroom closet vs take a shower in the laundry room. really like the plans for the shower and half wall. is it a possibility to redo in longer stages to make up for cash and labor???
I agree with Sarah… Since you’re buying a new washer anyway, why not buy a front loader and extend the counter from the sink over the top of the washer? Your old dryer might not work with this, depending on where the controls are, but if you can squeeze your budget for a new washer and dryer that you could hide under a counter, I think you’d really sleekify the whole room.
Or you could be like me and not have a dryer at all, just have a washer and hang your laundry to dry (you live in southern California after all!!). Use the space where the dryer would have been for a base cabinet for towel storage.
How about buying those washer/dryer combos? (if they still make them) unless you do a boat load of laundry, it would free up a lot of space
I have the washer-dryer combo unit and do laundry for a family of four. I *LOVE* it. It would eat a bigger hunk of your budget, but would solve alot of your problems. It doesn’t need special voltage and it doesn’t need a vent. We have an LG.
Also, I love the idea of the exterior door with window. I know it’s just looking out into your backyard, but maybe the poosicle needs a curtain?
I know what you mean about not over-improving for your neighborhood. There’s been a couple of fairly nice homes for sale on our block for a little over $100K and I honestly couldn’t see spending that sort of money on them, maybe $70-80K, which is much closer to their tax value. They’ve been on the market for over a year, so somebody needs to talk to their owners. We’re probably getting pretty close to the limit of what we’d get out of our house, but we still need to paint and do a kitchen and bath remodel.
My advise, unless you’re fixing your house up to turn a profit, never make a home improvement decision based on what kind of value it will or won’t add to the house. You’ll never wind up with something that really makes you happy otherwise.
Good Lord… I mean–wow, how wonderful.
Seriously, it looks like it’ll work out fine. But why not dedicate your effort to fixing up your main bathroom. For example, with tile (assuming your plaster is suffering a want of tiles).
If it’s any consolation, stackables suck. They are too friggin’ small and do a crap job.
A front-loading washer, as others have said, would really open up a world of counter-opportunities.
If you can’t go with a stacking unit, another idea would be to use a front loading washer (much better anyway), then you could put a counter over the three units (washer, dryer, sink). You could also put the sink between the washer and dryer, which would place it in the middle of the counter, not squished on the end. (My washer and dryer are separated by a door and it’s really no problem if they aren’t right together.) You could put a cute “skirt” in front of all of them. Good luck with everything.
I think it looks great. I would love to do something nicer in our utility room too, we have newer front loading machines that we scored for $500 for both the one and only time we went to one of those god awful black Friday deals at Sears. Even though we saved $800 I promised myself I was never doing that again.
One question though, and this is probably stupid as I don’t know much about plumbing and such but how does your washer drain? Our drains into our utility sink, which is the only way I’ve ever seen them done before, but now that I think of it there must be another way. Anyway, I only ask because when we were looking at homes to buy one of them had a smaller sink , which it was apparent the washer drained into, and he mentioned that it was not up to code, that the sink had to be a certain depth (12″ here). You probably already thought of this, and your renovation family/friends would know better than I but I just thought I would mention it just in case.
Can’t wait to see the progress! Your projects always turn out so nice.
Seems like you got it all worked out, so I’ll just sit around and wait for the pictures as per my usual useless self.
You’re gonna do a photo shoot of the inaugural piss, right?
Tots.
After looking at your early bath/laundry pics — I think this remodel won’t over-improve your house for the neighborhood. They say kitchens and bathrooms get the most bang for the buck and I think this one surely will.
I also *really* like the idea of extending the countertop over the washer/dryer if you can. That would be so awesome. Think of the folding space! It would make the whole thing look quite luxurious.
Good luck!
I was just wondering if it would be out of the question to fill in that door in the restroom/laundry room. Three things, it would make it feel more like a restroom than a laundry room, stack-able washer and dryer, and it might make that patio function better.
And by ‘that door’ I meant the exterior door.
so cool! one suggestion: forget the built-in shower bench & buy a teak stool?
New to your blog (just popped over!). Great renderings and fun project…hope to see pictures of the final product.
Since you might be in the market for a new washer & dryer, get a front loading set (Sears sells them at a more reasonable price now) and install a counter over the entire thing It would provide a more integrated look and be functional too.
Good luck, I understand the “can’t over improve for the neighborhood” problem.
Beware VCT in a bathroom. I have it and it is extremely slippery when wet. Maybe a smaller tile on the floor or even cork. Trust me, fall once on a small amount of water on VCT and you will never forget it. Good luck!
We already have VCT in the kitchen and bathroom. I haven’t found it to be slippery at all and it’s been installed for a few years.
Sorry,
I had just found you when I commented and didn’t realize the vct was newly installed. I guess my kids are really the problem. They splash, it’s very slippery and hard. I’ve since read the entire blog, growing increasingly addicted. I mean really. I’ve started reading more slowly because I don’t want it to end. I’ve noticed over time that your style has become cleaner, more neutral, more grown up, less kitchy. But I have to say, while I LOVE what you’ve done, I miss this kitch. I thought the way the white curtain-less box you made juxtaposed against the weird art, needlepoint, etc. was really interesting. And the way the 50’s features (kitchen, bath) were such a great foil for the more 70’s vibe was so fresh and cool. Just sayin’. BTW, I have EXACTY the same dining room table as you. I got it on Ebay from the original owner, $300, years ago, with its original 6 black vinyl covered chairs. Love it, love your blog. Thank you, thank you!!
Hullo – I too am having nightmares trying to design bathrooms (and the rest).
Where will you hang your towels?
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