Upgrading your bathroom with a full renovation or expensive new technologies can crush your budget easily, especially if you’re working with limited income. Depending on what you’re upgrading, what materials you’re using, the contractors you choose, and other factors, you could end up spending $16,000 or more to renovate a single bathroom, with the national average being $10,788. That works out to $70 to $275 per square foot.
But you don’t need a six-figure salary or an impressive net worth to upgrade your bathroom effectively. In fact, some of the most impressive and life-changing upgrades you can make to a bathroom are both affordable and accessible.
Let’s take a look at some of the best options available.
Add a Bidet
Contrary to what you may have heard, installing a bidet is inexpensive and easy – at least, it is if you choose the right type of bidet. If you’re looking for a purely traditional, standalone model, you may need to invest in significant plumbing work, creating a dedicated line to the bidet.
Most people in the modern world are more interested in a toilet seat attachment or a similarly easy to install bidet option. Fortunately, these options are inexpensive and readily available.
Bidets can instantly make your bathroom experience more pleasant, helping you achieve a better, more thorough clean while reducing the possibility of developing hemorrhoids and other health conditions. On top of that, these devices can help you save toilet paper and protect the environment.
Repair Instead of Replacing
Take a look around your bathroom. Do you really need to replace everything? Or can you apply repairs to see a big difference? Sometimes, a bit of cleaning and a bit of repair work is all you need to breathe new life into all your old bathroom fixtures. There are some items that may not be fixable, but fixing is almost always less expensive than replacing, so it’s worth an attempt.
Lean on Subway Tiles
One of the easiest ways to upgrade the appearance and function of your bathroom is to use subway tiles as a backsplash or to create visual patterns. Subway tiles are inexpensive, and you can pick them up at any local hardware store. They also happen to be relatively easy to install, so if you have any DIY experience at all, you should be able to tackle this job yourself.
Add More Lighting Options
The lighting in the bathroom can make a huge difference. Upgrading your lighting fixtures, swapping out different types of light bulbs, and adding more lighting options can all improve your environment significantly. With more options in place, you can use bright, daylight-like LEDs to apply makeup and get a good look at yourself, dimly illuminate the environment with red lighting for a Zen, meditative bath, or create an atmosphere that’s something in between the two.
Upgrade the Towels and Mats
Even the most luxurious, high-quality towels and mats only cost a few hundred dollars, and you can probably score a significant upgrade for far less than that if you know where to look. With bigger, softer, more absorbent towels, every shower is going to feel more like a trip to the spa – and with cozier, more comfortable mats, any bathroom can instantly become more comfortable.
Repaint – and Add an Accent Color!
As any real estate agent can tell you, a fresh coat of paint can instantly make any room feel cleaner, more comfortable, and more valuable. If you haven’t painted your bathroom in a while, choose a color that fits the mood you want to establish and apply it. You can also apply an accent color to make the area even more interesting.
Replace the Vanity
You can hypothetically replace your entire vanity for just a few hundred dollars. This could be a tricky DIY job, depending on the complexity of your setup, but even if you have to hire a contractor for the work, this is usually an inexpensive job that can make your bathroom look far better.
Switch Out the Shower Fixtures
Improve your shower experience by adding newer shower fixtures. A better, more flexible showerhead can give you more pressure and more spraying options, while different knobs and a different faucet can totally change the look of your setup. Again, this upgrade is useful because of its cost efficiency; these are inexpensive and easy upgrades to make.
As you can see, some of the best upgrades you can make for a bathroom are also some of the least expensive and the most accessible. Whether your bathroom is decades old and in need of a serious overhaul, or if you’re just interested in a subtle facelift, these strategies can give you what you need even on a strict budget.
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