New Year, New Space: Under $500 Remodel/Makeover

Like many 20-something, first time home buyers, when we bought our first home a few years ago, an 840 square foot condo, the interiors were not exactly what we would chose for ourselves. When we moved in, we asked them to leave out the carpet, and instead spent a mad weekend installing wood floors. We recently spent another long-overdue mad weekend painting and tiling our kitchen and bathroom.

Before: with lovely fake-tile sheet vinyl, rubber baseboards and white walls.

After: Porcelain tile, tile baseboards, gold walls (my husband's choice!), and new accessories.
 

The inspiration for the "someday we should tile the bathroom...." project came when a pipe leaked in the kitchen and I watched in pain as a moisture damage repair crew tore into the wood floors we laid ourselves. We decided that tile would be more practical for the kitchen anyway, and this provided the push to finally replace the brown sheet vinyl flooring and rubber baseboards (yes, you read correctly, rubber baseboards in a new condo) with tile.


The quick makeover was exactly what the bathroom needed. I also replaced the light switch and outlet covers, towel racks, and shower curtain. I am usually wall-color-phobic, but allowed my husband to pick a bright yellow-gold paint for the bathroom. The bathroom now looks like it belongs in an urban condo, not a college apartment. The entire job cost under $500. Though there are many disadvantages, this is one of the great advantages of living in a small space: a partial makeover of two rooms can be done yourself, quite inexpensively, in one weekend.

An inexpensive way to update any room or the entire house: stylish light-switch and outlet covers.

The final product.