Well, it’s finally time. I told you about our Disability Friendly Guest Bathroom Remodel project WAY back in February. We’ve been done with the bathroom since the beginning of June, but life got in the way. If you missed the previous posts on this subject, check out the planning post and the construction post.
Ok, on with the remodel!
The Disability Friendly Guest Bathroom Before Remodel
When I told you about this project so long ago, I gave you all of the problems. Its ugly, it’s cramped, its tiny, it’s dark. I also told you that we wanted this to be a disability friendly guest bathroom with grab bars & a curbless shower. But we wanted it to be modern and pretty and safe all at the same time.
I think we did it!
I absolutely love looking through this door now! My favorite thing is the even floor transition. Before, the tile was about 1″ lower than the hardwood & there was a reducer piece in the transition. Now, its completely flat after we raised the slab and installed the marble hex tiles. I can’t wait to do this in the laundry room across the hall! One trip hazard eliminated!
The Vanity Area
This floating vanity is what really gave this disability friendly guest bathroom remodel the green light. I built it out of a single 2×10 piece of lumber that cost less than $20. Really. I made a vanity for $20, and it was easy. I’ll show you how I did it with the help of my trusty Kreg Jig soon!
The gel stain & Waterlox worked out amazingly here! Any water on the vanity just bubbles up! The Wall mount faucet makes it super easy to clean between the sink and the wall.
The sink is this vessel sink, and the wall mount faucet is the Delta Dryden Series in Polished Chrome. The towel hook is also the Delta Dryden. We also got the Delta Pop Up Drain. Everything was purchased from Build.com.
I also love the chrome plumbing – a must have for exposed work! We supported the vanity using a piece of 2×2 lumber that we screwed into studs. We stained and Waterloxed it the same as the vanity. The basket is from HomeGoods, and it is filled with my favorite Pottery Barn Towels.
Since we got rid of an actual storage vanity, we needed a way to still have some storage around the sink. I decided to solve that problem by using a medicine cabinet mirror. We chose the Large Vintage Recessed Medicine Cabinet in Polished Chrome from Pottery Barn. I waited for a sale + Free Shipping deal and snapped it up.
We did have an issue with the vent pipe for the sink drain in the way, so this was some extra expense to have our plumber move it over. Doug had to do a little stud work, but we got it done, and the mirror is wonderful!
Since this is a guest bathroom for now, there’s not a whole lot to store. We have plenty of space for the future if our daughter decides to move to the downstairs bedroom.
Splitting the light box from one overhead to two lower sconces was a great decision! I highly recommend it! We got a great deal on these pretty sconces from Build.com.
The bathroom accessories are from HomeGoods, the Navy & White Container Candle is from Target, and the fake succulent is from the Dollar Spot at Target.
The Built In Storage
From the reflection in the mirror, you can see the other solution to the lack of storage problem. Ever since we moved in, this is something that I’ve wanted to add in here. As you can see from the earlier before picture, this was just a wall before. Behind this wall is a triangle-shaped air return. For years, I’d peeked into the vent in the kitchen, and stuck a measuring tape in there to see if this was possible. It took a couple of attempts at framing & drywall to get it straight, but it was worth it. We actually ended up removing this air return entirely during the Kitchen Remodel.
I say a lot of stuff is my favorite, but this is one of my favorite parts of the bathroom. The storage we’ve gained here is amazing! We have room for all of the towels, a decorative box for feminine products, a jar of travel toiletries, a lamp, and more! The basket at the top is empty for now, but it could hold extra toilet paper or even a hair dryer. I love having a little lamp in a guest bathroom to cozy it up a bit. We basically leave this lamp on all the time now!
The mercury glass lamp is old and from West Elm, but this one is another great option for a small-scale lamp. We currently have this one in our breakfast nook area. The baskets, boxes and vase are from HomeGoods, and the fake succulent (similar) & jar candle are from Target.
The Toilet Area
One of the things I was most excited about this project was upgrading the toilet! We have replaced all of the toilets in our house with chair-height versions, and this was the last tiny toilet left. In its place, we used the same Kohler toilet that we used in the Kid’s Jack & Jill Bathroom Remodel a few years ago. We were able to salvage the 2-in-1 toddler toilet seat. I think that might be the only part of this bathroom that we saved!
This bathroom has no natural light, even though this is an exterior wall. Originally, I wanted to put a window in here, but that is not in the budget right now. I’m changing my mind after adding this DIY shelf & these fun decor items! The Shibori prints are large scale and really make a statement as well as bring the blue tones to this side of the bathroom.
The Blue Shibori Prints, Fake Succulent in a Hexagon Pot, and Marble Candle are from Target. The Take a Seat Print is from Hobby Lobby. The shelf brackets are from CascadeIronCo on Etsy. The towel bar, toilet handle, and toilet roll fixtures are the Delta Dryden Series to match the plumbing fixtures. The chrome grab bar is the Delta Modern Grab Bar.
The Shower
The shower really steals the show in this guest bathroom remodel! I designed this shower to be pretty but also safe and functional for our family. The Delta Dryden shower system is gorgeous! The handheld shower head on the adjustable bar will be perfect for someone who sits in the shower. The grab bars are sleek and modern. We’ve actually added these grab bars to all of the bathrooms on the 1st floor of our home. They’re not your Grandma’s grab bars!
The niche runs almost wall to wall. We set it slightly lower so that someone sitting on the bench can still reach their products. The hand shower on the bar allows for easy cleaning as well as an additional shower for a seated person.
The curbless design is AMAZING and is totally worth the extra cost. See our construction post for information on the TrueDek shower pan we used to achieve this! Having the floor be all the same level and hexagon marble tile really makes this bathroom seem larger and wider than it did before. The curb of the old shower plus the ugly outdated door really cut this bathroom in half. Now, it’s wide open!
The hand-made wall tiles I found at Lowe’s are gorgeous! I love the waves and imperfections that make this shower shine! I found some long liner tiles at Floor & Decor that matched the wall tile to hide the unfinished edges. Taking the tile to the ceiling was the right choice. The hex tile shower niche & floor bring in some much-needed color to this bathroom. Plus, they’re hexagons. You know I have a thing about hexagons.
We wrapped the ceiling in crown molding by using some upside down base molding on the drywall so that the actual crown molding would meet up at the shower tile. I like the slightly beefier look of the crown around the room, but you really don’t notice it. It just blends.
The only thing left to do (other than touch up paint) is to get some sort of shower door installed. I’m actually in the process of deciding what we want and getting quotes for that right now. We want clear glass to maintain the openness that we achieved with the curbless shower. We’re just not sure if we want something that slides or opens like a door. We may not even want a door! We’ll see how that goes, and I’ll be sure to update you when that is done.
Before & After
The Budget
So that’s it! That is our Disability-Friendly Guest Bathroom Remodel. Overall, we went WAY over budget, but that was mostly due to labor & the special shower pan. We ended up spending almost $11,000 on this bathroom, and we’re budgeting about $1200 for the glass door.
If we had done the tiling ourselves, we could have cut down on our costs, but we just didn’t have the time or energy to DIY that part of the project. Also, the plumbing was a little more than we were anticipating since we had to move the vent stack for the medicine cabinet. Those three things alone: plumber, contractor labor, and TrueDek were slightly over half of that $11,000 spent.
So what do you think? Was it worth the wait? What’s your favorite part? Also, what kind of shower door should we get? Share all of that with us in the comments!
Don’t forget to check out the other posts in this Disability Friendly Guest Bathroom Remodel
Also, don’t miss the Master Bathroom Remodel or the Kid’s Jack & Jill Bathroom Remodel!
Check out all of the Stacy’s Savings Total Home Makeover posts! Follow me on Instagram to keep up with our latest budget-friendly remodel projects!
I love this project so much! My hope is it gives families like ours who have a disabled loved one the vision to make an accessible, safe & stylish bathroom! Everyone wins!
I’m adding this project to the Thrifty Decor Chick DIY & Room Makeovers Round Up Post!
Andrea says
Tell me more about using upside down baseboard as crown. Have you done that elsewhere that you’ve done a tutorial about?
Stacy says
Hi Andrea,
No, I haven’t done this elsewhere because this project is the only time this situation has come up. It’s really not a huge deal, I just used the baseboard under the crown molding in order to have the crown wrap the room seamlessly since the shower tile sticks out 1/2″ from the wall. I flipped it over so that the decorative part of the baseboard acted as an additional detail to the crown if that makes sense. That way, the actual crown could just be one piece spanning the drywall and the shower tile. There’s no baseboard under the crown that’s on top of the shower tile.
If I ever put crown in my kid’s bathroom, we’ll have to do the same thing.
I hope that helps!
~Stacy
Giana says
Hi Stacy, It’s really a wonderful remodel. Images give a clear and impressive look of your bathroom. Can you please tell me how much you spent to remodel your bathroom? Actually, we are going to remodel our bathroom and make it user-friendly for my grandmother. She is now 74 years old. So it’s mandatory to remodel our bathroom asap. Thanks.
Stacy says
Thank you! We ended up spending around $11k due to the extra expense of the TruDek shower pan. We also did all of our own demo, painting, and installation. The only things we hired out were the tiling and the plumbing.
Hope that helps and good luck with your remodel!
~Stacy
laura says
Love your website. You did a great job with this bathroom. We’re contemplating doing something similar for our disabled son’s bathroom that is also very small. Are you still liking the TruDek? Also, I’m assuming you have a shower curtain instead of shower doors? Have you had any trouble with water from the shower getting on the floor or elsewhere in the bathroomt? Thanks!
Stacy says
Hi Laura!
Thanks for your kind words!
We love the TruDek! We’ve had no problems and it was totally worth the extra expense. We actually did eventually do a sliding glass shower door in this bathroom, it just wasn’t in the budget at the time of the reveal post. We went with a a barn style slider called the Serenity Frameless Shower Door. This style normally comes with a finger cup to open and close, but we had them mount a regular handle on both sides so that she could slide the door herself. We really love it!
This bathroom is a guest bathroom for now, and we’re anticipating that as our daughter gets older, she will use it full time in the future. So we haven’t used it too much, but we’ve had no problems with water. Even if we did, its the same floor everywhere in that bathroom. Also, our daughter can walk in this bathroom because of the tight quarters and the grab bars, so we don’t need to wheel a bath chair in here (for now), but the door slides wide enough that we could get a slim chair in there if we needed to.
The TruDek is the way to go, and when its time to redo our master shower, I plan on doing that in there as well. Curbless showers are fantastic for everyone, disability or no disability!
Good luck with your remodel & thanks for commenting!
~Stacy
Robert Chase says
Love your post and blog. That is an amazing blog for me as a wheelchair user. It is time to remodel my house bathroom with wheelchair friendly.
Stacy says
Thank you for your kind words! I highly recommend the TruDek shower pan! The curbless shower is amazing! Totally worth the extra cost.
Good luck with your remodel!
~Stacy