I actually can’t believe I’m typing these words, but the kid’s bathroom remodel is DONE! WOW! To be honest, its been complete for about 3 weeks, but I was so exhausted, then school started, then we had a ton of Doctor’s appointments, and then I got sick. So sorry for the delay in the reveal, but hopefully, we’re going to get back on a regular schedule here this week!
If you’re new to the kid’s bathroom remodel saga, catch up here, here, here and here.
Caught up? Good! Let’s proceed.
Kid’s Bathroom Remodel Before
Here’s what the kid’s bathroom looked like before:
Super sexy.
We had decided pre-leak that when we got around to actually doing the kid’s bathroom remodel, we would tackle almost all of the labor ourselves, and just hire out the really technical plumbing work. I have expensive taste, but not a large budget, so by doing the work ourselves, that would help us get what we wanted without paying for labor.
We had never done anything this extensive before, so I was excited to get some new tools and learn some new skills that I can use elsewhere in the house. Doug was not so excited. It took us about 2 months to complete this project.
Kid’s Bathroom Remodel Budget
Originally, I had set a budget of $5,000 for the kid’s bathroom remodel. I figured that was probably pretty accurate, as we were replacing everything, and we had two sinks/vanities/faucets. In the end, we spent about $6,000, so not too far off. We had our plumber move some water supply lines, replace all of the valves, replace the toilet flange, and set the bathtub. Some of the work turned out to be a bit trickier than we thought it would be, and he ended up being about double what I thought he was going to be. So I chalk that overage up to the plumber. 😉
The Kid’s Bathroom Remodel Afters
So let’s get to the afters, shall we? I want to preface this by saying that I did my very best on the photography/editing of these after photos. This bathroom is extremely hard to photograph accurately, because its very small and there is no natural light at all. Maybe if I get a new lens for Christmas, I’ll be able to get some better shots.
The Product Sources & Deals
I shopped around for all of the kid’s bathroom remodel materials before buying anything. Once again, I found great deals on all of the fixtures, hardware, the tub & the toilet at Build.com. They are cheaper than everyone, they have coupon codes, and I got free shipping. Home Depot had the best price on the wall tile, Daltile Rittenhouse Square in Arctic White (special order in store), and we got the floor tile from Floor & Decor.
The countertops are quartz remnants that I found at a local stoneyard. They provided the rectangle undermount sinks, price matched to some similar sinks I found at Seconds & Surplus. I couldn’t get a good shot to save my life, but they are white with little clear-grey flakes. Very subtle, not annoying.
The Vanities – Where We Really Saved Money
The cabinets are IKEA Sektion Kitchen Cabinets that we cut down to a depth of 22 3/8″, and installed on a plywood platform. The doors and drawer fronts are solid wood custom from Scherr’s Cabinets.
The cabinets total came to about $700 a vanity without the countertops. Considering that by using IKEA kitchen cabinets, we were able to get all of the fancy soft close hardware and perfect organizational components, $700 each for a 52″ vanity is a steal. The bathroom vanities I was finding on Lowes.com for $1,200 EACH that weren’t as functional as these.
I painted the doors & drawer fronts myself using my Critter Paint Sprayer. I needed slightly over a quart of paint for each vanity, and I used Benjamin Moore Advance in Hale Navy and Gypsy Pink. To save a little money, I picked those up in June with a $10 off coupon for my birthday.
I also painted and added the poplar filler pieces, toe kicks, and an end panel that I got at Lowes for less than $30. We’ve reused the old builder mirrors for now, but I’m actively on the lookout for some unique mirrors to finish out this space.
Budget-Friendly DIY Decor Projects
I made the kid’s bathroom remodel floating shelves using some 1/4″ plywood & 1×2 whitewood boards from Lowes and leftover cabinet-grade 1/2″ plywood from the master bathroom. They were easy to put together, and they provide so much more storage in this small bathroom. Doug stained them with a Minwax Dark Walnut and finished them with Satin Polycrylic.
I made the So Fresh & So Clean Clean artwork using a $5 canvas from Michaels, some craft paint I had, and a piece of lattice that we stained. I also made the hook rack with a piece the same 1.2″ plywood we used on the shelves, stain, and chrome hooks. It is an easy way for the kids to hang up their hooded towels. Make sure you check out my DIY Farmhouse Hook Wall Post to see how to make your own!
The Decor
The accessories in the kid’s bathroom remodel are all from Home Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond, IKEA & Target. I’m still looking for the matching tissue box to this set from Home Goods, but for now, I’m just using an old West Elm one that we had in another bathroom.
The navy boxes on the lower were a Home Goods find while we were on vacation, and they matched my Hale Navy paint swatch perfectly, so I bought them to bring some color to that side of the bathroom. Those boxes hide my “supplies”, because sometimes I need to use the bathroom upstairs too. This keeps them up and out of the way. That’s one of my very favorite bathroom decor tricks, hiding the “unmentionables”. I use the same idea in my bathroom, but with larger boxes.
I try to design all of my spaces for maximum storage and organization. “Small room tricks” are perfect to maximize storage for any sized room. Every item needs to have a function and a purpose. If you have a box or a basket as decor, it needs to work for you by storing something useful.
One of my very favorite things about the kid’s bathroom remodel is the toilet seat. You read that right. When we moved into this house, I replaced all of the toilet seats with ones that had built in toddler seats. I lost the bolts during the remodel, so we decided to get another one. When we went to Lowe’s we discovered that our favorite toilet seat now has a soft close option. Sold. It is the greatest thing ever! My son used to just let the seat drop to the toilet, but not anymore! I highly recommend this seat to all of you with small children! Once they are done needing the toddler seat, you just pop it off and put it away to make it a regular toilet seat!
Kid’s Bathroom Remodel
I’m so glad that this kid’s bathroom remodel is done! It was really tough without the bathroom upstairs. All of the work basically zapped our summer both fun-wise and financially. We’re going to take the fall to recover. But, I have a few small projects up my sleeve for then as well.
It even makes the view from my Daughter’s room so much better!
I’m really happy that we decided to take on this kid’s bathroom remodel project ourselves. It turned out exactly as I had envisioned. I knew that it would though, because I’m a bit OCD. I can’t imagine paying someone an extra $2,000 to do work I could do myself. We would not have had this awesome bathroom if we had hired someone else to do it for us.
Next time we take on a big project, we need to remember to stretch. The kid’s bathroom remodel was physically difficult for me, and I ended up needing 2 reflexology appointments to deal with pulled muscles. I guess that means I’m getting old. The next big project, I’ll be sure to save room in the budget for some reflexology.
Other Bathroom Remodels
We’ve completed remodels on all of the bathrooms in our home! Make sure you don’t miss any of the DIY projects & pretty remodels!
So what do you think about our kid’s bathroom remodel? Have you ever taken on a bathroom remodel yourself? How did it turn out? I’m pretty happy with the work we did in here. We totally transformed this bathroom.
Check out all of the Stacy’s Savings Total Home Makeover posts here!
Sharing with Thrifty Decor Chick’s Before & Afters.
Jill Marie Beene says
Hi Stacy,
I know that this is an older post, so I hope that you see this note! Your bathroom turned out great! I am trying to get the courage to cut down the IKEA cabinets that we bought for our guest bathroom. Your posts, comments and replies to others’ questions are so helpful.
One thing I didn’t read was whether you still attached the cabinets to the wall using the railing system after you cut them down. You mentioned that you installed them on a 2×4 base, so does that mean you eliminated the rail attachment to the wall?
If not, how did you attach the cabinet to the bracket, as you would probably have cut those holes out. Did you pre-drill and attach the brackets, (using the bracket as a template)? Or did you just screw the cabinets into the wall a different way? I hope that my questions make sense.
Thanks so much,
-Jill
Stacy says
Hi Jill,
I just redid the holes that got cut off for the rail brackets. Since we nailed the cabinet back to the back of the sides and not in a route, I just held up the bracket where it needed to be, and then drilled the holes.
We used a base instead of the plastic feet. You could just use the IKEA feet and then if you use a custom toekick, you can just nail your custom toekick onto the cheapest IKEA toekick. This was our first attempt at IKEA cabinets, and I’d probably do a few things differently, but it worked out fine the way we did it.
Thanks for checking out the blog & good luck with your project!
~Stacy
Jill Marie Beene says
Thanks so much!
Jill Marie Beene says
Stacy,
I followed your instructions, and it turned out great! Thanks so much for all of the answers in your comments section. They were all very helpful!
Veronica Bennett says
Hi, I’m a little late to the party but am SO excited to find someone who used Sektion cabinets for a bathroom. I’m trying to fill a 10′ wall with a double vanity and some tall cabinets and Godmorgon just isn’t cutting it. Do you mind if I ask what the process was like to cut these down to bathroom height? And did you just purchase “sink cabinets” or did you have to alter them in some way to fit the sink?
Thank you in advance!
Stacy says
Hello!
We didn’t cut them down to bathroom height. We used a 2×4 frame as the base instead of using the IKEA legs. We wanted slightly higher vanities anyway. So the base is only 3.5″ tall, the width of a 2×4.
We didn’t buy sink cabinets, just a regular 21″ cabinet. The bottoms of the sinks fit just fine between the walls. For slightly wider sinks, you could always jigsaw out some of the top of the sides. Just remember to put painters tape where you’re going to cut so it doesn’t mess up the finish.
Thanks for your question and good luck with your project!
~Stacy
Ally V. says
Hi Stacy. I am very interested in going with IKEA/Scherr’s for the majority of the cabinets in our new home. Do you happen to remember the edge profile that you went with on these cabinet doors? Here’s a link to the brochure if you can’t remember the exact one (edge profiles are on page 8). Thanks! http://www.scherrs.com/catalog/Scherrs_Spec_Manual_2010.pdf
Stacy says
Hi Ally!
I didn’t pick an edge profile. I didn’t know that you could. Maybe because I went with a Shaker, they just knew what I would want? Not sure. They’re really responsive by email if you want to ask them. I just told them I wanted shaker doors, and they suggested the 400 door and 540 drawer front. Sorry I’m not more help.
You’re going to love working with Scherr’s! I’m so jealous!
Thanks for reading!
~Stacy
Ally V. says
Thanks for the reply, Stacy. I know they have two edges that would create this look, but one is slightly rounded and the other is squared off. Can you tell me what the edge feels like (I know this is quite an odd request!)
Stacy says
Sure! I’d say it’s eased, sort of like M, but it’s so small you don’t really notice it. It’s sort of at a 45 degree angle. I didn’t order from a catalog, I just told them I wanted the mdf shaker doors, and this is what they gave me. I think because I specified a shaker door, they don’t ask you about the edges because all of those would make them not shaker style anymore. They definitely know what they’re doing. You’re in good hands!
Christine says
Love it! We are considering using Scherr’s doors/drawer fronts for our kitchen remodel. Would you mind sharing the series/style number and wood species (including if you went with solid wood or plywood panel)?
Stacy says
Thanks! You should totally use them! I’ve used them again for another project. They make it really easy!
We just went with the basic shaker. 40 Cabinet Doors & 504 Drawer fronts. They are mdf panels & poplar surrounds, since we knew we were going to paint them. Scherr’s suggested these. They are gorgeous, you almost don’t want to paint them!
Good Luck with your Kitchen! I can’t wait to do mine!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Stacy
karen abassi says
Hello,
Im planning on using Ikea cabinets for two of my baths as well. One the full depth will be fine but the other not. Any suggests or how to ‘s on how to cut down the cabinet depths?
Stacy says
Hi Karen!
One of my many post-in-the-pipeline topics is cutting down these cabinets! I’ll get to it eventually! In the meantime, I just figured out how much I needed to cut off, placed a strip of painters tape on the inside side of the cabinet piece, measured in several spaces from the front to the back, connected the dots with a straight edge & sharpie, then used a circular saw to cut on the tape side. The tape helps it from splintering. Instead of a dado on the back, I just used the Brad Nails provided by IKEA to attach the cabinet back to the back of the side & bottom pieces. You could use a table saw if you had one to get a straighter cut, but its the backs, so it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Hope that helps! Thanks for stopping by!
~Stacy
Karl Bakker says
Hi Stacy,
Great job on the bathroom vanity. I am putting together a similar vanity for my bathroom. I have contacted Scherrs about doors and am very pleased with their selection. They are only a little more expensive than Ikea doors and much nicer.
I would also like to rip the cabinets down to a standard depth. What cutting tools did you use? Did the drawers fit properly after cutting the cabinets down? Did you replace the vertical slots for cabinet backs, or keep the cabinet backs open?
I take it the drawer cabinets are 15 inches wide on the left and right so the center cabinet must be 21 inches? How did you find a sink that fits? Most sinks that I am finding are made to fit 24 inch cabinets.
Thank you,
Karl
Stacy says
Hi Karl!
Thanks for your kind comments on my bathroom, and I’m so excited that you loved working with Scherr’s!
We measured our cabinets down to see where the back of the drawer slides would be. We ended up cutting them down little over 1″. I put painters tape on the inside side of the piece, then measured and drew my line. My husband used a circular saw to cut on the tape side. The tape keeps it from chipping, though it’s not perfect. Luckily, its in the back, so you can’t really see it. I then just nailed the backs on to the back of the side & bottom pieces instead of rout a new slot.
Our stone guy supplied the sinks. They are the small size, about 16″ wide. The normal 21″ ones you find would have been way too big in this space. If that’s all you can find, you can cut into the tops of the sides of the cabinet to accommodate the slope of the sink.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
~Stacy
Joe M says
Hi, I am working on something similar to this and have the same question. Is this 15in wide cabinet + 21w cab + 15w cab or 15/24/15? Thanks!
Stacy says
Hi Joe!
They are 15 + 21 + 15. I didn’t have enough space for the 24. Hope that helps!
Thanks for checking out the post!
~Stacy
Susan K says
Hi! love what you did with cutting down the Sektion cabs to a more standard bathroom width. Thank you for explaining how you did it. One question, you mention that the you chose the cut off to be where the back of the drawer sat. Could you share if you are referring to the FOVARVA or the MAXIMERA drawer type? I have a preference for the MAXIMERA but was not sure if that would work for cutting down the depth. Thank you!
Stacy says
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your kind words!
I only use the Maximera drawers, because they have the soft close features. I love that the Fovara pulls out all the way and has the squared off insides, but they don’t do the soft close on those. The Maximera drawer doesn’t go all the way to the back of the cabinet. It stops a few inches in front of the back of the cabinet, so you have a little room if you need to make the boxes less deep.
I hope that answers your question!
Thanks,
Stacy
Susan K says
Great! Thank you for answering my question. I’m glad to learn that I can use the Maximera drawers while still cutting down the depth by an inch or so. Thanks!
Stacy says
You’re so welcome! Thanks for reading & asking the question!
Have a great day!
Stacy
Elena says
I also found you through Thrifty Décor Chick Love all you have done to your home. We are very seriously considering IKEA cabinets for a kitchen remodel. I am curious why you didn’t use the IKEA cabinet doors.
Stacy says
Hi Elena!
We’re going to use Ikea cabinets in our kitchen remodel too. I didn’t use the Ikea doors, because they are not solid wood, and they are hard to paint. I didn’t find a true shaker style that I really loved, and I wanted something that was solid wood that would last a long time. Since you can buy the cabinet frames without doors at IKEA, that’s what we chose to do. Scherr’s was fantastic to work with, and they had a lot of different options as far as types of wood, customizations, etc. I highly recommend them!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Stacy
Nancy says
I came over from Thrifty Decor Chick to check out your bathroom remodel. Really like your site except that it keeps bouncing me around and taking me to the bottom of the page. Very frustrating not be to be able to finish the story. A video is trying to auto-start, which i think is causing the problem. I closed out and opened a new tab and it continues. 🙁
Stacy says
I’m so sorry about that. I’m not sure what it is, I can’t replicate it. No bouncing here, but I’m using Safari & Firefox. Thanks for stopping by!
~Stacy
Beth L says
Love those cabinets! You did an amazing job painting them. Congratulations on completing a fabulous project!
Stacy says
Thank you so much! Thanks for stopping by!
~Stacy
Suzy Ray says
This looks absolutely beautiful — so modern and clean! I’m glad I found your blog at the Thrifty Decor Chick link-up.
Stacy says
Thank you!