DIY: Sprucing up a crusty bathroom on a budget!

For the past three months (gosh it took ages) we have been sprucing up one of our bathrooms.  We probably could have done it quicker had it not been for laziness, out of stock items and problematic plumbing - but we got there in the end. I will not go into chapter and verse about what we did and how we did it, but instead let the pictures do the talking.

Here are the BEFORE pictures:

I am not the biggest fan of classic heritage bathrooms (unless done well), but because we plan to do a complete renovation down the track, we did not want to invest too much effort and money into this project.  You can't tell from the pictures, but we were dealing with leaking and corroded taps, chipped enamel fixtures and a water damaged wood vanity.  We set our budget at not more than a few hundred dollars.

In the end we sanded back, re-stained and varnished the vanity as well as replaced all the tap ware and fittings. We came in well under budget thanks to some great bargain finds at Bunnings and Recollections and reviving what we had (basin, vanity and mirror). I also replaced the wooden door knobs on the wood vanity with some nice shiny stainless steel ones from IKEA to match with all the other chrome fixtures.

Here is what our bathroom looks like now:

I'm pretty happy with the results, but in hindsight, I wish I had gone a shade darker with the stain... there's always something!