Week 8: One-Room Challenge – Bathroom REVEAL!

Chloē Powell, REALTOR®

May 31, 20224 min read

The Big Reveal – Our Story So Far

Today is the DAY! It is REVEAL day for the one-room challenge sponsored by Apartment Therapy! This is our first guest participation challenge and we are BEYOND EXCITED to show you what we have been working on. Romie and I have been working hard on this basement bathroom and it was definitely a labor of love. This was the first time that we wallpapered, installed board and batten, installed tile, and installed a new faucet. We definitely had some fights along the way. Why is this?

Which Difficulties Did We Overcome in the One-Room Challenge?

This was the first time that Romie had completed any sort of DIY, and what were his thoughts? He would definitely do it again, but I noticed he did get frustrated frequently. In other words, I also realized that we are very DIFFERENT people.

What Do I Mean by This?

I am someone who is more of a DOER – meaning I do not need an instruction manual to get started, I don’t need to watch a YouTube video, I just try and intuitively figure it out on my own. For example, I’d rather something be done, rather than perfect. I’m not very detail-oriented. (Tell me in the comments if this resonates with you).

HOWEVER, my husband is the opposite, meaning he needs you to walk him through every step before he can do it. He is detail-oriented, and needs to read the instruction manual before starting. And that’s completely fine, it just leads us to butt heads sometimes. Maybe it’s the Libra in Romie, but it’s called balance, right?

From BUILDER GRADE to CUSTOM MADE

This post is lengthy. We did a ton of things in the bathroom to get it ready for the reveal. Remember we wanted to go from BUILDER GRADE to CUSTOM MADE. Caution – this may not fit your style, so please refrain from posting any mean or hateful comments.

That said, I really wanted my husband, Romie, to have a large influence on the design. This was his first time designing a space (with my help), and the basement is his space for gaming, etc. Eventually, we will build a guest bedroom down there and we wanted a basement, boutique hotel vibe.

Punch List

This is the punch list we needed to install before the reveal:

Toilet paper roll holder
Faucet
Hooks on board and batten
Shower curtain rail and curtains
Paint shower hardware
Showerhead
Marble countertop
Mirror
Light
Knobs on cabinet
Toilet seat

Did we meet our budget?

Firstly, before showing you the big reveal, let’s talk numbers. In my first post, I said I wanted to keep this bathroom under $1000. Due to rising inflation, we did not have an accurate representation of what things cost, and we didn’t have a ton of tools in our workspace, so this wasn’t kept in mind while creating the budget. So remember our budget for this project was $1000. Did we go over? Let’s have a look:

Tile + materials – $294.48
Board and batten materials – $176.56
Hooks for board and batten – $12.00
Prints – $30.00
Wallpaper – $260.44
Frames – $30.00
Countertop – $229
Faucet – $149.00
Light – $64.31
Toilet seat – Gifted from Bemis
Spray paint for shower hardware – $10.96
Showerhead – $37.07
Paint for trim – $23.98
Paint for walls – $45.38
Decorators varnish to protect wallpaper – $39.21
Drapery rings – $11.65
Shower curtains – $30.68
Toilet roll holder – $13.20
Knobs – $10.79

GRAND TOTAL: $1468.71

Of course, since this was our first time doing a lot of these things, we had to buy a lot more tools than we initially thought. We purposely did not do the wall tile in the shower to save on costs as well. I hope this transparency helps you as you are planning your next project. In conclusion, I still think it is much more affordable than hiring a third party to complete this project for us.