Master Bathroom – How Much Will This Remodel Cost? Here’s The Estimate…

Y’all! The time has finally arrived. After a couple of months of changes and delays, the remodel is finally getting started on Monday.

I don’t know that this can actually be called a remodel since the room isn’t currently a bathroom. This is the room that was presumably the original master bedroom. I’m just guessing at that because it’s the only room that had a tiny bathroom attached to it, although that wasn’t original to the house, and was probably added at least 20 years after the house was built. Those rooms looked like this originally…

To take the photo above, I was standing in the hallway just outside the doorway to the master bedroom. Now that doorway from the hallway to this room has been closed up and drywalled over, and the only access into this room is currently through a door on the left wall above that leads to our home gym. When we finally do our addition, there will be a doorway on the right wall in the photo above that leads to our new master bedroom.

And here’s the original tiny master bathroom that is not original to the house.

About three winters ago, the pipes in this room froze and burst, and as they thawed, water sprayed all over the place and the little vanity (made of particle board) disintegrated into a pile on the floor. I cleaned up the mess as best as I could, called the plumber over to cut off the water to this room completely (I think he literally cut the pipes to this room and capped them off completely), shut the door, and haven’t opened it since. I literally haven’t seen inside this room in about three years, and I cannot wait until the day the thing is completely torn down and removed from our house.

For now, they’re just going to drywall right over the doorway to this little bathroom. Since there’s no longer any electricity or water going to that room, we’re just going to pretend like it doesn’t exist. And then when we get ready to build our addition, they can tear this room down from the outside.

Anyway, that’s really a whole different story. The point was to show what we started out with for those who may be new around here, or for those who may have forgotten.

And as a reminder, this is the goal…

master bathroom floor plan - 2D - 2

The doorway at the bottom of the floor plan above leads to our home gym, and the doorway opposite that at the top of the floor plan will eventually lead to our master bedroom. For now, it is an exterior door that leads to Cooper’s fenced-in yard in our back yard.

So, let’s talk money! How much is all of this going to cost? I was just looking over the estimate from our contractor last night, and adding to that the items that I’m going to tackle myself (e.g., tiling, painting, installing trim, building the vanity, etc.), and here’s how it all breaks down:

Master Bathroom Remodel Estimated Cost Breakdown and Total:

Framing – $1650 – This is for framing two new walls, making repairs to existing framing, reframing the exterior door that will eventually be an interior door, blocking for grab bars in shower and toilet area, etc.

Plumbing – $3650 – This includes both repair/replacement of existing plumbing (swapping out some remaining cast iron for PVC) as well as all of the new rough-in plumbing we’ll need for shower, tub, and sinks.

Subfloor and concrete board – $3200 – I’m having them do the floor and shower walls up to the point that they’re tile-ready. I’ll be installing all of the tile myself.

Electrical – $1430 – This is pretty straightforward. The whole room needs to be redone so that I can have lights and outlets where they need to be. They’ll get all of that in place for me, and then I’ll install the lights when I’m ready for them.

Insulation – $1055 – Thankfully, we already have our entire attic insulated with spray foam insulation, but we still have two exterior walls that need insulation, and the subfloor has to be insulated. The floor insulation is a code requirement, but I’m happy to have it so the tile floor won’t get too cold in the winter. I won’t do heated floors, though, because it seems like such a waste of money in central Texas where we rarely have harsh winters. (I’d say never, except that this past winter would have proved me wrong.)

Drywall – $3730 – This is one of those costs that I’ll gladly pay, because I will never, ever again in my life do drywall. 😀 I’ve done enough of it in the past to pay my dues as a DIYer, but I’m done with drywall.

Shower pan – $1600 – Our shower is going to be much bigger than a standard shower so that Matt can have plenty of room to move around and not feel cramped or bump into walls.

Contractor – $3300 – This is a standard markup for overhead and contractor fees.

TOTAL for contractor’s part of the project – $19,615

So the cost for everything our contractor will take care of on this project comes to just under $20,000. Of course, that number could change if we make changes or additions along the way. But that’s a pretty close number. But of course, that’s far from everything, because I’m going to take care of all of the finishing. Here are the additional costs I can think of:

Trim: $1200 – I’m estimating this based on what I just paid for trim for our home gym. Maybe the cost of lumber will come down by the time I’m ready to trim out this room, but I won’t hold my breath.

Floor Tile – $650 – I still haven’t made my final decision on the floor tile, but I found one at Home Depot that I really like, and it’s $1.69/square foot. So as long as I don’t add anything fancy, like an inset mosaic tile “rug” by the vanity (which I’m am considering), this price is close. But it could be more if I add the fancy stuff.

Shower Tile – $1000 – I also haven’t made a final decision on the shower tile. I don’t want anything really fancy, because my teal/turquoise walls in the main areas of the bathroom will be the feature. I don’t want fancy shower tile stealing the limelight. So I figure the wall tile may be around $3.50/square foot, and I’ll find a subtle mosaic for the floor. While I don’t want that to be attention-grabbing either, mosaics are generally quite a bit more.

Bathroom walls – $500 – This number is an estimate, so we’ll so how that works out. On the walls, I’ll be using a wallpaper mural behind the tub, and venetian plaster on the rest of the walls. The wall mural was $200, and I already have that in hand. The venetian plaster that I’ll be using is $62.95/gallon, and I estimate I’ll need two gallons, plus topcoat (maybe also two gallons), plus tools. I’ll have to research more and see exactly what tools are needed. It may just be the one trowel, or I might need two. It’s been so long since I’ve done Venetian plaster (well over 10 years), so I’ll have to refresh my memory on the process.

Bathtub – $889 – I’ll be using a freestanding bathtub from Home Depot that I shared in this post a couple of weeks ago.

Plumbing fixtures – $2510 – After reading your feedback on the black fixtures I had chosen for the sinks, tub, and shower, I decided to find another option. So now I’ll be using the Delta Trinsic fixtures in the Champagne Bronze color. This price is for two sink faucets, a wall-mounted tub faucet (I decided against the floor mounted style), and a the standard shower fixtures plus a separate adjustable handheld shower head with a diverter.

Lighting – $850 – Thankfully, I selected wall sconces for the vanity area that are pretty inexpensive. They’re less than $70 each! This this price includes four of those, plus recessed lighting for the main bathroom area, shower, and toilet area, plus a chandelier. I’m still undecided on the chandelier issue, but whatever my final decision, this room will definitely have a pretty ceiling light in it somewhere.

Mirrors – $700 – I’ll be using two Moroccan-inspired gold frame mirrors for the vanity area, which you can see in this post.

Vanity/Cabinets – $1200 – I’ll be building these myself using white oak. With the price of plywood and lumber right now, this might actually end up being more.

Countertop – $1300 – I want to use a white quartz countertop. That’s what I have in the studio bathroom, and I love it.

Toilet/Sinks – $600 – I haven’t picked these out yet, so this is just an estimate for one toilet and two sinks.

TOTAL for my part of the project: $11,399

GRAND TOTAL – $31,014

So there it is. I’ll probably need to set aside another $1000 or so for anything I forgot, finishing touches (like towel holders, toilet paper holder, etc.), but that’s going to be pretty close to the cost of this entire project.

It’s still not the most expensive room remodel in our house. That honor goes to my studio that used to be a garage. That room cost well over $40,000, and it’s still not finished. But this will easily be the second most expensive room in our house. Even the kitchen remodel came in at $10,000, but I DIYed that entire thing, and we have a pretty small kitchen. Our kitchen is about half the size of this bathroom.

So the fun gets started on Monday!

 

 

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40 Comments

  1. So exciting! I don’t think the cost estimates are outrageous, as you said, considering the size of the space. I think for the chandelier, could you maybe center one between the vanities and the tub? I think that would look very nice, especially if the doorways into the room are centered on the chandelier! And do the tiled accent for the floor along the vanity, you’ll regret it if you don’t! Can’t be THAT costly, all things considered! 😉 (I’m good at spending other peoples’ money!)

    1. The view of a chandelier from the doorways is a good point! And if was over a tiled “rug” accent, even better. Great ideas!

  2. I have done a master bathroom semi remodel this past year. My husband and I took down the old, full wall mirrors. I patched the walls and did all the painting.
    My husband installed new faucets and lighting fixtures. Total cost including paint was $1,000. I got two quotes on removing a fiberglass shower and putting in a tile shower, one was $5,000 and one was $6,000. And I was to buy tile. So I guess your bath is very reasonable.

  3. Kristi, I loved your comment about the pipes bursting and the vanity collapsing. I had the same thing happen about 10 years ago in our main bath. Fortunately I was in there when a hole opened up in the copper line from the cold faucet. Hubs ran for the cutoff in utility room and I started grabbing towels. Hubs started putting vanity PCs in a big garbage can and I headed to Lowe’s for a new vanity and faucet. We had that sucker fixed by suppertime! Hubs could do plbg and electric since had worked for my Dad in his misspent youth.

  4. We got the Trinsic fixtures in our bath. I like that for Delta, you can upgrade and change the handle as needed! We got the single handle for a shower/tub with for pressure & temp, not two sep. handles. The issue we had was inlaws and plumber helped adjust the cartridge way down so we get luke warm water at best, now I need to take it out and adjust it, but its tempting to upgrade it to the 2 handle one.

    1. I decided to research the temp adjustment, apparently its a simple adjustment after the cartridge is installed, without having to turn off the water.

  5. I am pretty sure you are more than an hour away from a Floor and Decor but I highly recommend taking a trip to one if you have the time to look at their tile.
    I had two bathrooms updated after I moved out before my house went on the market. One got a new tub and tile and floor tile and the other got new shower pan with pebble tile and subway tile and new floor tile. My realtor picked out the tile and we discussed it by phone and Floor and Decor prices were good and the selection was much bigger than Home Depot. The customer service is awesome and they had information in advance about what was going on sale and what prices were increasing.
    I understand what you are saying about not wanting the tile to take away from your wall mural but you might find something that really compliments it. I am sure no matter what you choose it will look great.

    1. I second Floor and Decor if you have one anywhere within driving distance. It was a little overwhelming with all the choices but I love our new bathroom and the prices were fantastic.

      1. And I third to Floor and Decor. My husband and I like to go there just to see what is new! The tile and flooring there is awesome. We recommended to our cousin and they purchase almost everything for their projects there now. Just be careful about advice. We did get some bad advice about a fancy grout he picked. I know you know better, or always do research when using something new so no problem. I hope there is one near enough for you – if not, do a day trip, eat out, and have fun!

  6. Just wondering if you’re going to make 1 sink handicapped accessible? Your drawings showed drawers & doors under each.

  7. Hi Krisit: It sounds exciting. I look forward to seeing the process. You mentioned that they were upgrading from cast iron to PVC. We had some plumbing work done in the kitchen and they used PVC. I have some additional plumbing work in the bathroom that needs to be done and the plumber told me, we should use PEX instead of PVC because it holds up much better against splits. (We are in Georgia so fairly similar climate.) I don’t claim to be a plumbing expert but might be worth asking your plumber about.

    Just a thought about your flooring. When you were posting about the initial rug you bought for the TV room, I couldn’t help but think that the colors look like they would really complement your new wall mural. I don’t know if Matt can maneuver that or not. Just a thought.

    Here’s wishing you good luck with the new Master Bath! I know it will look great!

    1. I 100% second you, Linda. We’re in GA too and had a repair done and the plumber used Sharkbite PEX. After that we know we want to use it in a whole house remodel

  8. I use a stainless steel trowel specifically for venetian plaster, for the first two half-coats only. Then I switch to japan scrapers for the other coats; just my personal preference. They are nice for a smaller hand and I feel I can get more movement out of the plaster.

  9. I installed Delta champagne bronze in my kitchen remodel last year. Love love love them.

    All the best. You’ll knock it out of the park!

  10. This room is going to be a masterpiece! Passing along a FYI. My brother lives in Fort Worth in an older remodeled home. When we were talking he said to tell you to really reinforce the floor in your bathroom; especially if your bathroom is on piers. He had to do it after the fact. Very expensive.

  11. Can’t wait to follow this project as it progresses. Sounds like plenty of work.
    I put off my kitchen remodel due to covid-19. The estimates I received before covid were around $30, 000. My first estimate that I received last week was $49,000+. This does include adding a 2’x5′ island but does NOT include any new replacement for the existing cabinets. I’m still in shock!
    Needless to say, I will be getting additional estimates.

  12. I’m excited to follow along on this master bathroom! It’s going to be stunning when finished. I’m anxious to see those turquoise venetian plaster walls.

  13. Thank you so much for your openness. As someone who has not attempted any major home renovations, this breakdown is so very helpful to develop a sense of costs for different elements. I am so excited to see how everything turns out, and I hope the process goes smoothly! 🙂

  14. So exciting! Considering you are building an entirely new bathroom from scratch, and not just remodeling an existing bathroom, I think $31,000 sounds reasonable. Plus, although you’re not going with crazy high-end features, you are doing some specific things to meet your own needs/desires, so it’s not just builder-grade basic. It will be beautiful!

    I feel you on the drywall. I’ve never done that, but I’m finishing repainting my bedroom in my 90 year old condo. It started “small” with some cracking paint that I was going to repair, until I discovered that I could basically peel away all the paint layers in huge sheets, down to the bare wall (all the lead paint was removed when they converted the building from apartments to condos, so these paint layers only went back 25 years or so). There ended up being a bunch of places where the plaster had cracked and needed to be repaired.

    I did NOT want to have to sand all of that so I wanted to pay our part-time maintenance guy who also does a lot of handyman work around the building: he’s trustworthy, does good work and charges a reasonable amount. He’s been really busy and kept not committing, so once school got out (I’m at teacher) I couldn’t live with my bedroom being torn apart any longer and said I would just do it myself.

    Never again. It was just as awful as I feared. I just finished priming last night so I can’t wait to paint it and then get the whole room put back together. It has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears (literally, lol).

  15. Dear Kristi,
    Your bathroom plans are lovely! My only suggestion would be to change your toilet room and shower around. Nighttime bathroom trips will be much easier with the toilet closest to your bedroom door. Maybe there was a specific reason for having them configured the way you have them? If not, I’d change those around to make toilet access shorter, and more direct, from your bedroom.
    Thank you for the inspiration and example you are to all of us! Can’t wait to see this gorgeous bathroom come to life!!!
    YHWH Bless You : )
    Mrs. David Schwartz

  16. I just had a thought. Since your room is nearly a square 12×12, you could put a gorgeous chandelier right in the middle of the room and have recessed lighting all around it. That would prevent installing a chandelier above the tub (although I see no problem with that) and would make the most gorgeous thing the centerpiece in the room. I would think doing this would necessitate something being done to better showcase the tub area — maybe the gorgeous mural will be enough. ? It will be gorgeous, whatever you choose to do!

  17. Looks fantastic!

    The only change I’d consider is adding a second shower head in the shower, so it’s a two-person shower.
    It’s obviously big enough for it, and it’ll be good resale, though I don’t know if it’ll be practical for you and Matt.

  18. Forgive me if this came up somewhere but are you planning on a curbless shower with a linear drain? I definitely want my next shower and everyone thereafter to be a flush and curbless entry. I think that tub/shower combinations and stand up shower curbs are what creates the market for walk in tubs and I’d rather have showers the rest of my days! Plus I love the clean look. If you are going curbless your contractor may have to do some planning with your floor joists to get a slope that allows for water to stay in the shower

  19. What a timely post for me! I just bought a fixer-upper and will be gutting the 1965 gold bathroom completely. I know you have additional accessibility considerations for Matt, but I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the total price of your remodel! My remodel budget is a teeeeeeeny $3k for that 6′ x 10′ space because I’m going to do everything but the myself….but…yikes! I won’t start my project until October, so I’ll have plenty of time to follow your progress and brush up on my DIY skills. I’m certain your bathroom will be absolutely stunning and can’t wait to see the final results 🙂

    1. All is well! I didn’t get much done last week because I couldn’t get into the home gym. Long story short, we had a much larger plumbing issue than we anticipated, and they guys working on the master bathroom had to be in and out of the home gym (where the scuttle hole is for the crawl space underneath our house) to fix the plumbing issue. So I just made a point to stay out of their way, and wound up not getting anything done myself for the entire week. Hopefully this next week will be much more productive for me.

  20. That is the most beautiful wallpaper I have ever seen and the white wainscoting is perfect.
    It instantly says Peace to me. That multiglobe fixture in the sample picture above looks like clouds. I’d like to put in a nice easy chair and a dimmer switch and spend the day in there with herbal tea (or a nice glass of wine). Perfect.

  21. I wonder if the bathroom was added in 1957? I say that simply because my in-law’s house was built that year and the master had the field tile, the guest had the pink tile, and both had that same bathtub 🙂

  22. I just remodeled a small bath and my own room and the champagne bronze fixtures are just beautiful Totally different from what you have in mind mine is neutral with a pop of cranberry but I’m in love with the fixtures. Got some gorgeous oversized knobs from Anthropologie not that costly and boy do they make and impact