I’m currently working on a small project in Southlake, TX that involves bathroom renovation WITHOUT painting the cabinetry. 

Often times our clients want to refresh their vanities without replacing them, but I’m here to offer just a few insider tips right off the bat:

1. If your cabinet doors are made of laminate and not wood, they can not be painted. Well, I take that back, they CAN, but it will not look good or last. Sometimes we will keep an existing vanity and replace the cabinet fronts to wood so that the whole thing can be repainted. However, often times at this point its cheaper to replace the whole thing. Shop places like Lowes, Rejuvenation, and Amazon for prefabbed vanities. 
2. Vanities have gotten taller. It’s commonplace to see vanities at countertop height or 36”. What can date a space dramatically is low countertops. So my advice if your vanities are short are to replace them entirely. 
3. Solid surface countertops are OUT. There’s no nice way to put it. Stones like marble, quartz and granite are attainable so don’t assume you can’t afford them. You can look into buying a remnant of a slab and have it cut to size. 

Bye Bye, Tuscany

For this bathroom renovation I am working on, we are not painting the gorgeous wood cabinets (Looking to paint? Check out my favorite color guide here). However, I did have to come up with a way to refresh the dated Tuscan look. Lots of homes in this area have that Old World vibe that we can’t stand to look at anymore. If you’re not sure if you have this in your home just take a look at your lighting. If it’s scrolling iron that loops more times than you can count, you have it.

Come to the Light

I think often times home owners are intimidated by changing lighting, but to me it’s just as cheap and just as striking as changing paint colors. Thanks to Amazon knock offs, you can get a chandelier for around $100. If you don’t know how to hang it, electricians can run you about $300 to install it. So for $400, you can immediately update a bathroom! 

For this bathroom renovation, that’s the first thing I did. Now we have a sleek vanity light that doesn’t collect dust like the previous fixture. 

Magic Mirrors

Another easy change without demolition is to switch your mirrors. This home had very gothic, heavy framed mirrors in gold. We took these down and replaced them with a beautiful mirror from Pottery Barn. If your mirrors are glued to your walls, you may want to YouTube a tutorial to take them down. Often times the wall behind them will need repair, so note that this option may result in more work for you. In that case, consider framing around the existing mirror with wood trim from the hardware store. You can use liquid nails and paint it yourself. 

Replacing Hardware Isn’t Hard

After replacing the light and the mirrors I decided I wanted to add some hardware to match the existing sink faucet. You can replace hardware very easily just be sure and measure the distance between the screws and purchase the same size. These cabinets don’t have hardware currently so we will be able to install whatever we please. Most hardware comes with a template to mark your cabinetry for installation.

*I updated my bedroom builtins by adding hardware. It’s such a simple and easy way to refresh the look without much work.  

No Demo Renovation Complete!

And just like that, we have a fresh, updated bathroom renovation. And we didn’t even open a paint can! Be sure you follow me on Instagram for more ideas like this and to see my projects in real time. (Ready for more bathroom renovation tips? Click here).

**Current bathroom renovation times are between 4-6 weeks from start to finish, pending no major problems. Lead times are still very long for plumbing and light fixtures.** 

I’m booked about 3 months out for local jobs and my contractor is too, so you’re looking at 6 months from demo day if you wanted to schedule a consult today! Visit susierobb.com for more details.