As John mentioned on Monday, our full bathroom is overdue for a complete makeover. From across the room it still looks charming…
…but up close it’s another story. After more than fifty years of use, the original black-and-white basketweave floor tiles are cracked, stained, and worn beyond repair.
The white wall tile is in rough shape as well — cracked in places and dingy almost everywhere else.
We’re big fans of salvaging what we can, but after a serious cleaning and recaulking effort a few years back, it’s clear the bathroom needs a full refresh. That said, we don’t want materials that feel out of place in our mid-century brick ranch. Our goal is a balance of classic and current—choices that suit our 1950s home now and won’t look dated a few years down the line. Ideally this new bathroom will last decades like the original did.
Before any demo, we do a lot of planning and gather inspiration. When you’re starting a makeover, look for multiple rooms you love and build an inspiration folder. We often recommend collecting at least five images: patterns will emerge and you may find a “jackpot” room you can emulate closely—matching paint, tile, window treatments, and more. And remember: you can recreate high-end looks affordably with sourced finds from places like Target, Ikea, HomeGoods and similar retailers.
Over the past six months we slowly collected inspiration. One image stood out above the rest from a Canadian home magazine: mocha floors paired with light, airy surfaces. While that room is much larger than ours, the way it used deep mocha floors with pale tile everywhere else felt right for our house, which already has dark hardwood throughout. Extending a similar mocha tone into the bathroom creates flow and avoids the jarring transition from dark living spaces to a tiny island of light tile. Cohesive flooring can make a small home feel more open because visual boundaries are softened. Plus, darker floor tile with darker grout is far easier to keep looking clean than white grout.
We were set on a dark mocha floor, but we wanted tile rather than hardwood for durability in a high-moisture, high-use bathroom. We visited Home Depot and Lowe’s to compare options. Home Depot had basic porcelain and ceramic tiles in brown tones that mimicked travertine—more new-traditional than the classic-modern mix we wanted. At Lowe’s, however, we found an unexpected win: mocha marble tiles on clearance, marked down from over $10 per square foot to $2.50. Since our floor only needs about 30 square feet, the cost for flooring material was roughly $75. Doing the work ourselves (with help from John’s dad) will keep total expenses low.
We used a strategy taught to me by my parents: buy roughly double the tile you need when tiles have irregular veining or inconsistent patterns. That lets you hand-select the best-looking tiles and return the unopened boxes of the rest for a refund. Stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s are typically fine with returning full, undamaged boxes. Also, buying at least 10% extra is a good rule to cover breakage and to keep spares for future repairs.
For the rest of the room we’re committed to classic white subway tile for the shower surround, installed all the way to the ceiling to add height and create a taller, more unified look. Subway tile is affordable, timeless, and suits a 1950s ranch. In other areas currently tiled behind the toilet and sink we’ll remove the tile, replace it with drywall, and paint the walls floor-to-ceiling in a single color for a cleaner, less fragmented look. Semi-gloss paint will keep the walls wipeable and durable—perfect for bathroom use.
We planned a DIY vanity built from a sturdy piece of furniture retrofitted to hold a sink and faucet—a strategy my mom used successfully years ago. After a full day of hunting through thrift stores and retailers like TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, West Elm, Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel, we found the ideal base: a nightstand at Crate & Barrel with the exact proportions we needed (around 18″ deep, 23″ wide, 30″ high). With a 15% off coupon we paid $165—considerably less than many ready-made wood vanity bases at big-box stores.
We also tracked down a clean-lined white sink at a discount and matched it with an affordable faucet. Combined with the nightstand base, the completed vanity will be around $380—less than comparable options from major home retailers and a fraction of similar pieces from higher-end outlets.
Here’s the mood board that guided our choices:
1. Color palette: soft gray-blues and light taupe-green accents with a rich mocha floor and crisp white shower tile and curtain for a bright, airy feel. Status: paint and accessories TBD until tile installation is complete.
2. Tile: 21-cent subway tile from Home Depot for the shower walls and the clearance $2.50/sq ft mocha marble from Lowe’s for the floor. Status: all tile purchased.
3. Sink and faucet: a clean-lined white sink found at a discount and an affordable faucet sourced online to keep the look modern and budget-friendly. Status: sink received and loved; faucet selected.
4. Vanity base: the Crate & Barrel nightstand we’ll convert into a vanity. Status: purchased, boxed, and waiting for assembly.
5. Textiles and finishing touches: we’ll reuse an existing full-height white waffle curtain and add patterned towels in taupe-green and gray-blue, plus art and accessories to complete the room. Status: curtain on hand; towels and accessories to be purchased post-tiling.
That’s the plan for our bathroom overhaul. We’ll share a full budget breakdown and step-by-step progress as we move from mood board to finished room. Meanwhile we’d love to hear about your own budget-friendly renovation wins—what discounted finds or DIY projects made a big impact without breaking the bank?