I LOVE remodeling houses. I know it’s not for everyone but this is the second time we’ve bought a diamond in the rough that no one else wanted and remake it into a beautiful home. Taking something outdated or ugly and (on a budget of course) turning into something HGTV worthy is so much fun!
We bought this 1960s house last year and have slowly been updating the rooms that haven’t been touched since the 1960s! This bathroom originally had PINK tile all over the walls and tiny little shower. At some point, a previous owner painted over the pink tile with white paint but it wasn’t even or smooth. This is the main floor bathroom and I hated letting guests use it.
We’re DIY remodeling the bathroom so I wanted to share how we are doing it on a budget! This is part I- walls.
To Remove Tile:
Sledgehammer
Chisel
Heavy Snippers
Crowbar
Heavy Trashbags for debri removal
To Install Wall:
Reclaimed Look Wood
Brad Nail Gun
Jig Saw
Measuring Tape
We debated removing the shower and just having a powder room but decided it was better to keep it and refinish the tile. Turning a 4 bathroom house into a 3.5 could effect the resale value so we opted to keep it (the 4th bathroom is in the added garage apartment so it’s really just a 3 bathroom house + garage apartment).
The first step was to remove all the tile. Builders in the 1960s built things to LAST. There was at least an inch of thick cement like mortar and then THICK heavy mesh attached everywhere and then mortar and then thick tiles. Heavy leather gloves, eye protection and heavy shoes are REALLY important. This stuff is sharp and heavy.
We sledge hammered, ripped, torn and cut all of the tile off the walls. We realized quickly we should remove the toilet- so we removed that right after this picture. We covered the waste pipe with a trash bag and tape- trust me you want to do that! (p.s my son isn’t wearing protective gear here because he’s posing for the picture- we all had gloves, eye protection and heavy shoes- trust me you want those too!)
It took 2 solid days of hammering, cutting and ripping. Be careful where the pipes and electrical wires are. You don’t want to cut into a power cord or bust a hole in water pipe!
We removed the debris as we worked. It was DUSTY and even a week later we still have a fine white dust floating in the house. We taped heavy plastic over all the other doors to keep the dust from going all over the entire house but it travels.
After much research I chose not to use actual pallet wood. There are many conflicting opinions on if it’s safe or not to use inside and I opted to go the safe route and use a “reclaimed wood” look I bought at Lowes Home Improvement. This is the wood I used.
It took just about 2 boxes to do the wall. The best part is that this is SUPER lightweight. I used finishing nails and a nail gun (like this one) to attach them. I put several in each piece. You could also use liquid nails to hold them up but with so many kids in the house I wanted to be sure that they were very secure!
The wood is tongue and grove so it fits evenly and straight!
We staggered the pieces and cut as needed. It took about 2 hours once we got started.
We measured the space for each row and cut two adjoint pieces to fit. Don’t have all the seams lined up. Random seams looks much better.
Hopefully y0u won’t need to remove tile like we did and this is easily a one day event!
Total Cost to replace the tile with drywall and install the pallet wall:
$91.00
(pallet wall was $56.92 for the pallet wall including nails)
Next up we’re replacing the faucet in the vanity, adding a new light fixture and mirror. Stay tuned!
Please tell me where you ‘stopped’ with taking the tile off. I have a bathroom w/the same tile going up about the same height as yours. Mine ties into the bath/shower. So, If I start, I have to go all the way around. And yours looks really good so far!
ours ties into the shower as well. We left the row that rounds in to the shower so we’re going to have to trim that out with wood. We’re having a company come refinish the tile so it’s clean and fresh. If you email me at Jessie @Moolasavingmom.com I can send you a better picture of the shower area. We used a grinder to grind out the grout between the tile we needed to keep and the ones we wanted off. Cut through all the way to the mesh and pulled off the outside pieces leaving the interior ones intact.
Done!