When we decided to spruce up the bathroom, I knew a shower remodel was necessary. Tile showers are beautiful, but were not in the budget.
Check out this inexpensive shower update!
Paint Shower Tile
The color of the bath fitter was a very sad beige color. I wanted to have a modern, white shower, but didn’t want to fork up the cash for a new tile shower (or even a new bath fitter for that matter).
As a result, I had to figure out how to improve the existing shower that I had.
I did quite a bit of research on DIYing my own tile paint. At the end of the day, a lot of people said that it was difficult to apply and didn’t hold up very well. So I ended up paying a professional to come in and apply a new layer of epoxy in a crisp white.
He also removed the (many) grab bars and patched up the holes before applying the new finish.
Shower Faucet Handle
Once the new white epoxy had set, it was time to address the faucet handle.
The original plan was to replace it, but in an effort to go for low cost, high impact, I decided to try to spray paint the existing faucet handle.
In order to prep for spray painting, I used newspaper and painters tape to tape off my brand new white shower so I didn't get any black paint on it.
I used this spray paint from Rustoleum in Farmhouse Black with a matte finish.
As time has gone by, this has held up surprisingly well. It has been over a year since this shower faucet handle was painted and it looks pretty good still.
The paint has worn off on the top of the handle just a little bit and I just haven’t been motivated to touch it up. Of note, this is our ONLY shower in the house, and this is how well the paint job has held up with over a year of use.
Shower Head
Next on the agenda was a new shower head. But, before we could do that, we needed to address the shower arm.
The neck that comes out from the pipe in the wall was not able to be disconnected. So, in order to keep with our new black hardware color scheme, the shower head arm needed to be spray painted too!
After the paint had dried, it was time for the new shower head, and it was super easy.
We have been really happy with this one from Home Depot. The thing that's great about having a shower head with a wand that comes off the wall is that it makes cleaning your shower SO much easier. The reason being that when you can give the whole thing a quick spray down before you get out each time, it keeps the shower cleaner for longer.
How to change your shower head
- 1Unscrew your existing shower head.
- 2Apply Teflon tape around the threaded end of the shower arm. You don't need much, just one wrap around should suffice.
- 3Screw your new shower head on.
- 4Enjoy your beautiful new shower head!
Shower curtain
As you can sort of see in the before photo, there was a sliding glass door in the shower previously. The track that the doors sat in was constantly collecting grime and mildew and was really difficult to clean.
Since a new set of shower doors was not in the budget, we went with a new shower curtain instead.
Our shower curtain is from Signature Hardware and it appears that it is no longer available. However, this shower curtain looks identical.
Total Budget
To rip out the bath fitter, install a tile shower, and replace all the hardware would have been a cool $1500+.
Yet, our mini shower remodel cost $447. Here’s the breakdown.
Professional refinish of existing Bathfitter $300
Shower head $49
Can spray paint $11
Shower curtain $69
Total = $447
Our new shower remodel is a major upgrade and didn’t totally break the bank!
Looking for more bathroom DIYs? If you're interested to learn how to give your bathroom cabinets a facelift, check out my DIY Shaker Style Cabinet Door Transformation here!
Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear about some of your favorite budget friendly bathroom refresh projects!