Another great bathroom remodeling idea

Another great bathroom remodeling tip has to do with raising the height of your bathroom countertops without having to actually replace your cabinets.

In the attached photo, the original cabinets were kept (and re-painted) but the countertops completely re-done and raised over 4 1/2 inches. We ripped off the original cultured marble countertop (which included the sinks as it’s all one piece) then set a 2 x 4 on end and secured it to the top of the cabinets all the way around. From there it was topped with the proper material (plywood, etc.) to re-create the counters. New sinks & fixtures were installed and then to counters were decoratively tiled with 2″x 2″ tile. It worked beautifully and we saved a minimum of $500 by not having to replace the actual cabinets.

My 6′3″ husband is probably the happiest with this remodeling tip as he doesn’t have nearly as far to bend down when he shaves!

P.S. This is the same bathroom from last week’s article. We took about a year in between making the first set of changes to this most recent remodel. More of the bathroom was re-done but that’ll be for another blog on another day…..

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Affordable bathroom remodeling.

Realtors get asked all sorts of questions (some of them pretty darned strange…), but most are about how to update a home to get a leg up on the market when it’s time to sell. And in this market, you better set yourself apart with over 50,000 listings in the valley for a Buyer to choose from.

But you don’t have to sink an absurd amount of cash into your place. You can do some cool stuff on the cheap and make a big difference in how it looks. Bathrooms and kitchens are the best return on your investment (ROI), so if you’re looking to sell it’s best to focus there.

Shown in the photos is a typical Ahwatukee bathroom (but this could be any older valley home) that underwent some inexpensive updates. Gone are the original lights & mirrors, replaced with two separate framed mirrors ($89 ea.), new lights ($25 ea.) with globes in an orange/rust finish to add a punch of color ($9 ea.). The walls and cabinets were also given a fresh coat of paint ($40), new hardware added to the cabinets ($20), the original medicine cabinet removed and replaced with an open style shelf ($25) and new faucets ($60). If you can do it all yourself, that’s less than $500 to literally transform a bathroom. If you need help, a decent handyman charges about $35-45 an hour so make that part of the budget.

Your ROI on a mini-remodel like this is significant when you’re talking re-sale!

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