Subway Tile Bathroom Remodel

We gave our downstairs bathroom a major makeover! Our bathroom remodel updated our 1950’s bathroom and gave it a modern look. 

This summer we moved from our downtown high-rise apartment back to our house. It was a bittersweet moved. There are great things about our house, but there were great things about living downtown. Now that I’ve done both I imagine I’ll keep moving back and forth over the years. The apartment building we lived in both have something in common, neither are very new. Our apartment building was built in 1930, our house was built in the early 1950’s.

For all of those years the downstairs has had pink tile. That’s Littlest in the tub before we moved. But after having renters in our home while we lived downtown, the bathroom needed some work. It was finally time to rip out that vintage pink tile and do something new.

I’ve never done any major home remodeling. It wasn’t something that my parents did either, so I never even watched people do it. My husband on the other hand comes from a long line of do-it-yourself enthusiasts. So my husband and his Mom took the lead on the bathroom remodel and I just tried to help where I could! The first step was demolition. Youngest Twin came and helped with that part. We discovered he really enjoys tearing tile off the wall. Once we got the tile off we discovered that the wooden boards behind the tile were wet. So then everything got ripped out, down to the studs. That included the flooring.

I won’t lie. Seeing my bathroom ripped apart was a little nerve wracking. I was glad to know everyone else had down this before! Once it was down to the studs we put in fans and aired it out for 24 hours. Making sure everything was dry before we started repairs. We put in some new sub-flooring and cement backboard. Then everything got covered in red roll-on rubber waterproof stuff (<– very technical term. Clearly I didn’t buy or do that part, my husband did.)

Once the waterproofing was done (and dried) we could start tiling. We picked this gorgeous white subway tile. It makes the whole bathroom feel fresh and clean, even with 3 kids using it.

After the tiling (for the walls and new tiles for the floor) my husband grouted and caulked everything. Then we painted over the yellow paint (that the renters had painted) with a fresh coat of gray.

Then we could decorate! Gray towels, a white bathmat, and new white cabinets (which I’m obsessed with). The kids each have their ‘own’ cabinet with their personal items. The big cabinet is for things they share. Genius!

The tiling, and really the whole project, was a bit more intense than we had planned. But we love how it turned out. And now I’m ready to tackle more home improvement projects.

Love shiplap? Make sure to check out my Shiplap Wall DIY project.