Bathroom refresh with large timber benchtop

[tom_builds]

A dated bathroom was given a $1700 makeover that included a new benchtop, shower screen, sink, tapware, cabinetry and fresh paint.

• The project
• Before and after
• How to paint bathroom tiles
• More bathroom renovation projects

The project

When we first bought our house we were tossing up the idea of completely redoing the bathroom but decided that it was going to be too costly. The bathroom as we bought it had peach coloured walls with blue wall tiles and a tessellating floor tile.

The first change we made to the bathroom was to slide the vanity across slightly to accommodate our washing machine. One of our initial projects after buying the house was sacrificing the separate laundry to create a large open plan living, dining and kitchen space.

Moving the washing machine into the bathroom required a slight tweak to the vanity plumbing by adding a 15 x 20mm fitting onto the cold water supply to accommodate the washing machine inlet pipe. I also added a bypass into the vanity drain pipe for the washing machine drain pipe. We kept the bathroom like this for a while as other projects took priority. 

The next step we took was painting the walls in Lexicon Quarter and the wall and floor tiles with the Dulux Renovation Range in Lexicon Quarter, and then used a black grout pen to recolour the grout around the floor tiles.

We also updated our shower head with Mondella Roccocco in matte black, bath spout and tapware with Mondella Resonance in matte black, and replaced our old towel rail with two the Barelli Piazza 900mm matte black double towel rail. Our shower curtain made way for a semi-frameless swinging shower screen and we added the Mondella Roccocco mirrored shaving cabinet to provide extra storage space.

The final step was to completely redo the vanity. We installed Flatpax cabinetry as the base, using a 450mm laundry hamper cabinet and a 600mm two door cabinet. We cut an Acacia panel to size for the benchtop and I sealed it with multiple coats of a water-based polyurethane to protect it from water damage, which is a process that will need to be repeated over time.

We chose the Estilo 400mm White Round Counter Top Basin and finished it with a matte black mixer tap. We used a kitchen mixer for the added height needed due to the countertop and we bought one with a removable nozzle to help with baby baths.

In total our bathroom refresh has cost a little over $1700 and it is now one of our favourite spaces in our home.

Before and after

How to paint bathroom tiles

Transform your bathroom tiles with the Dulux Renovation Range by following this guide by the Bunnings team: Painting bathroom tiles with Dulux.

More bathroom renovation projects

There is a lot you can do to improve your bathroom without spending huge amounts of money. Check out our Top 10 most popular bathroom projects for more renovation ideas.

[Annette2]

Tom, did you paint your bath? If so with what? and do you need to sand it first to prime it?

With Thanks , 

Annette

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Annette2. It's wonderful that you've joined us, and many thanks for your question on this fantastic project.

Let me mention @tom_builds, so he is alerted to your enquiry.

Personally, I've used the White Knight 500ml White Tub And Basin Paint over a similar coloured pink bath. Quite happy with the results as it has lasted several years so far. The bath just required a sand of the surface first and no primer.

I'll be looking forward to following along with your project, and please let us know if you need any assistance.

Mitchell

[tom_builds]

Hi @Annette2,

Yes we did paint the bath, we used White Knight 500ml White Tub And Basin Paint. I gave the bath a light sanding with 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper. Applying it was a bit trickier than the tile paint as it is thicker to work with, but I was happy with the result we achieved.

[KevinMall]

@tom_builds. Thats a fantastic outcome for you, well done. I too did a refresh on wall tiles with the added step of regrouting the wall tiles.

I like the way you used a grout pen to colour the grout on the floor tiles great work..how long did that take you?