I Can’t Believe the Luxe Tile in This Stunning Bathroom Makeover Was Only $150

ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER

HOME TYPE: House

PROJECT TYPE: Bathroom

STYLE: Eclectic, Vintage

SKILL LEVEL: DIY, Professional

RENTAL FRIENDLY: No

Interior designer Claire Brody is a pro at finding the best of the best on Facebook Marketplace, especially pieces that add character without the price tag. Her biggest piece of advice? “You have to be constantly looking,” she says. “You can’t just show up at a thrift store one day and expect to find everything on your wish list.”

For her latest project, a primary bathroom makeover in her central Austin home, she sourced with that mindset, finding everything from $150 marble tile to $50 artwork.  The space, which was part of an addition to a 1940s home she and her husband purchased, “wasn’t a great house, but we made it into a great house for us,” Claire says.

The homeowner scored tile on clearance.

The starting point for the design was $150 floor tile — a Facebook Marketplace score, of course — that Claire paired with $5-per-square-foot white and blue tile from Bedrosians, which she arranged in a checkerboard pattern. “It felt unexpected paired with the red marble, which I liked,” she says.

For the shower, Claire opted to continue the floor tile. Although it was a necessity since she ran out of marble, the bench, which is used for shampoo and other shower essentials, also helps bring the scale of the shower down. (Double win!)

“The bathroom was one of the last rooms I sourced and designed. By that point, our budget was completely shot, so I really tried to be as budget-friendly as possible,” Claire says.

She added her own twist to the store-bought vanity.

While many of the pieces are vintage, such as the corner cabinet that holds their bath towels, the sconce and shades, and the rug, the vanity is a store-bought piece from Signature Hardware. It was completed with “a prefabricated marble top to save on budget,” Claire says.

To make it feel more custom, she painted it in Farrow & Ball’s Deep Reddish Brown, added vintage hardware she sourced from Etsy, and attached a custom skirt made from a vintage fabric remnant she had on hand. “I love that I was able to customize it to make it feel more one-of-a-kind,” she says.

Painting stripes was cheaper than installing wallpaper.

The final touch that makes the bathroom truly maximalist, hand-painted stripes, were somewhat of an afterthought but provided an artful edge. “After seeing all of the main elements together, it felt like it needed something more,” Claire says. “I decided to paint stripes on the walls. I would have loved to wallpaper, but it didn’t work in the budget, so I chose an interesting color combo: a subtle peach and chocolate brown.” The colors also complement the primary bedroom, which features wallpaper and blue beadboard paneling.

Claire picked up Dutch Pink and Wainscot from Farrow & Ball’s Dutch Pink and Wainscot for the stripes, and while she loves the result, she says it’s not something she’d necessarily do again. “I taped them and painted every other one, but when I pulled the tape off, some of the lines weren’t straight,” she says. (For advice for getting crisp paint lines every time, check out this TikTok hack!)

In the end, thanks to clever finds and cheap — but not cheap-looking! — materials, Claire’s bathroom paint, vanity, and tile came to a grand total of $1,000.

Inspired? Submit your own project here.

Further Reading

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