For reference, the before:

It's definitely worth adding advice for inexpensive fixes! Most of us can't do "redo's" on everything that we dislike in our homes.

We redid our kitchen and deck/patio, and now, possibly a bathroom. But, I'm balking at the money we'll have to spend for the bathroom! Spending huge chunks of money on yet another project is not what I want to do right now!

Anyhoo, I understand what you're saying, believe me.

I really wish we had the ability to do renovations on our own, because it's the labor that kills ya.

Great renovation! If you've got decent bones to work with, there's more you can do.

Very nice!

Very nice, $250 well spent!

I think that advice is given a lot of the time because the person receiving the advice doesn't have the ability to fix the non-cosmetic items that need to happen first. You were very fortunate that you could use your own labor to make some cosmetic changes that make it much more livable.

I agree, $250 well spent! Glad you bit the bullet and made it livable for you and your family. I'm impressed that you decided to just paint over that plastic paneling on the walls. How did you prep/what kind of paint? You mentioned the shower as awful; of course it's hidden until using it and I always close my eyes when showering anyway, so that could wait for me. But I wondered if you thought about adding a colorful shower curtain on the outside of the liner you have? It might add a little something without too much investment.

eta: even the light switch cover is an improvement!

You did the right thing, good job and I agree with what you posted. Do what you can.

You made some nice changes for $250 and you should offer your perspective to posters yearning to make interim changes.

I see nothing wrong with doing a cheap interim facelift, and have done it many times before. I'm more than willing to invest my time and a can of paint to avoid having to look at Butt Ugly while I save :)

You spent $250 saving your sanity and you no longer get sick walking into this space. Nice work and nice payoff you surely won't regret!

Good job Darcy! I agree with you.

I'm one of those people who doesn't dislike really well done cultured marble.

You did a marvelous reno on the bathroom. Congratulations!

Love this post. I agree with mayflower's comment though-the advice to wait is often sound advice, depending on a situation. And I agree with you too-you know what, I'd probably do the same(if I was as handy as you). Great job.

And you made me think: did I ever have-had to have- a room that was too horrible?

I'm still thinking...

mayflowers, I hear ya on the quartz over bad cabinets but the bad layout is one of the things that stopped me from making over this hideous bathroom until now. I hate that the door opens up to a view of the stool. I hate that the shower is so tiny that you have to step out of it to retrieve a dropped bar of soap. I finally decided that I hated the parts I could afford to change enough to overlook the stuff I can't fix right now. P.S. I'm lucky that this shower is mostly used by kids coming in from the lake. They don't care how ugly or small it is, and their parents just want them to get the darn sand off before they get back in the car, lol.

Olychick, I started by just slapping some Behr Ultra (with built in primer) on part of a wall to see if it would stick. It did! Unfortunately, it didn't stick to the gold (ooh la la!) metal trim. I tried a couple of other primers before I got to Zinsser. That stuff is amazing! And yes, I have thought about adding a more colorful shower curtain. I almost bought one that was the same pattern as the towels but I worried it would be too much matchy-matchy in the small room. Do you have any ideas about what would look good?

Walnut Creek, Unfortunately, this is -not- really well done cultured marble. It's just okay. We were luckier in the other bath. The "marble" in there actually looked pretty good once the contractor cut out the stained shell sink and replaced it with a ceramic one.

aprilneverends, I think I could have waited if the room had ANY redeeming qualities at all. It was so bad that when we had guests over, i always felt like I should hover in the hallway just to direct people to the other bathroom. BTW, if you ever had a room that bad, you'd know. I still doubt that I will be able to erase it from my memory!

Probably. But I can't stop-I'm still thinking..remembering all sort of stuff..

Your post made me awfully sentimental. Really. It's never just a room (c)

I love what you've done. You've simplified a small room and made it cohesive by painting everything the same color, and it's a huge improvement. I'm not sure that I'd add a shower curtain in that tiny space. What you have there now blends in and is functional. If pressed, I'd suggest a solid turquoise. With the patterened towels anything with a pattern would seem fussy and distracting.

That is a great makeover......especially getting rid of the carpet!! Carpet in a bathroom makes me nauseous!

That's such a great improvement, Darcy! Everything just looks so much better, and great towels and artwork.

I mostly lurk around the kitchens and bathrooms forums but agree with posters above that most of the advice is against spending $4000 on a temporary fix when saving up for a bigger renovation. In some cases, the decisions made on that temporary fix would dictate the remodel, when perhaps those decisions in the remodel would have been made differently had the homeowner just waited until they could afford the whole thing. In your bathroom though this refresher is definitely worth it.

grapefruit, This wasn't just carpet in a bathroom, which, on general principle, makes me want to barf -- this was carpet in a LAKE HOUSE bathroom. That means not only did I get the usual ickiness, but I also got lake water soaking from dripping kids running in and out -- and sand that got trapped in the carpet no matter how much I vacuumed. It felt like a litter box. Totally grody!

I totally hear you and commend you for a great job. I have at times (not so recently actually) been bitten by the same spirit but I have come to realize that I am a pretty crappy painter. I think I used to be better, not great, but adequate. The last few things I attempted bought some time, but were not done well.

Yours looks great- clean and fresh and bright and renewed. Well done!

Lisa, You must have been reading my mind during this process. It was sooo tempting to replace the vanity while we were in there working anyway. I had to keep reminding myself that when we REALLY re-do this room, it will be down to the studs. All the plumbing will be moving. We'll be taking over a closet that currently sits behind the stool. It will be a complete blank canvas. I asked myself at least 100 times: If I pick some bargain vanity, top and faucet now -- will it be "still too good" to throw out then? And did I really want to be stuck with that choice?

I DO think that saving to do it right is the smartest thing to do. I would only advocate doing something like what we did when A: The room is truly atrocious as it is and B: It's possible to make small changes without impacting the budget for the real project later on.

sheilaus, You need to invest in a better monitor or new glasses, lol. I am a horrible painter! There are flaws all over the place. It's STILL better than what I started with though.

What an amazing change! It looks great! Very well done!

Self stick tiles are the most affordable major improvement one could make to a room. I used them in my first house to spruce up a horribly dated and dark old kitchen. Loved them. People would come in and bend down to tap them to see if they were ceramic. Just prime over the old flooring and peel and stick! Voila.

I'm glad you jumped in and made it more pleasing to your eye. Feels good doesn't it?!

I disagree with your statement that "Often, the advice they receive from most of you is: Don't bother. Wait until you have the money to do it right." In fact, I commonly ask new posters what their budget is so that I don't waste my time suggesting improvements they can't afford.

Great budget-friendly makeover. Agree with your reasoning- the kitchen in my daughter's recently bought house was painted neon green with older solid wood cabinets that were very worn looking. A new gut job kitchen won't be in the works for quite a while but the effort to paint the walls and the huge effort to paint the cabinets really made a difference. Luckily the flooring and counters are okay even though not what she would have selected. Agree Zinsser is the best primer.

You did a great job and for 250 it's certainly worth it but I do think that every situation is different and the advise given is just based on the information and pictures provided by the OP. If the OP says there is a remodel in the near future it doesn't make sense to invest money, but if the OP says it's going to be years before we can do much, I've seen lots of suggestions for easy low budget fixes.

Great job -- the bathroom looks very friendly and livable right now.

You guys are right, of course. (Like usual.) After posting this initially, and reading your responses, I started thinking about threads I've seen through the years. I still believe there are instances when posters are warned to wait until they can afford to do it right. But I remember many, many threads where posters stated, straight up, that they were on a budget and it would be a long time before they could afford something more (if ever) -- and those people were given tons of support. I wish I could remember the names of some of them. I certainly remember the rooms. Thank you all again for being an amazing resource!

I do know that there are instances where this is a good choice. Before we had the money to completely gut our kitchen I repainted our cabinets (DIY) twice, replaced the hardware (including hinges) twice, replaced the counter and retiled the backsplash when repainting the second time around and replaced lighting and flooring at that time as well.. We lived with our kitchen for 25 years before having the funds to completely redo it including busting out walls, but that doesn't mean I had to live with dark and ugly along the way.

I think it looks great! And it was a good compromise. Nice job!