Fiance woke up Saturday morning and nonchalantly asked me if I wanted to upgrade our bathroom on this lovely three-day weekend. I thought to myself… that must be what homeowners do on three-day weekends. “Why yes, I do want an upgrade!”

I’m careful not to say re-model here. All we are doing is ripping up the old floor tile and replacing it with new tile. Then, getting rid of the extra large vanity and getting a smaller vanity in its place. The color of the previous tiles are a hideous green and I am replacing them with a beautiful and classic back & white pattern. This is American Olean 12″ x 12″ Mosaic Black/White Porcelain Tile from Lowe’s.

While we complete this small upgrade, I am trying to convince Fiance to also purchase and install a new water-efficient toilet. Maybe a fancy one with a button for pee and another for poo? Why the heck not? It’s President’s week and I can’t think of a better way to commemorate dead presidents than by spending dead presidents (to put it uncouthly).

EDIT: New toilet success! We went with the Kohler Cimarron White High Efficient WaterSense Elongated 2-Piece Toilet. The thing never clogs, has a quiet close lid, flushes like a whisper and saves water! It does everything but flush poo down itself, you still need to push that little lever thingie.

EDIT 2: If you plan on DIY at home, there are a few supplies you’ll need. After breaking up and removing the old tile (see pics below) you should use a floor adhesive. We bought ours from Lowe’s. Generally apply the floor adhesive using a ridged adhesive spreader (ridges are important so that the tile grips to the floor and doesn’t swoosh around). Carefully, place each tile on top and press down to level. There are a few schools of though on how to start placing the tiles, we just started by the door (focal point) and worked our way back. Also, you should use spacers in between the tiles. After you’ve placed all the tiles you should wait 24 hours for it to dry thoroughly and completely (that also means no showers!).

Once it’s dry, the next step is applying your grout. We went with the pre-mixed, ready to use grout. Remove the spacers and you can begin grouting. Apply the grout generously over all the tiles and use a flat spreader to make sure all that grout goes in between each tile. We used a white grout since the floors will be black and white although I’ve read you could use a dark grey for more contrast, it all depends on what you like.

After grouting the entire floor, dip a big spong in a bucket filled with lukewarm water and start to gently wipe down your new tile floor. Once it’s been cleaned you can proudly view your work!

The bathroom isn’t 100% complete, we still need to add finishing touches to the edges and clean the floors, but you get the main idea through these pics. Here is our DIY bathroom upgrade in a 3-day weekend.

Before, during and after.

A very big thank you to Richard (aka Ginger) who helped us out with this bathroom project. Really, we could not do it without you! And a super special thank you to Fiance (aka Pookster) who knows how to utilize spare time on three day weekends 🙂