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How We’ll Be Renovating Our Bathroom to Maximize ROI

How We'll Be Renovating Our Bathroom to Maximize ROI

This post is in partnership with Homes.com.

Our first floor bath renovation is around the corner! Did you notice it during our recent house tour? It hasn’t changed one bit since the day we moved into our home – almost 6 years ago. This future makeover remains untouched due to my all-or-nothing mentality, but to be honest, it never felt like a fresh coat of paint would stretch very far anyway. The mis-match of tiles (and random placement thereof), the countless layers of subfloor and that big, gold corner shower would still steal the show no matter what, certainly, and investing in a replacement vanity hardly felt worth the effort. We knew it would all change eventually, and friends, that time is now.

While we have no intention of moving, it’s a well known fact that kitchens and bathrooms sell homes. This should come as no surprise! With that in mind, we’ll be making conscious decisions to ensure that our choices maximize the return on our investment for when we’re older, more grey (than we already are!) and ready to sell our home (and move somewhere where it’s sunny year-round, of course). We’re speaking more to that on Homes.com, where we’ll also be recapping how we did once the renovation is complete! The first part of that two part series is right here, and we hope it will give you a better understanding on our thought process in regards to ROI before the first sledgehammer hits the wall.

How We'll Be Renovating Our Bathroom to Maximize ROI

We’re still in the early planning stages, but we do know that the shower will stay – that is, once we push the wall back and can create a more usable, linear space. The toilet and vanity will swap. The old floor (and the floor beneath that and the floor beneath that) will all come up. Drywall will be replaced altogether. It’s going to be so drastically different!

How We'll Be Renovating Our Bathroom to Maximize ROI

We think it will be fun to bring in a real estate expert to gather information on how our renovation investment paid off, which will be fun to see once the dust has settled and the new tile has been shined up. In the meantime, we’re still gathering inspiration on how we’d like to finish the room – tiled walls? Tongue and groove? An unexpected wallpaper?

More before photos and how we plan to maximize ROI can be found on Homes.com right here! (Side note: Did you know that Homes.com has a database where you can view the value of your home based on where you live and comparable public records?) We can’t wait to start sharing our design decisions as they begin to unfold!

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  • Carolyn3.14.19 - 6:53 AM

    Hi Kim and Scott, long time reader, love your blog and great job on your beautiful home. I wonder if you would ever do a post on how to contain dust and debris while you’re living through a renovation? I think especially for those of us with young children at home, this is a big concern. I am considering renovating one of our bathrooms but am concerned about what dust/dirt may be kicked up with my toddler around. Do you just cover all your furniture in plastic, try to seal off doorways, etc? Would you to hear your thoughts. Thanks!ReplyCancel

    • Kim3.14.19 - 12:54 PM

      We hear you – renovation dust is HUGE. For big jobs, our contractors hang thick plastic sheeting from ceiling to floor to close off the demo area. Sometimes they’ll cut a slit in it to act as a doorway for each access, but during active work, it’s sealed up. Outside of the sheeting (in any usable living areas), we’ll lay more plastic sheeting or dropcloths on big furniture or tables nearby. :)ReplyCancel

  • Hope3.15.19 - 11:21 AM

    I’ve read your blog off and on for years and always wondered if it bothered you to have the bathroom door right there next to the dining table. I never thought it was really appropriate to ask before now, though. I just assumed that when everyone was gathered around the table people would use the bathroom upstairs. When you redid the kitchen, did you ever consider putting a door into the bathroom from there? Have you considered having people enter the bathroom through the work room?

    All this time, I assumed you’d redone the bathroom before I started reading your blog. i’m really excited that you have one more room in the house that I can watch you work on.ReplyCancel

    • Kim3.15.19 - 1:20 PM

      Hi, Hope! It used to drive us nuts that the bath was right off of the dining room, but it’s definitely one of those weird old Chicago house things. We thought about all the ways we could move the door when we renovated the kitchen, but then… we’d have a bathroom door off of the kitchen! It felt like a no win, so we’ll just have to make this extra pretty. It’s a few steps away from the guest room, so it’s actually been nice that people are close to their ‘guest’ bath as well.ReplyCancel

  • Katy3.15.19 - 3:23 PM

    Kind of related to Hope’s comment, if you switch the locations of the vanity and toilet, won’t you see the toilet if the door is open? I would 100% rather look at a vanity than a toilet. What are the reasons for not keeping the toilet tucked around a corner out of view?ReplyCancel

    • Kim3.15.19 - 5:04 PM

      The toilet is going to be on the same wall that it is now, but the vanity will move as well so that a shower can span the length of that back wall! (I wonder if I misspoke earlier or in the article?) yeah, we definitely don’t want to be opening the door to walk right into a toilet!ReplyCancel

      • Clarissa3.18.19 - 11:11 AM

        Thank goodness you aren’t putting the toilet on display by swapping things around! I was worried about that too. I still think seeing the vanity is better than seeing the shower when the door is open, but it’s understandable that you have to shift things to get the most out of the space.ReplyCancel

  • Danielle3.17.19 - 1:11 AM

    I really appreciate this series! I’ve hear about ROI, but almost always in a very abstract sense. If you’re able, sharing numbers – even ballpark – would make this series extremely helpful!ReplyCancel

    • Kim3.17.19 - 7:09 PM

      Thanks for the feedback, we’d be happy to!ReplyCancel

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Kim and Scott

We’re Kim + Scott, Chicago based content creators behind the Home + Lifestyle brand Yellow Brick Home.

Join us as we renovate and nurture vintage homes across Chicago + SW Michigan!

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