In 2022 I bought a loft in downtown Los Angeles— a blank slate with a bathroom that hadn’t been touched in decades. After years of living with grungy rental bathrooms, I was determined to make this functional space feel luxe, but both time and money were a factor, in that I needed lots of both in order to achieve my vision. After being laid off earlier this year, I found myself with the gift of free time. So, armed with the knowledge and skills I’d learned from helping my parents renovate a bathroom during the pandemic, I set out to see just how cheaply I could get the textural and serene bathroom of my dreams: no white subway tile, no builder-grade fixtures, and just a splash of Ikea.

The look

The goal was modern organic luxury, the kind of bathroom that makes you feel like you’re perpetually on vacation in a fancy hotel. I found myself gravitating towards the smooth, minimal cement interiors in contemporary Mexican and Mallorcan design, but I was also drawn to opulent bathrooms clad in heavily veined marble.

Searching for a combination of the two materials led me to the work of a few notable Australian designers, Smac Studio and Mim Design Studio, both highly adept at combining these textures. Referencing their designs helped me lock in a plan of action: a cohesive marble slab running around the room from the lower third of the walls, meeting seamlessly with the floors, with the top third rendered in a micro-cement. A floating vanity and thick profile sink would be accented with brass fixtures and curved details to soften the industrial, brutalist space. I set aside roughly $3,000 for the project with the goal of completing it in under three months—which is how long my first bathroom reno took.

To demo or not to demo?

Because my apartment is a condo, demoing the floors and walls and redoing the backer board would have required permits, approvals, and licensed professionals. But I had carte blanche for any technically cosmetic changes within my space. The easiest way to get my desired result was to tile over the existing tile. This can be a major cost and time saver but should only be done if you’re confident in the structural integrity and lack of mold within your space. In my case, I’d just had a clean inspection, took off the baseboards to check for mold, and there was no tile cracking, which usually indicates an underlying issue.

Tiling adventures

The right prep is crucial and should give lasting results. It’s not sexy but it’s essential, so stick with me here! I de-greased the tile, applied a subfloor primer, taped the grout lines with cement board tape, and covered it all in crack prevention and waterproofing membrane. I’ve also now gotten into the very necessary habit of reading the technical data sheet for any materials I use to ensure each layer works together to set properly.

Tiles can be wildly expensive. So I turned to what’s become my favorite place for stunningly affordable and beautiful materials, Floor & Decor. The caveat is that they don’t deliver even small orders for less than the price of your first born child, but if you are within driving distance to collect, I promise it’s worthwhile. While they do carry real marble, for durability and ease of moving giant pieces myself, I went with a 24-by-48-inch Italian porcelain that’s the most realistic looking leathered marble dupe I’ve ever seen.

I opened all the tiles and aligned patterns to create the illusion of a large slab. After a series of mishaps with renting a wet saw for large format tile, I ended up freehanding the cuts with a diamond blade on an angle grinder and a bottle of water. It worked out well, but don’t be like me—get the wet saw. You’ll have a much easier and faster time getting clean, straight cuts, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience cutting tile. I finished off the tile with my favorite pre-mixed quartz aggregate grout, which is a bit more expensive than dry bag grouts but it repels stains and is less likely to crack. I used the matching caulk along the seams where the walls connect to each other and the floor.

Textured, waterproof walls

For the upper walls surrounding the shower, I followed the micro-cement method I saw Leanne Ford DIY years ago. I used white Surecrete Microtek for the smoothest application, then custom tinted it to a rosy greige using their pigment in River Bed. I troweled on a few layers to hide all the tile, sanding down lumps between coats, then did a final sand before sealing it with a low gloss nanocoating.

My arms were destroyed from all the cement troweling and I didn’t want to pay for more micro-cement to cover the rest of the upper walls, but I still wanted that seamless look. So I took a cue from designers Oda and King and used a matching paint treatment. I had a sample of my micro-cement color matched at Sherwin-Williams. I applied this, then mixed some of that paint into a lighter and darker shade and dabbed on those colors until the walls took on the appearance of the micro-cement. In the end, this saved my wallet, but not my arms. It was still just as labor-intensive, but you can hardly tell where the micro-cement ends and the paint begins.

Finishing touches

While I should have factored the location of my floating vanity into my tile plan and not tiled in that area, I didn’t. So with the surfaces complete, my boyfriend tagged in to help with the vanity installation. We spent hours on the floor with a carbide burr drilling into the seemingly indestructible tile in order to mount it. The vanity and sink are Ikea but to elevate the look, I changed out the drawer pulls and finished it off with an unlacquered brass and resin faucet I ordered from Metal Works Morocco via Etsy. It costs the same as a brand name faucet from a big box store, but adds a unique touch.

I swapped out the old shower fixtures with new brass look pieces that fit the existing in-wall valves and attached a splitter to the shower head so I could also have a hand shower. Then came a new toilet paper holder, peg hooks, and an armed towel rack.

I worked with the existing electrical placements and swapped out the fluoro bulb for a huge double armed sconce I’d previously found on clearance. Then I leaned into the hotel vibe, mounting a nearly four-foot pill-shaped, backlit mirror with built-in defogger. It was at this moment that I realized what an upgrade it is to accurately see what you look like while getting ready.

Well, maybe a few more things...

Once all this was complete, the toilet was looking worse for wear in comparison so we swapped it for a compact, skirted toilet. Because I tiled over tile, I needed to add a toilet flange spacer to bring the flange level with the new tile and prevent leaks. This was easy and just a few dollars.

After all that work, I wanted to stare lovingly at my walls, so instead of a shower curtain I got a fluted glass partition with an arched profile to compliment the mirror shape. Water spots are nearly invisible with the textured glass.

The one thing I hired out was reglazing the yellowed old tub. This is a super toxic process and should be done with proper ventilation methods.

The results

All in, I came in a bit over the initial $3,000 budget—with the addition of the new toilet and fluted glass partition—but still under $4,000. Now I’m finding excuses to hang out in the bathroom while I complete the rest of my renovation. I finished in a total of about 10 days, much faster than the first bathroom I ever completed. I’d happily do it again and I can only imagine that next time it will go even faster. I feel confident that anyone can tackle a project like this if you’re willing to plan out the minute details, read your product data sheets, and cross reference your skill teaching resources on Youtube (a great place to start is with the TileCoach). Even if you only ever complete one self-renovation, it should be an invaluable experience for understanding the process the next time you work with a contractor.

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