Our present BR counters (~ 50 years old) are laminate, and we will be replacing them with stone as we reno. But, we just built a large wraparound desk ~12' X 5' in DH's den, and used laminate, and when we redo the basement kitchen, will probably do laminate there too.

The choices in laminate today are unbelievable! A couple of weeks ago in a kitchen showroom, I had to look carefully and touch to determine if their laminate counters were 'real stone' or not!

Just make sure if you are DIY to google how to glue laminate so that you don't create bubbles...

I agree with Raehelen, the laminate today is not our parents' laminate. If you'd prefer to use stone, I wouldn't rule it out without checking for affordable remnants that might meet your needs. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to put one of the new laminates in.

I'm basically trying to decide where to spend about $200 to make this bathroom - and it's near-twin guest bath - less blah and ugly. It will definitely involve painting the walls.

My vision for the master would be a calming grey scheme, I was thinking painting charcoal grey for the vanity and a light neutral grey for walls - possibly with beadboard on the lower either painted white or the vanity color charcoal grey. I would like a white or light grey marble look countertop ideally. But this may not work with the floor :(

Of course I would love stone, but not as much a DIY situation and much more expensive - the large size of the vanities means remnants are very hard to find and not cheap. We are not interested in spending a lot of money on our house right now, I just want to give the bathroom a bit of a facelift.

I just finished a $500 kitchen makeover in which I painted cabinets, poured concrete countertops and added hardware and beadboard wallpaper backsplash. It was fun to see what i could do for $500 and I was pretty satisfies with the outcome.

I would like to keep the bathrooms to an even smaller budget. The tubs and surrounds are fairly new installed by PO - off white (biscuit? ivory?) acrylic surrounds. Not aesthetically my favorites, but clean, new, properly installed and serviceable. The faucets and fixtures are newish too, and although not what I would choose, they are fine. The vanities are old and ugly but can be facelifted with paint and hardware.

The sinks and countertops are the main issue - and the overall color schemes. I have travertine-look vinyl in the master with a pink undertone, and I would prefer a grey bathroom so I might replace the floor tiles with new color even though I like the existing floor on its own. But if I can get the wall and countertop color to work with the floor and the adjacent master bedroom (BM Wedgewood Gray and white bedding/drapes) I would keep it.

the towel bars etc are definitely going to be replaced and the walls painted, possibly beadboard wallpaper and chair rail put in.

I also hate the dressing-room style globe light strip and wall-length mirror, but removing the mirror is not something I want to face - it also makes the room seem brighter as there are no windows. So I'll probably build a frame for the mirror and possibly replace the light fixture if I can get up the nerve to touch electric.

Here's the master, shortly after we moved in - I haven't done anything yet! The cultured marble is actually very badly sctratched, chipped and stained - it just doesn't show in this pic. The sink has chips with rust around the overflow so I need to replace it. Guest bath looks almost exactly the same, sink is in worse condition. Tubs is on the right behind the door, and toilet in the alcove on right at the end.

Excuse the day-after-moving towels and rug clashing so badly, they are now all white.

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The only reason I can think of why I don't recommend laminate in more bathrooms is that I like undermount sinks for the vanity and there is only one method (if it is still offered) to place an undermount sink in laminate (it involves gluing a solid surface sink like Corian to the laminate, I think). If you are selecting a drop in or vessel sink, then it doesn't matter.

I think they are a great surface in a bathroom because they are comparatively "cushiony" and usually something dropped on it won't break as readily as it will on stone or quartz.

Laminates are beautiful and will be a great way to update your bath. The patterns and colors are ENDLESS. There is something for everyone. We have laminate in an old bath we have from the 70's. It needs updating but the laminate is intact and servicing our needs at this time. The sink on the other hand is rusting and needs to be replaced. Of course when that gets done a new counter will go in, as well as vanity :)

I'm excited to see what you do with your $. Didn't you post your kitchen several weeks ago? (If it is the one I'm thinking about)

Yes I also prefer undermount, however the current undermounts are a large positive reveal which I don't particularly like - it accumulates lint and hair etc. Also the sinks were a bad DIY job by the son of the PO, the master sink is misaligned so there is actually a gap between the counter and sink on the left - I discovered when I removed the caulk and re-caulked. Add in the rust, and the sinks will have to go. So I guess I would prefer vessel or top mount to a badly-done misaligned undermount!

I can either keep the existing cultured marble and get creative with some epoxy (I am trying to find fume-free water based stuff so I don't have to breathe really bad fumes) - I'd even considered doing a faux carrera marble paint job with clear epoxy top coat. I won't need to worry about UV yellowing since there are no windows in these townhouse bathrooms. Then I could get new undermount sinks and install them correctly, if I can find some the right size.

But for all that work and materials cost, it might be comparable in expense to get nice new laminate. I was just a bit hesitant wondering if the laminate backing board from the pre-formed stuff might not hold up to the moisture in a bathroom, it's usually made of pressboard material. I would prefer the finished edge of the pre-formed type. I didn't go for laminate in the kitchen because of the fact that I'd have to remove the existing countertop and because I had the window to the living room creating an area that would have needed seams in a very visible spot. The concrete got around those problems by forming to the shape and overlaying the existing countertop. But in the bathrooms the cultured marble should be easy to remove.

enduring, yes I posted my kitchen makeover last week - link below! It was fun and exciting to see what I could do without spending significant amounts of money. I didn't want to go down the rabbit-hole of renovations leading to more and more money. Removing the old tile-in-concrete-bed countertop would have been a major demo job and most likely have ruined the cabinets, so my alternative was pretty much to replace everything at many thousands, or to give what I had a facelift for a few hundred.

I still drool over the gorgeous open inviting kitchens posted - and the sumptuous baths, but my townhouse will never have a kitchen like those anyway. And I barely cook, my job keeps me so busy. Maybe next home!

Here is a link that might be useful: $500 Kitchen makeover

So, assuming the countertop can be changed to whatever color either by paint or laminate, what colors would you choose for the walls and vanity based on the current floor and on the adjacent master bedroom? And what countertop color or pattern would you use?

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Adjacent bedroom to show color (this was still-unpacking bedding, new bedding is white but this pic shows the color better than my more recent pic)

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I was also looking for this and here I found some great ideas of bathroom lamination. Thanks to all the ideas are really very nice and useful.

LAMINATES beautiful and is a great way to update your bath. Endless patterns and colors. There is something for everyone: from the early 70's we were stratified into the bath. It needs to be updated but the laminate is intact and at this point we need.

Bathroom lamination flooring is very in demand these days. There are lots of interior designers who include these sorts of flooring into their bathrooms. Lamination is a cost effective and easy to install in various design and quality. I was also one of the user of laminations.If you guys are interested then use bathroominternational.com services. I was one the client and have complete satisfaction with their service.

Wow, this is a new phenomenon on GW-- multi-user multi-spam posts.
Annoying!

Did you make a decision?