We have been saving money by doing all our renovations ourself. That seems to be an awesome find on all those items, very jealous of your skill to find good deals! Excited to see others deals too!

This post was edited by Alexz7272 on Fri, Dec 19, 14 at 15:19

I am a mega bargain shopper. I will look for a screw for a week to find the perfect one at the perfect price! I will go to a thrift shop, an outlet place, pick junk off the street and first place I go in any store is the clearance rack!

13 dollars for that marble? Great deal!!!

When I buy discontinued, I make sure I get extra if it's something like tile/wood floor, wallpaper etc. Always at minimum one extra box/roll. Because what is a bargain today will be quadruple the price later when trying to match it; and good luck finding the same batch number!

IâÂÂve had years of decorating on a dime and full DIY projects. In my last house I found two great heavy quality vanities cheap on CL that I refinished. We laid all the tile ectâ¦Houses we had before we did the same type of things. Now, even though I am in a smaller home the location does not allow me as much freedoms. I still get deals on things and do not buy unless itâÂÂs a REAL sale but I have to kick it up a notch due to the area. Still, I found ways to get a higher end look with quality RTAâÂÂs and knowing what granite marble yards to shop, acting as my own GC and doing a lot of DIY.

I do too, I love getting a great deal, and am getting into the rental/real business.

Super cute finds!

Very nice, Nicole! I so envy those of you who can do actual work. I have been planning a bath remodel for two years and we are starting to buy. I splurged on Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware medicine cabs and light fixture, but did get them on sale.

I have to share my tale of the vanities. I originally thought I could manage a 34" door with a 20" vanity. I bought an antique dresser on Craigslist for $125, hoping to put a Kohler Brockway utility sink (looks like an antique kitchen sink with a built-in backsplash and wall-mount faucets) Then on Cragslist I saw a real vanity - brand name bath vanity of the right size that was gently used and had never been used with a sink in it, just as a counter, so it really was almost new. Had to get it, so now I would have a choice between the two, $150. When I realized I needed a 36" door on the bathroom, I had to go down to an 18" vanity. After spending days and days on the internet looking at all the modern skinny vanities, the pedestal sinks, the wall-mount sinks that I could put things under to serve as vanities (including my Brockway) I finally decided on a really cute antique lady's vanity table that was 18" deep, all curvy in the front, had three drawers on each side and a center drawer that I knew I would lose when I put a sink in, and was painted with chalk pain a nice light blue. It was mahogany underneath. $295. Turns out it is more turquoise in real life, and I may repaint it. Now I have two vanities to sell! I may repair the antique dresser and chalk paint it when I repaint my vanity and try to sell it as a vanity for a bathroom at a higher price than I bought it at.

I do still plan to get my tile from Craigslist. Two different white tile choices have been on there for months now.

On my kitchen I did much better, I got the cabs for $3600 from Green Demolitions.

Nicole, I want to tell you a sorry tale just as a warning. I have a mentally ill friend who rented a newly remodeled place. New hardwood floors, new bathroom with a vessel sink. She woke up with numb hands one night after taking too many pain meds and sleeping on her arms all night. She panicked and thought that she had damaged them. She turned on the bath faucet to soak them, gave up on that, called for an ambulance to go to the hospital, and ran downstairs to meet the crew. She did not turn off the water. Ruined the new wood floors and got the newly installed, and not yet painted, drywall in the apartment below her all wet. At least that is what her landlord said. She fled the place the next weekend. Never lived there long enough to unpack.

nancy_in_mich.....

Sorry. I wasn't trying to talk about rentals and the value of credit checks, non-refundable pet deposits, LLC's & insurance . I was trying to focus on bathroom remodels!

This post was edited by nicole__ on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 10:28

We have a Habitat for Humanity thrift store near Jacksonville, Fl. that sells mainly used house items. Anything from doors, windows, plumbing to nuts and bolts. The prices are cheap and the money funds a good cause.

We have a Habitat for Humanity thrift store near Jacksonville, Fl. that sells mainly used house items. Anything from doors, windows, plumbing to nuts and bolts. The prices are cheap and the money funds a good cause.

Wow, those are some great deals! I am pretty good at finding deals, but I've not found any nearly that good, even at our Habitat store.

I always seem to find good deals on things when I don't need them and can't store them for later. Then I can look forever for what I need and not find anything.

Right now I am working on my bathroom. I have a pedestal sink because the space is incredibly tight. I can't find any combination of cabinet and sink that will fit for less than $150--that I would actually want to have. I think I'm going to go with an old-fashioned wall-hung sink from Habitat. People are getting rid of those like crazy, so they're only $15!

Figuring out a thrifty replacement for the horrible '70s paneling is next. I wish I could find some of your ten-cent tile!!!

parhelia.....not sure if you'll like this look. It's my next install......a wall hung sink used as a vessel sink....by Ikea. $40(Restore/Habitat For Humanity)

It's sitting on cambria canterbury granite, $10/hole & size already cut....on a Bertch cabinet, new/never installed(CL), $25. Kohler BN faucet, $68/Ebay open box.

The .10 cent tile has been amazing! Here's the tile layout for this bathroom...the 2" squares are slate, .03cents ea....

This post was edited by nicole__ on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 9:02

Nicole, that is a lovely pattern to use to jazz up your inexpensive tile. Our H for H store sells nothing but discards from house remodeling. So you get junk from the 70s and 80s, just like you yourself are throwing away. I don't understand how HfH gets such good donations in other parts of the country! I did get a nice cast iron sink for my kitchen for $60, but only because I was willing to ignore some enamel chips on the rim toward the back.

nancy_in_mich.....actually......the new with tags Ikea sink "had" a $200 price tag on it, but I offered them $50 for the granite(A miscut someone donated) "AND" sink and they took it. :0) I heard another story about a jetted tub with a HUGE price tag @ H/H and they got a $25 offer and took it. :0)

On my last remodeled rental, I used oak vanities & painted them white. Like you said....discarded junk...but I made them work! The vanity top had a chip on the upper left backsplash, I painted it....:0)

The mirror was free, left by a previous tenant, The corner was chipped but the routered wood frame my DH made covered it up. The towel bar was from the upstairs bath.

{{gwi:2133579}}

This post was edited by nicole__ on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 9:25

Yes, those are the kind of HfH finds I expect to see, wonderful job fixing them up!

Wow, I am impressed! I thought I was a good bargain finder but I must admit, I am not as good as I thought. Great deals!

hpny2.....thanks!

Here's the upstairs bath remodel....travertine slab on a painted oak vanity. It replaced a broken pedestal sink which looked cuter, but there was no place to put anything.

This post was edited by nicole__ on Tue, Jan 6, 15 at 23:25

I've been debating either painting or gelstaining my oak bath cabinets for months. My husband prefers the stained look, but from what I've seen, unless you use the java color, getting an even color with gelstains is not easy. Your white cabinets look great, I plan to do mine in a cream shade. As a bargain hunter myself, I can't really justify new cabinets just because the old ones are oak. We bought quality, all solid, in excellent condition except that they are the dreaded honey oak color. Your white cabinets look so clean and bright, it's inspired me to paint mine in the spring. My current project is a tear out/retile job in our other bathroom, which is showing signs of age and looks very dated. I guess a house is never really "finished", you just move from one project to the next.

All three baths in my house have hideous tile on floors/walls/counters. They will all need to be gutted at some point, but since they are all functional they've been last on my list of projects.

The one that bothers me the most is our master bath, since that's the one I spend the most time on. Not wanting to spend any money on it since it will eventually be gutted, I've just started doing little things to make it a bit more palatable. One of them was painting the golden oak vanity. I went with black, as it was really the only option given the ugly tile and it made a huge improvement.

hpny2.....I sanded down the vanities, but when I tried using spray paint on them...a section would bubble...then I'd sand it down and start over. I finally ended up using a filler to fill in the oak wood grain....then rolling on an exterior paint to the flat surfaces. By the time I got to the medicine cabinet I just brushed on one coat & called it good. The wood grain is prominent. It was a HUGE amount of work. I hope to NEVER do it again. :0)

Well I don't really mind the grain so much, it is wood and the grain is ok with me. I know I could use a grain filler, but that adds a lot more work to a project that is already quite a bit of work. In the spring, when I can open the windows, I'll scrub, sand, prime and paint them. I know the end result will be worth it, I am always amazed at the transformation of a room by just using paint. Right now, the main bath is to be retiled, that should keep us busy for a while.