So. Two years ago I bought five 3x8 foot kitchen cabinet cover panels in the AS IS department of IKEA. They were the Nexus Yellow-Brown line, which is oak veneer stained to look remarkably like old teak. I didn't have any immediate plans for them but I knew that I'd think of something. They were $10 each, normally $120. No damage to speak of.
Meanwhile, we had this half bath that was hideous when we moved in (pale peach painted barnsiding-textured wainscoting!) and that we gutted gradually over a few years as we had time and energy. It has been out of commission for most of the 9 years that we've lived here.
Then I got the brilliant idea of using the panels as wall sheathing above tiled wainscoting. The tile was necessary as this is below grade and occasionally water seeps in through the original cinderblock walls when it rains a lot.
My husband and I did all the work except for replacing some old galvanized pipes, which our faithful plumber did. The tile is cheap but nice stuff from Lowe's. Sink & vanity from IKEA (shut up, i love IKEA!). Mirror from Target. Floor tile from Home Depot. I would have loved to have gotten some higher end materials but we still have a kid in college and we'll be broke for some time to come.
First pic is what it looked like when we bought it, second is after gutting. Third is our beautiful new baby. (More pics at the link below.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13227529@N05/sets/72157622554124907/ 
<img class="wpforo-default-image-attachment wpforoimg" src=" http://old.designaddict.com/sites/default/files/forum/snarbat 
Wow.
You never fail to impress me, Spanky.
I've been flirting with the notion of redoing my bathroom, DIY. The only thing that's really holding me back is the fact that we only have ONE bathroom in the apartment, so once I begin I'll have to plow through it in short order. (Otherwise, We may have to use the showers at the gym we belong to, down the block, for a few days-).
Your wood panels look GREAT, fantastic job!
Aw, thanks!
We just scored a whole bunch more of the same panels in other sizes plus door and drawer fronts. We are planning to cover the chimney breast in two rooms with them. My original plan was to use a nice fake stone veneer but it's just too expensive. This will cost around $100 for about 150 square feet.
Good luck your bathroom re-do. If you can leave the fixtures in and work around them, you can minimize the downtime to a manageable amount. It dosen't take long to switch out a toilet or hook up a sink---if all goes well, that is.
If you do tiling, I recommend buying a cheap wet saw ($60 or so) at Home Depot or Lowe's. Then you can do the tile when you have time (vs. renting a saw and trying to get all the cutting done in a day or two). Cutting tile with a wet saw is really easy and pretty fun. I could do it all day.
I think I'm capable of most of the work myself.
but if I decide to put in a new shower & tub I'll have to hire a plumber-- too scary a job for even an inveterate do-it-your-selfer like me (when I screw up a furniture repair I can chalk it up as a learning experience, if I screw up a shower installation I'd be liable for damages to my downstairs neighbors!).
I guess I can't figure out the proper order in which to do things-- have a plumber install a new tub & shower...then re-tile shower stall... then rip out old sink cabinet... then rip out toilet... then re-tile floors... replace toilet... replace sink and cabinet (?).
Sounds exhausting, and I might have to pee before finishing!
Heh.
I can't tell you the number of hours we spent trying to figure out the order of tasks for this project. It was related to the bathroom above, which had a serious shower leak into this bathroom, and kids living at home but moving out soon (using the 3rd bathroom)---gah. Logistics. I'm not good at that stuff.
Thanks, all!
The panels are fixed with a couple of finish screws each. I actually pried bits of veneer off a scrap and covered the holes with them. I still need to touch them up a bit but it looks better than solid filler.
Olive, I think I'm going to make a flat linen panel to cover the window. I have to use a tension rod now that the window frame is tiled, but that's ok, I like tension rods. So far we haven't even used the bathroom because there are two others in the house and only two of us. But tomorrow we'll have guests. I'm going to tape some white paper over it for now.
How about just frost film?
I've used it quite a few times and it looks great. Simple, neat and very modern. You can get rolls of it at Lowe's and Home Dumpster. The only bad thing is it's vinyl, which is not all that great for the environment. But you won't need much and you could do only the lower casement if you wanted. I quite like the soft, subtle light that you get through it. I think it would look quite good in your space as it will leave the clean lines of the tile unobscured.
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