Editors' Picks: Top 19 Budget Reader Remodels

If the bath of your dreams seems out of reach, you've typically got two choices: Cut corners or compromise. Or, you could follow Susan and Mark Nitchman's lead and get creative—and a little dirty. For this couple, affording a spa-like retreat for their 1876 Queen Anne in St. Charles, Missouri, started with bidding their contractor farewell once the drywall and subfloor were in.

Susan and Mark resolved to do the finish work themselves to stay under the $6,000 cap they'd set for completing their master bath addition filled with high-end fixtures and finishes, such as a claw-foot tub, marble tile floors, a generous glassed-in shower, and a furniture-style vanity. And because there were no existing materials to preserve, they also knew they'd have to be resourceful—shopping garage sales, building all the cabinetry, even making their own trim.

See more of this remodel in Vintage Bath on a Budget.