DIY Shower Remodel: How to Tile a Shower On a Budget

In 2020, I decided to remodel our guest bathroom at the California Cottage and replace our 1980s tub and shower surround with a brand new tub and DIY shower tile. I’m excited to share with you the exact steps I took to DIY this shower remodel on a budget!

Here’s a before picture of our bathroom to give you an idea of what we started with. There was nothing wrong with it functionally, it was just getting older and I was ready to remodel it for a fresh new look!

Honestly, removing the old surround, replacing it with a new tub and getting the plumbing in place was the most time consuming and frustrating part of our DIY bathroom remodel. Let’s save the details of that for another time though and get into how I actually tiled our shower on a budget once the bathtub was installed and the walls were back up!

Materials

• Subway tile
• Mosaic flower tile
• Mortar
• Grout
• Caulk
• Masking tape with plastic
• Old blanket or something similar (to protect tub and floor)

Tools

• Snap and score tile cutter
• Nippers
• Putty knife
• Notched trowel
• Grout float
• Small bucket

Step 1: Mask off and protect surrounding areas

The budget friendly traditional tiling process with mortar can get a little messy so I wanted to make sure I didn’t splash around or scratch up our new tub. I masked off the tub to protect it and covered the part of the flooring that could get messy.

Step 2: Waterproof the shower walls

This step is really important because whenever water is involved in DIY projects, things can get costly if not done right.

For our guest room shower I used a product called Mapei AquaDefense and it can be applied with a roller and brush like regular paint. To me, Mapei AquaDefense resembles liquid rubber. It acts as a moisture barrier to prevent water from penetrating into the wall or its cracks later. You can think of it as a greenish rubber glove that protects your walls!

Step 3: Plan and dry fit your tile layout

It’s so important to plan out and dry fit your tile layout before getting started.

Especially if you have obstacles to keep in mind such as soap dishes or shower hardware. I recommend trying to avoid awkward cuts or tiny slivers of tile and ensuring the layout is nice and symmetrical. Here’s an example of what to avoid:

Planning things out and dry fitting beforehand helps a lot!

Step 4: Tiling the shower wall

I HIGHLY recommend taking your time with this first row and not rushing it. I believe the first row is the most important step because it all starts with that first row of tile! Ensuring that first row is perfectly level and placed correctly is key because the rest of the shower will be based on this first row.

Applying mortar

Tip: I only mixed a small amount of mortar at a time in a small bucket so that I could take my time tiling without having to worry about the mortar drying out.

I actually used a putty knife to spread the mortar because I found it easier to maneuver and control but still used a regular trowel to create the notches.

I decided to spread enough mortar for one row of tile at a time.

My recommendation is to back butter the tile (applying mortar to the back) because this helps it adhere better.

I used 1/16 T spacers and really like how the spacing turned out with this subway tile.

To prevent lippage, I pressed in any tiles that ended up sticking out which pushes out the extra mortar from underneath and evens it out.

Cutting tile

Cutting ceramic subway tile

I decided to use a score and snap tile cutter, which is less messy than a traditional wet saw and it worked great! This tool cuts tile by scoring the tile with a little wheel first

and then applying pressure to snap it.

Here’s a quick visual of how it works:

I used the nippers below to cut the tile around obstacles.

These cuts don’t need to be perfect because they’ll ultimately be covered up by the shower hardware.

Cutting porcelain mosaic tile

The mosaic flower tile was a little trickier to cut because it’s porcelain and the individual flower pieces were pretty small and very thick. I cut them by marking a straight line first and then scoring them with a Dremel using a diamond wheel:

Then, I broke them off with nippers:

I ended up with a straight cut line:

Even though the cutting of the mosaic tile was a little more time consuming, laying the mosaic tile was definitely easier and faster than laying the subway tile because I could lay one large sheet at a time compared to multiple smaller subway tiles.

Adding trim

I added bullnose trim pieces to frame the sides and the top for a nice finish:

Bullnose trim has a rounded edge compared to the straight edge on the remaining tiles, here’s how they differ:

Step 4: Applying grout

I used Mapei Ultracolor Plus FA in the color Avalanche. To grout, I mixed the grout in small batches (so I could do one small section at a time), applied it with a grout float and let it sit according to the instructions.

Then, I used a small bucket with water and a sponge to wipe off the excess.

I’m always amazed at the difference once the grout is finished!

Step 6: Finishing work

Lastly, I removed any remaining grout haze with some water and a microfiber cloth.

I also caulked the outer edges with paintable caulk. The reason I used caulk vs silicone because it’s touching the painted wall and it’s not really a wet area. I did use silicone on the edge where the tile meets the tub as that part is most definitely coming into contact with water! I let everything set and dry for a few days (just to be safe) before using it for the first time.

Finished shower tile

I’m so excited about how this DIY shower tile on a budget turned out!

I really love the blue flower mosaic tile, it’s definitely the star of the show!

You can find more pictures of the finished guest bathroom here and if you would like to learn how I installed the custom shower niche, I have a separate post saved here.

Let me know if you have any questions at all!

Tina