DIY: How To Give Your Bathroom a Face-Lift

I know I know, another bathroom post! When we moved in, I had dreams of gutting all the bathrooms and starting from scratch, but as the years have gone on and spending has been allocated to other projects (aka new ceilings and the yard) I knew that the only thing I could do in two of the bathrooms would be to give them a “face lift.” I would love to demo them down to the studs, but for now these small updates will have to do!

Our “master” bathroom isn’t really much of a master bathroom at all – in fact, it’s the smallest of the 3 bathrooms in the house. That’s cool. The bathroom had zero personality, even less storage, and a STALL shower. Yes, a stall shower in the MASTER bathroom. Only perk of a stall shower is that my husband refuses to shower in it, so I have it all to myself. We have a full bathroom downstairs on the main floor, with some basic bleh tile, full shower, no storage, and pretty crappy “bead board” work. My challenge for both of these spaces: update them without spending a ton of money, and still make them pretty and flow with the rest of the house. While they aren’t the bathrooms of my dreams, I think they are 1000% nicer than what they were, and didn’t cost a fortune to do!

Here’s how I was able to give these rooms a much needed “face-lift”:

Step 1: Start with A Clean Slate

Our master bathroom didn’t really have a color – you could have said it was white, but it was a dull, basic construction grade white, and it made me sad every time I walked in there. The downstairs bathroom was kind of a cream color, but “bead board” was chipped and scratched, and the board and trim pieces were painted two different shades of white. Seeing that both rooms are a little small and don’t have the best natural light coming in, I knew I wanted them both to be a bright clean white, and after trying out 500 samples of “white” I settled on “Chantilly Lace” by Benjamin Moore. I purchased one gallon of their Kitchen and Bath paint, and it covered both bathrooms perfectly. Eventually I’ll get around to sanding the bead board in the downstairs bath and repainting it, but for now it is what it is.

Step 2: Work With What You Have

I knew that getting a new sink/vanity for either bath was out of the question, so I had to make due with what was there. For the master, I ended up painting the vanity with chalk paint, and swapped out the basic knobs for something these pretty pearl knobs from Anthropologie (Note: I’ve wanted to use these knobs for years because I love them so much, and was so happy to finally have a place for them. I waited until they had one of their 20% off sales, making them more affordable!)

I also knew that I’d have to put my dream of glass showers with waterfall shower heads on hold, so instead I put up pretty white shower curtains, which helped make the bathrooms feel bigger. Finally, since I knew new floors were out of the question, I simply purchased a teak mat for the master bathroom and a decorative bath rug for the downstairs, which helped change the look of the floors.

Step 3: Updating Where You Can

Updating all of the hardware in both bathrooms was probably the hardest part for me for two reasons: 1 – I’m impulsive and want things to come together right away, and 2 – I don’t like paying full price for anything, so I have to be patient and wait for sales. In both bathrooms I replaced the door knobs and hinges, mirror and vanity light, and in the downstairs bathroom I replaced the shower curtain rod and faucet. Seeing as most of the hardware throughout the first floor of our home is a mix of black and antique bronzed metals, I wanted to stick with that in the downstairs bathroom so it was all cohesive and flowed nicely. I purchased a new towel ring and toilet paper holder for the downstairs bathroom, which end up matching the light perfectly. (Yes, I waited until these were on sale too!)

I haven’t done too much in our master bedroom yet, so I took this opportunity to bring in gold tones with both the knobs and vanity light in the master bathroom, which I will eventually continue into the bedroom. I had a hard time finding a towel ring and toilet paper holder in the right shade of gold, so I ended up purchasing an inexpensive set from Lowes and spray painted it using my favorite hardware spray.

Step 4: “Shop” Your House

My husband loves to say I have a shopping addiction, and he’s probably right! To prove a point to myself (and to keep him quiet) I tried to use items I already had in my house to decorate these bathrooms. For example, I took a small wire basket from my office, put a roll of toilet paper in it, and put a faux plant on top which I took from my front hall. I also have a few pretty candles from Anthropologie that have burned down to the bottom, so I melted down the remaining wax, dumped the jars out and washed them, and now use them for decorative accents in my master bathroom. They are perfect for holding cotton balls, q-tips, hair ties, decorative floral stems, etc.

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