Budget-friendly Bathroom Update

I’ve been meaning to share this little update that we did to the kid’s/guest bathroom for quite some time now. Several months ago, I decided to tackle our severely outdated upstairs bathroom with a little elbow grease and a few fresh coats of paint. We have plans to totally gut this space and renovate it in the not-so-distant future, but I just couldn’t live with the 80’s decor for another minute, so working with what was already there but making the best of it was the way I approached it. This is the bathroom that our kids use daily, but it’s also the bathroom that our guests use when they are here, and I wanted to make it more aesthetically pleasing until we can truly update it. So, for starters, let’s take a look at the before photo…

Please take note of the builder-grade oak vanity, filthy grout lines (yup, those should be white and I thought it was just gray grout!), hideous puke-green wall color, and that extremely outdated light fixture!!! I love looking past existing decor flaws in homes, and finding a way to make them better without major changes that cost a fortune, so first things first, paint. I update the wall color with a fresh coat of Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray. We used that shade in our dining room, so I already knew that it was a great neutral. Next, I just had to do something about the vanity. I threw a quick coat of primer on the cabinets, followed by two coats of Peppercorn, also by Sherwin-Williams. These simple changes alone made a HUGE impact. After I was done painting, I decided to tackle the disgusting floors. You guys, it’s amazing what a bleach pen, a toothbrush, and some scrubbing can do. The floors look a million times better. Aside from all of this dirty work, we added a peel and stick wallpaper accent wall over the sinks, followed by new mirrors, a new light fixture, and some other bathroom fixtures. I’m going to link everything that is still available at the bottom of this post. The moral of the story though, is that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to make a space look significantly better!