Bathroom Makeover
Join me as I do a budget friendly makeover on my own master bathroom.
If you’ve been following me a while, you know I love all things DIY. We’ve been in our home for 17 years now (I cannot believe it) and I’m sad to say we haven’t done a lot of makeovers on the inside. The reason… maybe we will sale it one day. Do we want to invest in it and then move? Are we planning on living here forever? Well guess what, 17 years went by really quick and the result is that we never did the things we wanted because of maybes and what-if’s. In hindsight, I wish I had done what I wanted years ago. So I encourage you to make changes in your own home if you want changes. Don’t be afraid to invest a little money, hard work, and sweat. It will pay off. The worst that can happen is you actually increase the value of your home so it brings more money if you do decide to sell one day!
Now that we’ve established that you shouldn’t put things off that you really want to do for “what-if’s”, let’s talk about what I did in my bathroom.
We bought our house brand new in 2006. It has been a great starter home for us and, to be honest, it may end up being our forever home. Who knows. But it is a basic builder grade home. We have painted the walls a few (more) times (than my husband liked) but that was about it. Until last summer when I decided I wanted to do what I want to it in case I did live here forever. So we started with our master bath. There was nothing wrong with it, mind you. It was just boring. To change that, we added some shiplap (yes I still love the look), some trendy wallpaper, painted our cabinets to get rid of the cherry stain, installed a new vanity top, mirrors and hardware, and changed up my floors.
Here’s some before and afters!
We started by removing the old, builder grade, giant, no trim, rectangular mirror from the wall. Luckily, my husband did some research on how to do this so we didn’t shatter it and have a big mess to clean up. We basically inserted shims all the way around the mirror and gently tapped them in further and further to pull the mirror off the wall a little at a time. It took some time and patience (something I don’t have much of so thank God he balances me out) but it came off without incident! It did however leave some pretty gnarly gashes in the wall from all the glue they used to secure it to the wall. This was an easy fix with putty, a putty knife and sandpaper.
Once we got the wall repaired, we painted it in ultra white from Behr. We also used this in my living room on my shiplap and had leftover paint so that was a money saver for us. We knew we were going to hang shiplap in the bathroom as well but it’s always a good idea to make any needed repairs as well as paint the wall the same color you plan to do your shiplap in. The reason, shiplap has gaps in between the boards and you don’t want an old, existing paint color to show behind your new shiplap.
For the shiplap, the most economical way we found to do it was to buy plywood and rip it ourselves. I have a step by step post on hanging shiplap here but the gist of it is this. We cut the plywood to desired width and the length to fit the wall. We prime it using Bin Zinnser to prevent bleeds and knots from showing. We then use a nickel to place in between each board as our marker for the gaps. Once we had the boards aligned, we used our ryobi airstrike nail gun to secure the boards to the wall over each stud (marking the studs first, obviously). Any rough edges can be sanded down by hand or by using a sander. It doesn’t take much so we did ours by hand. Next, we painted our newly hung shiplap.
We pulled the old countertop off the cabinets after disconnecting the water supply and used it to lay on top of the new countertop (upside down) to mark the holes for the sinks. Since we opted to reuse our old sinks, we removed the old caulking from the lip of them using a 3 In 1 Calk Tool. My hubby then used a Jig Saw to cut the circles out. We purchased the countertop from Lowes. It’s not marble or granite or anything fancy. Just laminate. But to me, it’s worth its weight in gold. I have hated the color of my countertops for as long as we’ve lived there but just couldn’t justify spending a lot on new countertops when mine were brand new and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them except that I didn’t care for the color. Laminate was a great option to give me the color I desired while not spending too much money and feeling guilt over it. The name of the countertop we used is Carrara Bianco and is a bright white with grey marbling throughout it. So it looks expensive while still being extremely affordable. I call that a Win-Win!
When installing the new countertop, we realized it was a little deeper than we thought. We actually knew it was wider than the original one when we purchased it but I was like oh well, it will be a little wider, no big deal. More counterspace is always good IMO. But it was a little wider than I realized so we ended up having to pull our cabinet out a bit so it looked good. No biggie, these things happen. You just adapt and adjust. We added a new brace to the wall behind the cabinets, added a new piece of trim to the side/back to cover the new gap, and had to cut some of the baseboard off on the side to accommodate where we pulled the cabinet forward off the wall for the longer countertop. To cut the baseboard without going through the sheetrock and causing added damage, we used a Ryobi Multi Tool for better control. Once the new countertop was in place, we caulked around the sinks and reconnected the water.
To complete the look, I painted the cabinets in a custom color mix of Caviar and Cotton from Dixie Belle Paint Company I did not measure so there is no ratio. I just mixed it until I got the color I wanted and made sure to mix plenty so I wouldn’t run out. I applied two coats after scuff sanding, cleaning, applying Slick Stick (bonding primer from Dixie Belle), and then sealed them with two coats of Clear Coat topcoat from Dixie Belle.
I added this fabulous new hardware that I picked up from Amazon and I was in love! The color turned out amazing and the finish is smooth and flawless.
I searched the internet for some mirrors I loved. I didn’t want a big rectangle and I didn’t want round mirrors as we were used to a very large mirror that allowed for you to stand on the bathtub (lol) for a full length view of your outfit. 🙂 I found these elongated mirrors with a round arched top on Amazon and they were perfect! A little curve to soften the look of all the lines of the shiplap. Matte black for a more modern finish. And… they tilt. LOVE!
Since I wanted to add a little personality to the room, I decided to add some wallpaper. I knew I couldn’t do all the walls as it would get too busy so I opted to do one side wall and the enclosure around my tub. It ended up being the perfect amount to balance the grey and the shiplap. The wallpaper I used is peel and stick from Amazon and is super user friendly. It lines up easily and is a good texture. The print I picked is neutral in color and design so it shouldn’t get old too fast. I also used the same paper to paper all the walls of my little closet that my toilet sits in. Since it is such a small space, I think the wall to wall paper makes a big impact. So much so that I almost added it to the ceiling too.
We hung new towel racks, vanity lights and a toilet paper holder in matte black to match the rest of the new aesthetic. This was a combo pack we picked up at Home Depot. The lights are one of my favorite things in the bathroom makeover.
Lastly, I had to do something with my flooring. It is textured ceramic tile and there was nothing wrong with it… other than it looked really dingy compared to my new fresh white wall and wallpaper. I considered peel and stick tile, even went to Home Depot and picked some out that I loved. But, I was worried it would be to slick so needed another option. I came up with paint. Yes, paint. I painted my tile flooring and the tile (same one) around my bathtub. I used an enamel paint that is known for it’s durability and passes the scratch test on furniture every time it is used properly. The paint is from Wise Owl and is named One Hour Enamel (OHE). It dries to a matte, durable, rock-hard finish within one hour making it ideal for quick projects. I started by painting around my tub first and did the scratch test to make sure it was gonna work. No issues so I simply cleaned my floors and painted right over them, grout and all. I have since mopped over them with floor cleaner and had no issues. I do have a couple of places that the paint has chipped in a tiny spot but, full disclosure, I painted a large portion first with another brand of enamel that scratched right off (booooo). I did not remove this paint prior to painting with Wise Owl OHE. Just allowed ample dry time, painted over it, and allowed extra dry time again. I also have doodles that run like mad dogs and a 3 year old that drives all the toddler dino bikes, Spiderman motorcycle and atv’s over my floor complete with skidding and spinning out (thanks to Rider from the Paw Patrol). I would say they’ve held up remarkably well and I would paint them again in a heart beat.
If you’ve read this far, thank you! I appreciate you hanging out with me. I try to keep these posts short and sweet and include all the needed information. Should you have questions not addressed, please comment on the post for a response. No hate allowed. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
P.S. I earn a small commission through affiliate links with Dixie Belle, Wise Owl and Amazon if you choose to purchase products via my links. If that’s you, THANK YOU! Our small business helps support birthdays and Christmas for our kiddos.
As always, thanks and happy painting!
XoXo,
Tyler
