We were fortunate enough to find a fairly new home, it was built just 10 years ago. This meant that it needed very light work, but it was very plain and some of the choices the former owners made were not to my liking. This is fine though! It left plenty of room to add my own flair to things. One of these projects was our master bathroom, more specifically the water closet that’s attached. It’s a small space, it felt cold and empty, it needed a facelift. I didn’t want to spend too much on it though since it would really only be seen by us and we had other more important things to spend our money on. Since the space is small it was easy to make it nice and inviting on a budget. Here is what I did:
Paint!
First things first: some paint! Any good bathroom facelift starts with the paint. Just that alone can take a room from drab to fab. The cream is all fine and well but it’s just…plain. I chose a nice deep green color, it’s called basil. It’s by Sherwin Williams but Home Depot had a crazy good paint sale so I used their Behr paint and had them color match. Such a small space as easy to paint in just under an hour. If you are new to painting I recommend taping off the trim and ceiling. Do not skimp on the tape quality! In this case, you really get what you pay for. I recommend using 3m or Frog’s Tape. Of course, cover the floors too.
Storage!
With the paint done it was time to add some decorations. I needed something to put these items on, of course. I started but adding a couple of shelves over the toilet. These would serve as a great place for Knick knacks and would provide some storage since there isn’t any in the room. Of course, off to IKEA, I went. I think I love IKEA just a little too much, but they are nice looking and nice on the pocketbook. For the shelves I chose were EKBY. They are $17 each. I liked the white with silver. It matched the trim in the room and the silver gave it some character. They were fairly easy to hang. I was lucky enough to have studs in the wall behind them since it was so close to the edge. If you don’t have studs behind make sure to get good anchors. There isn’t a science to the spacing, I hung the bottom one and then just eyeballed how much space I wanted between. Just make sure it’s high enough to not get in the way while you use the bathroom.
Decorate!
All that was left was to add some decorative items. Every bathroom facelift needs fun decor. I wanted some of mine to be more useful as well as nice looking. I chose several items in different shapes and sizes and added them to the shelf. The top shelf is just pretty. The sign was a great find at TJ Maxx for just $8. The neat sphere thing is from Hobby Lobby, $7 with the coupon they have online each week. And the little potted plant is an IKEA find, had to go fake since there is no way a plant can survive in that bathroom. It was $5 for the plant and $1 for the little pot.
The bottom row is more useful. I had a silver bucket that I got in a gift set a few years ago lying around, I stacked extra toilet paper in it. They have similar ones at Michael’s for $10 or less. The middle is a small grey tray that was $2 at Target, I keep flushable wipes in it. Lastly, the little brown drawer set was also from Target, it was $6. I use it for storing feminine products.
Done!
So there you have it, an easy and affordable bathroom facelift. For less than $80 I turned my plain, boring water closet into a more inviting space with disguised storage. It’s pretty and useful!
Here is a before and after:
