I’ve been wanting to give our downstairs bathroom a little makeover since we moved in. It’s the only full bath we have (and yes, it’s weird that our only full bath is not on the same floor as our bedrooms) and it therefore gets a lot of use.
Our home was flipped before we moved in and the choices they made regarding colors, tile, and paint, were pretty good. Everything is very neutral; a blank canvas. As a result though, certain elements are builder grade or just plain boring, the light fixtures particularly. I’ve still got two boob lights that I’d like to replace next. Someday we’d love to fully renovate this bathroom but for now, a little bathroom makeover was a huge improvement.
The bathroom vanity was dark brown fake looking walnut laminate. The walls were grey (Stonington Grey by Benjamin Moore, I believe) and the floor tile is grey. I’d read that it’s best to keep the walls neutral in the bathroom where you get ready because the wall color can reflect onto your face and make it harder to do makeup.
I don’t need any help looking like I have dark circles so I chose to paint the walls White Dove by Benjamin Moore. It’s also the color I used in Coco’s room and it’s just the perfect creamy, slightly warm but not yellow, white. I would have loved to use a really crisp white like Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore but I ran the risk of the walls being whiter than our trim and I don’t know what color our trim is.
To add a pop of color, I painted the vanity Mount Etna by Sherwin-Williams. I saw a picture of some cabinets in this color on Pinterest and it’s gorgeous. The most beautiful green/grey/blue.
To paint laminate, I softly sanded it with sandpaper by hand and then painted it with a base of oil based primer. Apparently the oil based is really what adheres to the laminate so that the paint does not peel off. I used Satin Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel paint from Sherwin-Williams for the color coat. I got the knobs for $12 for 5 of them from Amazon.
The light fixture was my least favorite part of the bathroom before but light fixtures are generally pricey. I searched for something to replace ours with that was mid-century modern looking but also cost effective. I found this one at Home Depot and I loved it immediately. I got it on sale for $73 but it’s now $91, still a great bargain.
I was scared to install it myself because of the thought of working with electricity so I shut the power off to the entire house, not just the circuit to the bathroom. A few Youtube videos to prep and swapping out the light fixture was the easiest part of this makeover! I promise, if I can do it, you can do it.
I added some more substantial towel hooks to the wall to the right of the vanity. These are Hearth and Hand from Target and are super affordable.
Lastly, I added these shelves over the toilet.
These shelves are a FANTASTIC deal. I got them for $22 on Amazon (for both!). Floating shelves like this tend to be pricey. I thought about making my own but decent looking brackets can be $9-11. These vary in price daily on Amazon – as of posting they were $29 but at one point they were up to $39. They’re still far cheaper than most of the options I found at Target, Wayfair, or Amazon.
Anyway, we love how this bathroom makeover turned out. All the decor items were from other places in my house. Overall it was super budget-friendly. We did a few upgrades (the mirror and shades) over the past few months and everything else last weekend. I’m always amazed at what a little paint can do!
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