Guest Bathroom Refresh
I definitely over-scheduled myself last year so something I’ve been doing this year project-wise is finishing up that last 5% of other rooms that I have already worked on. You may have noticed by my previous blog posts this year that everything is on the small scale like my closet update or my entryway makeover. I’ve been going room by room and tweaking things that we didn’t get right the first time or that are no longer working for us as our family has grown.
Next on my list was our guest bathroom. We only have two bathrooms in our cozy home so I try to keep the lower level bathroom a little extra nice for guests. All 5 of us share the upstairs one so it would be nice to update it at some point but it works for now. Anyway, about the other bathroom, we renovated it 5 years ago when we finished our basement and we were brand new to DIY and home projects so looking back on it there were a few things that didn’t meet my standards anymore. I was also 7 months pregnant and had major decision fatigue from all the Renos so I blame that too.
I should add, there really was nothing ‘wrong’ with the bathroom, I was just ready for some change. If you’re curious here’s a look at version 1 of the bathroom. And if you like that version better, I’m not offended. 🙂
Here is version 2.0
The first thing I did was add some box trim to the walls. I’ve felt the bathroom needed something more for a while and I had considered painting it a bold color, but that didn’t feel right either. I finally realized that an architectural detail on the walls was exactly the thing to finish the space. It mimics the trim on the vanity so perfectly, and I love how it adds a subtle visual texture but doesn’t compete with the subway tile.
The paint is virtually the same grey color as before but a tad more blue. It is Sherwin-Willians ‘North Star’.
Next, I tinted the grout on the floor to a more subtle grey. It has always felt too harsh to me but now it feels so much more cohesive. There are products you can use like grout refresh, but I have also seen people just use paint so I did that since I have lots of paint on hand. In hindsight, I would have done a soft grey on all the grout but I regrettably influenced by the farmhouse trend at the time. ( I did consider updating all the grout but with all the seams of the subway tile I knew that was way more work than I wanted to do – AND I didn’t want to chance my tendinitis flaring up.)
I found his cute milking stool at the Restore and it has been the perfect functional stool for my kids but with added vintage charm. Here is a similar one. And no shower is complete without a good back scrubber.
And lastly, I updated the shower curtain by adding a few fabric sections to extend it from ceiling to floor. It makes the room feel so much taller and looks like custom curtains. I usually make my mom sew for me but she was away camping so I attempted this by myself and I’m so happy with how it turned out! Another alternative to get a long shower curtain is to just use actually curtains. I love this pair from amazon. I wanted to be resourceful and use what I had, but I also found this shower curtain that came extra long.
The pressed flower art I made last year with flowers I saved while I served a mission for my church in England. The other artwork is some paintings by my husbands’ late aunt. She was an incredible artist that studied with one of the Group of Seven. We have digitized all her remaining paintings and I’m hoping to add them to an Etsy shop so others can enjoy her artwork and buy digital downloads of them. Stay tuned for that!
The other small change I made was a happy accident. I found this globe light cover at the restore and was planning to use it somewhere else but it didn’t work, then I realized it fit perfectly on the bathroom sconce light. The old cover was just a basic cone-shaped glass piece and this one is so much more special.
I know I say this about every room I update but this is honestly my new favorite room in the house! It feels so much more like me!
Don’t get caught up in trends, just make your home reflect what you and the people that live there love! And if you want to change it in a few months or years that is TOTALLY FINE! 🙂
