This small bathroom makeover has been a long time coming. It's the main bathroom in our house, and clearly square footage wasn't a priority back in 1967.
Small Bathroom Before & After: Makeover Details
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Updating the Vanity Area
When we first moved in, this bathroom had a small vanity with doors, a built-in medicine cabinet, and rustic wooden shelves above the toilet.
As a stopgap, we installed a newer cabinet above the toilet and gave it a fresh coat of paint.
It stayed that way for years, until we finally decided to take the plunge and give it a refresh.
Ways to make a small bathroom look bigger
We wanted to use every trick we could think of to make the room feel larger and brighter and to work better for us. The old warped-top vanity and the avocado green and gold faux tile were easily my least favorite features.
Once we pulled off the tile and found a few unpleasant surprises, we ended up building a whole new wall and adding a (now safe) electrical outlet. With the major problems solved, we installed a sleek new vanity and a white tile backsplash.
We also took out the built-in medicine cabinet, hung a larger mirror, and added a shelf running the length of the wall.
(before)
(after)
A shelf above the sink that spans the full width of the room gives this small bathroom much-needed storage.
Want more small bathroom storage ideas with a farmhouse feel? Check out this post. You'll love the farmhouse shelves above the toilet. And here are 7 more creative small bathroom storage ideas.
Small Bathroom Makeover: The Tub Area
If I were giving you a tour in person, this is where things would get a little awkward. Remember, this is a very small room! Squeeze in past the door and you can see the rest of it. Right in front of the toilet is the tub. Here's what it looked like before we started:
The tub had the same barker board (which looks like tile) as the vanity. I painted the barker board and the walls in Seasalt too. Now they're as happy as a pair of sea-loving clams.
We hung an old window and built a shelf to go above the tub
If you want to find all the posts about this budget-friendly small bathroom makeover, here they are:
- How to paint bathroom tile board. (It was above the tub and sink.)
- Uh-oh! We had to take down the wall!
- Why we chose to buy a new small bathroom vanity
- Painting the walls Seasalt from Benjamin Moore
- How to chalk paint an old window
- How to hang a heavy old window above the tub
- How to hang a shelf above the tub
- DIY Painted Wood Signs for bathroom decor
- Painted Jars for bathroom storage
- Painted Wooden Crate for toilet paper storage
- The window curtain (which we only use for privacy at night) is a vintage linen.
