Well, I guess we did rehang the shower curtain at ceiling height right after we moved in – but other than that we haven’t really touched this room. In fact, pretty much all three of our bathrooms are uncharted territory for us when it comes to updates. But you’ve gotta start somewhere, so we decided to start in the one we use the most – and probably find the quirkiest. See, it doesn’t have a sink (that’s in our bedroom, actually) so it’s a really small room. We’re talking around 5′ x 6′ total (including a regular sized tub). So yes, the door practically hits the toilet (it just barely misses it). And John can stand in the center of the room and touch all four walls (my husband has quite the wingspan, but this room really is tiny).
The room’s a total beige box. Beige tile with gray veining on the floor, the same tile in the shower and even on the walls around the toilet and door, an accent row of tiles with gray trees on them, beige paint on the walls, off-white-trim, even a beige futuristic toilet (check out the curve in this video).
Oh yes, and there’s a glass shelf and towel bar right next to the toilet – neither of which we’ve ever really used for anything functional. Why? Well, hanging a towel that would literally brush against us on the way to the toilet felt weird so we use the towel hooks on the back of the door instead. And we just plopped some wood printing blocks on the glass shelf (intending to hang art to fill in that wall) but it always felt like the shelf – and towel bar for that matter – invaded our personal space in such a small room.
We jokingly call our bathroom The Travertine Palace although it’s not actual travertine tile and it’s anything but palatial when it comes to size. The funny thing is that a few folks have come over and said “wow, you don’t have to do anything to this room!” which never fails to make us laugh because it probably feels the most not-like-us of all of the rooms in our house. We’re just suckers for crisp white trim, a white toilet, a not-beige color on the walls, and not all the same tile on the walls and the floor and the shower. But we can completely appreciate that some folks would love this room as is. I think the main thing we’re craving is some contrast. It feels like such a monochromatic box to us. And when we added the crisp white shower curtain way back when, it just planted the seed that the room might feel more crisp and less all-beige if we did things like:
- paint the cream trim white
- paint the walls so they have some contrast
- craigslist the toilet and replace it with a classic white one
- replace the boob light (seen here)
- hang some bathroom-friendly art
- do something to add privacy to the window
- replace the border tile around the room (maybe in phase 2?)
- replace the floor tile down the road (just to break things up since there’s so much of it)
- I’m sure I’m forgetting something – let’s just say the room has room for improvement
So that’s the plan. I even whipped up this mood board to help us envision things. Of course we’re sure the plan will change ten times since we just figure things out as we go, but so far here’s what’s on our mind:
1. When it comes to the color scheme since we’re working with beige tile with gray veining, we want to bring in some richer gray tones (to keep everything from looking so monochromatic and add some contrast). We’d also love to introduce some pretty blue tones (to tie into the blue wall color in our adjoining bedroom).
2. We have been in love with this light fixture for a while now, and we’re hoping it pops up at our favorite local lighting outlet (The Decorating Outlet) since it would be a pretty amazing upgrade from the boob light situation that we have going on. We’re not sure if the placement will look weird though (centered in front of the window would be so much cuter) so we’ll have to see where we end up. You know we’ll keep you posted!
3. This tile. Ahhhh, this tile. We want it. Hex tile has always allured us (sort of like penny tile, except it’s even more bee-ish, and you know we love bees). So we can totally picture it in our bedroom someday. But it’s definitely going to be down the road (we want to work with the existing tile, but do dream about replacing the floor tiles to break things up since there’s so much of that tile all over the small room).
4. I painted this little ditty a while back, and have always thought it would look really cool in the bathroom (oversized art in a small room with a dramatic high-hung shower curtain could be fun, right?). Of course we have to see if it really works in there, but especially with the blue glass pendant we think it could be nice.
5. We’re loving the muted moody look of frosted glass subway tile, so we’d love to use a light gray glass tile as an accent around the room (something like this, but not exactly) to replace the tree tiles. Although we’re not sure if it’s a phase two project (depending how hard it is to track down and how challenging it is to extract the tree tiles without hurting the tile around ’em).
6. A good old fashioned white toilet! We can’t wait to replace the beige futuristic one that we have in there (we’ll craigslist it and then grab an American Standard from Home Depot, which we got for our first house for under $100 and loved more than the fancy Kohler one we inherited).
7. This represents our existing extra-long white waffle shower curtain, which will stay to add some crisp-yet-soft texture to the tile-riddled space (we got ours from amazon.com by searching 95″ shower curtain, but this image is from Target).
8. This represents our existing tile, which is beige with gray veins running through it.
9. This frosted window (found here) is one of the ways we’ve been debating adding some privacy to the room without blocking the light. You know we love frosting film (more on that here and here).
But enough planning. How about some action? Well, we’ve removed that oddly placed shelf and towel bar, spackled and sanded the holes they left, and applied one coat out of two on the walls in a rich putty color. In a bathroom (where you’re dealing with semi-gloss paint) the first coat always looks especially horrifying so we can’t wait to get the smoother second coat up there.
Oh and this picture is a really bad sell on this color (since it’s spotty and half-done and just shows a corner of the room) but you can check it out in the kitchen here. It looks great with our tiles (ties into the gray veining), will really make white items like the shower curtain and the future glossy white trim pop, adds contrast, and obviously will look a lot better once a second coat is on there and it’s dry. And you can see that we’re painting the ceiling too (which we also did in our first house’s bathrooms since we find it makes small rooms actually look less chopped-up and busy).
Of course we’ll be back with tons of finished photos for you. We just have to tackle coat number two, wait impatiently for it to dry, and then hang the shower curtain back up to snap after pics. So those will be up tomorrow! In the meantime, did you guys tackle any bathroom upgrades over the weekend? Do you have nearly done living spaces but completely untouched bathrooms? What is it about these tiny rooms that’s so intimidating?
The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh says
LOVING the mood board! I think as usual you guys will rock it out while we all jot down inspiration from you! :)
Casey Cope says
What about adding a wall + door to the current opening and then removing the door/wall to the toilet and closet. You can have one super bathroom, you won’t have to see the sink from the bed, and then you’ll have a bigger stretch of blank wall in your room (maybe for the old, smaller TV)? you still have a window in your room so it won’t steal too much light.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we’ve thought about that but it’s just such an awkward layout that we really think it works best as is! If we knocked down some walls we’d be left with a space that’s 5′ wide and 18′ long- which is definitely still very skinnnnnny and oddly long (our closet, sink, and bathroom stuff would just look lined up in a bowling alley- haha). We actually love the open doorway to the sink with the mirror that reflects our chandelier over it!
xo,
s
Casey says
Haha true – I was trying to appeal to your love of “openness” by breaking up the three pieces into one but didn’t think of the width as being so skinny it would probably do the reverse and make it feel more cramped. Luckily you’re clean/clutter-free people so the sink area actually just looks like a bright shelf from the bedroom!
I have a theory on why people ignore bathrooms. A) They’re always way expensive per square foot when compared to the rest of your home. B) They’re intimidating to DIY because of plumbing. C) It’s an investment you can’t take with you. It’s much nicer to spend money on furniture you can keep in case you move!
YoungHouseLove says
So true!!
xo,
s
Monika says
Since you have found that moving lights is not that big of a deal, maybe you can relocate the light for in front of the window? The blue light would look so pretty there with the sun shining behind it. :)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s definitely a possibility!
xo,
s
Elisa says
Agreed! If you’re calling an Electrician out anyway, move the soon-to-be-blue light fixture over a foot or two and put a can light in the shower! We love having a little light in our shower.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that sounds like a really nice upgrade!
xo,
s
Amy says
We are about to renovate our bathroom, and we managed to score a dual flush toilet at Lowes for $98! That might be something you want to check out…I don’t know if they still have it on sale, but we were really excited about it. Good luck! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- thanks for the tip! We usually add dual flush systems for $20 after we get the toilet, but one that comes with it sounds great!
xo,
s
Lauren says
Seeing your in-progress shot already makes your tile look different! It looked really tan in the before pics but already is more toned down/grey-ish in the progress pic! Nice work!!
Our master bath is also currrently untouched… it makes me sad lol. It has a 1970s counter and grody old sink, weird futuristic light over the mirror, and carpet (blegh)… we’ve been working on a game plan for years but I hope we can get started soon. The major obstacle is the giant wall between the toilet and sink that houses the fireplace flue and plumbing lines… I wish we could demolish it!!! Oh well :-)
Seriously Sassy Mama says
I love the light!
Amber V. says
love love love. We have purchased all of the pieces for our bathroom reno and the tiling commences in a few weeks.
We went to the tile shop to look at the very same 2″ hex tile but we ended up buying it from Lowes for more than half of the price. We are planning on using a gray grout with the white tile so that we dont have to worry about the grout looking dirty after a few years.
I’m excited that our projects are taking place around the same time. I’ve never been able to play along befrore =0).
Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck to you too Amber! Love the idea of gray grout, and checking out big box stores for cheaper tile is awesome!
xo,
s
Erin says
Love love love that wall/ceiling color! it is going to freshen up that beige tile like crazy. I’m excited to see your progress with this latest challenge.
Ou bathrooms were remodeled maybe 10 years ago, and they each have beige faux-travertine tile. I’d love to change it, but like yours it’s all still in perfectly fine condition, so we’re sticking with it for now.
Staci @ My Friend Staci says
Have you considered swagging the light (don’t know if that’s the correct term) with a hook into the correct position and using a decorative cord to hard-wire it where it needs to be? Does that make sense?
Maybe this will help: http://pinterest.com/pin/83246293081824460/
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, that could work!
xo,
s
Katie Rose says
My dad made it my job to remove an old & ugly wallpaper border that had sat above the tile in our upstairs bathroom. I did this maybe a year and a half ago. To this day, he has done nothing further! We have marble floor tile (very light grey with darker grey veins) with white tile about halfway up all the walls. I think a light grey or a purpley grey would be ideal for the walls/ceiling. The man is just too lazy to get to it! It is such a small room too, something that could probably be knocked out in a day. Maybe I should offer?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I bet he’d take you up on it!
xo,
s
Tara says
I’ve been attempting to remove the TWO LAYERS of wallpaper our previous owners had hung in the upstairs full (and only full) bath. I think I started it in October, and just kind of play with it when I feel like ripping things down, but that stuff is a BEAST. And my husband and I are constantly bumping into each other up there. I can’t wait to gut and redo the footprint!!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man it is a beast! We remember it from our first house! Good luck!
xo,
s
julianna says
Have you thought about reversing the swing on the door, so it swings into the sink area instead of towards the toilet? (I have no idea how to do that, but I assume there must be a way. Not necessarily an easy way, but you guys seem like you’re up for a challenge.)
YoungHouseLove says
We did actually think about that but aren’t sure it’s worth the trouble. Definitely something to keep thinking about as we go though!
xo,
s
LauraC says
Coming up on the first anniversary of our bathroom reno. I still love, love, love it so much! We took it down to the studs, so I was able to design every aspect of the the room. We changed the glass shower for a tub, and even though the tub has a bigger footprint, our usable area remained the same because of better configuration. It actually feels bigger! We changed out the all-white shower curtain for a striped one from Target about six months ago, so need to retake some pics. Just waiting for a sunny afternoon when I actually think about it!
Happy Monday!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome!
xo,
s
S @ keepitneat says
We also have our sink in the bedroom and a teeny tiny shower & toilet room for a “master bath”…I didn’t think anyone else out there possibly lived with such a small and strange layout! And looking at the pics, I think ours is an exact mirror image of your sitch: our tub/shower is a foot away on the right side of the toilet, and our goofy towel bar that we’d never use in a million years either is within inches on the left. Bathroom twins separated at birth! I am going to have to send you pics of ours.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love it. High five for bathroom twins.
xo,
s
Sarah Bucior says
Not the bathroom, but we completely emptied our bedroom to re-do it. GOODBYE YUCKY CLAMSHELL MOLDING FROM 1950! :)Walls will be dark green, white new crown molding and a thin chair rail. Cannot wait. Crossing our fingers that the wood floor underneath the yucky carpet is in pretty good condition.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! That sounds exciting. Good luck!
xo,
s
Dreda says
Our master bathroom layout is almost identical to yours. In our toilet / shower room we replaced the regular door with a bifold as it drove me crazy that the door took about all the floor space to open and close. We also took down the towel bar and toilet paper holder and put in two spaces recessed between the studs with towel bars and a spots for toilet paper. Once again, even towels hanging into the little room took too much space.
Looking forward to seeing your changes.
meryl rose says
LOVE the mood board! Your colors remind me of our bathroom we finished about a year ago
http://www.picardyproject.com/2011/01/before-after-bathroom.html
We ripped everything down to the studs and discovered a fair amount of dry rot. But it looks good now! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- what a gorgeous room! Love the tile choices and the wall color!
xo,
s
Anya says
Thanks for your bathroom ideas! I’m excited to see the changes!
I would like to put up frosted window film in my bathrooms, remove the wallpaper (who puts wallpaper in the bathrooms?), and paint. I’m living in a rental, but I have a good relationship with our landlady, so she’s cool with us removing the wallpaper and painting ourselves. However, I haven’t ever used the window film — is it easily removable? does anyone have experience with taking it off?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, it supposedly pulls off if you spray it down with soapy water. We haven’t removed it, but glass is a great surface for getting things off (ex: a sticker can be removed with a straight edge razor, so if the film leaves any film on the window you can just razor it off).
xo,
s
Susan C says
I hope you’re planning to salvage and craigslist those tree tiles too. Those raised relief tiles can be pricy.
YoungHouseLove says
They’re actually flat (there’s no raised relief, it just appears to be printed on the ceramic surface) but we’d love to save them and craigslist or freecycle them if we can get them out in one piece! We hear a dremmel might do it!
xo,
s
Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says
I love your wall color… I recently started painting our master bedroom Pebble Grey and LOVE IT!!! I never realized what a grey can do for a room.
And funny enough, I think the master bathroom in our house was the first room completed. I tackled that during my first pregnancy. Too bad that I have evolved since then and it really doesn’t flow with the rest of the house as well as I would like. If we weren’t thinking of selling I would probably be all over that room again!
Kristen says
How exciting!! We really need to get busy with making over our master bathroom but just keep putting it off. We’ve never done any tiling before and I think it’s just a little scary so we just keep living with our aqua countertop. :)
Erin @ One Project at a Time says
Removing that border tile actually isn’t too hard at all. We’ve used a Dremel tool in the past with the rotary bit to dig out the grout lines, slow and steady so that you don’t nick the tile, but if you have a steady hand it’s actually pretty easy. Then once the grout is out you can use a little chisels to just pop out the tiles you don’t want. Scrape any left over thin set with your chisel, and then just thin set again, lay your new tile, and grout when it’s dry. We’ve done this before to replace broken or cracked tiles. You could definitely get it done in a weekend. Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! Thanks for the tips Erin!
xo,
s
Erin @ One Project at a Time says
By the way, we spent our weekend putting the walls back in our recently gutted bathroom. I can’t wait to start laying the tile! http://oneprojectatatime.blogspot.com/2012/03/putting-walls-back-up.html
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, you guys are making tons of progress! Good luck!
xo,
s
Kacie says
After our kitchen remodel I’m looking forward to tackling our own bathroom. Thank goodness there’s no tile! Can’t wait for the inspiration. You guys are amazing!
Kacie
http://acollectionofpassions.com/
Amy @ this DIY life says
I can’t wait to see the changes! I totally feel you on the “you don’t have to do anything to this room” front. We have people who look at our main bathroom (http://thisdiylife.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/sorry-mom/) and say “Wow, this room looks good”. I like the color on the walls (cause we put it there) and I like the shower curtain (cause, again, we put it there) but the 8 foot blue speckled counter, the track lighting, the massive medicine cabinet, the white linoleum…blah! Just shows that not everyone’s definition of beautiful is the same :)
YoungHouseLove says
Looks so good! Love the shelf thing you built from Ana’s site!
xo,
s
Victoria says
Sounds lovely! I can’t wait to see the end result!
I’m about to use some Emma Jeffs adhesive film on my guest bathroom window (http://www.designpublic.com/emma-jeffs-anni-adhesive-film). The window is right in the guestroom bathroom shower and because the window tilts in to clean, even vinyl shutters won’t solve the privacy issue. The film is pricy, but her prints are so cute and the “Anni” seems to be the most likely to result in privacy of any of the ones I looked at. I’m apprehensive about applying it, but loved your tutorials/tips. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo,
s
Katie says
I am dying for a bathroom redo! My bathroom is long, but small. I did one upgrade when I first moved in to get rid of the carpet (yep) and pink wallpaper because I just couldn’t take it. I’m ready to replace the wall color and the light fixtures. I would love to tile, but I’m just not sure I have the know-how for all that!
Patti says
Love the new paint, that’ll look so fresh with the white. Btw, I didn’t know you could sell a used toilet … but I guess you can sell whatever someone’s willing to buy!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, totally!
xo,
s
Giulia says
I love the blue accents and using some of what you have.
We recently completed a mini-bathroom reno or makeover, keeping our vintage tile, but working with paint, new light, new vanity and new mirror. It makes such a difference and we love our new family bath. Down the road we’ll work on the bath/shower tile, but for now we are good.
http://www.fishlynews.com/2012/02/bath.html
YoungHouseLove says
Looks awesome! I love the stripes and the mirror!
xo,
s
Maureen @ This (Kinda) Old House says
I LOVE that light and that hex tile! Here is our long ignored Master Bath that we finally got around to tackling after living here for 7 years. LOL
http://thiskindaoldhouse.com/2012/03/bathroom-is-done-well-almost/
We will be tackling our 1/2 bath next. Can’t wait!
YoungHouseLove says
Looks awesome!
xo,
s
Laura @ DMHB says
That light is killer! I LOVE the look of it. I was really hoping we’d be able to redo our bathroom this year (we have serious moisture issues, the ceiling is almost black!), but not quite enough yet. I always look forward to the DIY inspiration from your blog! Can’t wait to see what turns out!
PS- I totally remember that painting hanging in the bedroom for a hot minute. Forgot all about it until this post, was it in the guest room? ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yup hiding in the playroom!
xo,
s
Laura @ DMHB says
Play room* not guest room.
Laura says
Oooh, have fun planning your bath redo. We re-did (well, kind of,sorta) our bathroom. It was PINK! Actually, we are STILL working on it. Check it out!
http://cookiecrumbsandsawdust.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-pink-bathroom-part-1.html
Thanks,
Laura
YoungHouseLove says
Woah, that’s so much work! Good luck!
xo,
s
McKae @ Kaes corner design says
I love all the finishes you chose. We just bought our first house and both bathrooms are on beige overload as well. Hopefully one day soon we can save enough money to redo them completely, but in the meantime a little pain will have to do!
Tiffany @ The Mister and Missus says
I love that light fixture! You guys have an eye for pretty lights. The blues and crisp whites will definitely fit more in to your home. Excited to watch the progress!
Diane says
I have been trying to find the same shower curtain but they no longer sell it on amazon, and I’m having a hard time locating another resource. Do you have a second resource for the longer shower curtain?
YoungHouseLove says
Maybe amazon or eBay?
xo,
s
Nikki Kelly says
Yes! We have lived in our home for almost 3 years and have not touched our bathrooms. They are so gross, one is even this crazy burnt neon orange color. It’s getting pretty bad, so we’ll probably pick one to start this fall. Good luck with yours.
Nikki @ the ambitious procrastinator
Mary says
If you change out the lighting, just make sure it’s up to code. I doubt the fixture you are looking at would be up to code in the current location, it’s too close to the shower.
YoungHouseLove says
Will do! Our inspector didn’t say anything but we’ll have to double check. I think the rule in our area is no chandelier hanging over a tub, but outside of the bounds of the tub I think it might be ok.
xo,
s
JessE @ LoveLifeFromScratch says
I’d trade bathrooms any day! Imagine all that beige being blue…and yes, I mean all of it. :P
Eileen says
I think that when people say that it doesn’t need any work, is not that they ‘love’ it, but that it’s good enough. :) I know I have this discussion with my husband everytime I want to redo or repaint something and I ask his input. Blanket response: It looks fine as is. But what a great mood board you guys have! I agree with you that the house should feel like you, not just ‘good enough.’ I would like to redo my master bath too, and it has a similar layout. The last ‘Candice Tells All’ had some really great ideas that I’m interested in trying out.
Elizabeth@ wake&gather says
Haha you love saying “crisp”
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, amen.
xo,
s
Amy says
Have you thought about replacing the peek-a-boo window with stain glass? That might be a fun (in the beginning…) DIY project to tackle.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that could be fun! I’m scared of the lead though. Is there a no-VOC way to make stained glass? Haha.
xo,
s
heather says
There are lots of stained glass artists that use a lead free soldering in their works.
YoungHouseLove says
Where have I been? Sounds fun!
xo,
s
heather says
haha, well, there are still a ton that do. I bet if you found an artist you liked and commissioned a piece (pending price of course) you could ask they use lead free.
julianna says
You probably already thought of this, but just in case you didn’t…. when we worked on our super-tiny bathroom with an inswinging door, we took the door off the hinges for the duration of the project. Much easier to paint, tile, etc. with an open doorway — totally worth the two minutes to take it off at the start and put it back on at the end.
YoungHouseLove says
So smart!!! We should totally do that!
xo,
s
Kristal says
I doubt that you two would want to shell out big bucks for a reno with your kitchen redo just being finished but I was wondering if there was a way to knock out a wall and make your bathroom bigger to include the sink in it? I’m not sure of the layout of that area of your house but I was just curious.
YoungHouseLove says
We have thought a ton about that space and just can’t make sense of the layout any other way!
xo,
s
Bre-Anna says
Hey guys,
I have been in love with that same light fixture. And yesterday I saw it at Home Depot the had if for $69.99 (still a bit pricey for me, but almost half of the price on shades of light) The one at Home Depot only comes in clear. I’m still considering getting it from there (because I really LOVE LOVE LOVE it) and then using some glass paint to make it aqua… I thought I’d pass on my plan seeing you guys love the light too :)
YoungHouseLove says
Such a great tip! I love the blue shade so I’m hoping it pops up at the outlet near us! If not Home Depot is a great option!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Very exciting.
Honestly you guys make me wish I’d purchased a home in need of some love instead of my 10yr old townhouse condo in need of some non-builder personality. I just love everything you do. Oh well, I really don’t have the time right now for a remodel anyway. I’ll just follow yours and take inspiration for now & when I finally by a house.
Kristin says
Nice mood board! Just make sure your pendant light won’t be hit by the door when you open it! Not sure how much clearance you have between the top of the door and the ceiling. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, good point!
xo,
s
Jamie Heard Smith says
AH! I am so excited for your bathroom re-do, since it’s coinciding with my own. I have 3 to re-do. One is lime green and brown polka-dots (no joke), another is mustard yellow with metallic gold paint sponged over the yellow (yep), and the last one has no sink and no plumbing for a quick install. Should be fun! We have the same drab-looking cream tile as yours in all 3, so I can’t wait to see what you guys do with it!
Catherine says
Can’t wait to see how you tackle that border tile!
I have a semi-post-related question about painting. Where do you all wash your paint brushes? I’m assuming you have to do it a lot since you are always whipping out paint for touchups… I get nervous washing them in the laundry tub out of fear of clogging the drain and equally nervous about letting paint drain all over the plants under the hose spigot outside. What’s a homeowner to do?
YoungHouseLove says
We wash ours in the kitchen sink! It’s water-based no-VOC paint, so it doesn’t seem to cause any issues!
xo,
s
Ty Lee says
Oh god, that bathroom is horrible. I know a lot of people would consider it “neutral” and “calming”, but I find it boring and unoriginal and lacking any sort of personality. Of course, I hate beige so much I actually named my blog “I hate beige” (in honor of my beige refrigerator… and beige stove… and beige dishwasher…)
I can’t wait to see you de-beige-ify your master bathroom!
I bought a house that is still being constructed, and everything is going to be Builder Beige. /gag