Mini Bathroom Makeovers

So, since we’re all home (and my daughter is very much like me), she asked if she could take down the wallpaper in her bathroom, as we’ve been talking about giving her bathroom a mini makeover.  You might remember her bedroom makeover as part of the One Room Challenge here.  Let me qualify the word “bathroom” by saying that I’m referring to her sink area that’s part of the Jack and Jill bathroom.  I have eradicated almost all of the dated wallpaper from my home, with the exception of this little nook and some grasscloth in the basement (that I actually like).  So, she and I are brainstorming ideas on how to give her sink area a mini makeover.  I already gave the other side of the Jack and Jill bathroom a facelift here, as part of the One Room Challenge Makeover, so fair is fair, right?  

Her bathroom is similar in looks to its Jack and Jill counterpart, although there is a little less wiggle room to move around in her area.

The tapestry is her doing – she is 14 after all.

It’s been fun talking through our ideas together, and figuring out the direction that we want to go with it.  We’ve had lengthy discussions about working with what you have (i.e., the tile I would love to tear out and replace throughout much of our house), and tweaking your design to work with it and not against it.

The Plan

Here’s what we’re looking to do.

  • Add new countertop/sink/faucet
  • Paint cabinets (of course, right?) and add new cabinet hardware
  • Add more under-cabinet storage – again, she’s going to be a freshman in the fall. Yikes.
  • Install a tile backsplash that runs all the way up the mirror wall
  • New lighting
  • New mirror

We spent some time perusing different bathrooms, looking for inspiration, while also tweaking it for our design circumstances.  Of course, she’s drawn to the whole marble look for counters – who isn’t, right?  We talked about how the marble look doesn’t tie in to the floor, but maybe we can look at some quartz options that bring in some of the warmth of the floor while still giving the look that she wants.  So, we’re going to be on the hunt for that.

Here is where some of our conversations have taken us in terms of inspiration.  We’re kind of all over the map in terms of direction.  We love contrast, but need to figure out how to make it work.  We like different shades of gray, but how do we want to play it?  Gray cabinets?  Backsplash?

This high contrast look from Greige Design caught our eye, even though we’re not necessarily looking to go with black tile.  The herringbone pattern is definitely a look that’s on the table.

This charcoal subway tile is another beauty we loved.

This bathroom from Juniper Home embodies so much of what we both like.  The brushed brass finish of the lighting and cabinet hardware, cool subway tile pattern, quartz countertops…  So pretty.

I will give my girl credit, when she puts her mind to something, she gets it done.  She took down the wallpaper, and has since patched all of the dings in the walls.  I’ll be sanding it down so we have a good foundation to work with once we decide on paint.

I have neglected to mention that our master bathroom is also going to get a mini makeover, although out of necessity, not choice.  We’ve been having issues with water pressure in our shower for awhile.  Lots of plumbers, lots of money already.  Long, boring story short, we have to replace a valve and the shower heads/fixtures in there.  Which means tile needs to come out to do it.  As much as I’d love to redo all of the tile in our master bathroom, it’s just not in the budget.  So, we’re going to add an accent tile in order to get the job done.  

I took down a ton of wallpaper in our master bathroom as part of my One Room Challenge master bathroom redo awhile ago.

I love our shower, but in the new look, we’re ditching the body jets that our shower currently has because we never use them (because if you switch to body jets, the water is cold initially, which is not enjoyable).  So, in taking out the jets, we’ll be adding the accent tile there, and also in the area where the controls for the shower reside.

So this area, where the body jets are, will be removed, and accent tile added.

And then where this lonely control is , we’re adding accent tile down the vertical length of that section.  Does that make sense?

Luckily, there is a tile that I like, even though it wouldn’t be my first choice if we were starting from scratch.  But, it is what it is.  You have to work with what you have, right?

Here’s to a great weekend.  The sun is shining today!

Jenny

1 Comment

  • Reply
    Lisa
    May 13, 2020 at 11:09 am

    Hi Jenny, how fun that you’re working on bathrooms – I’m dying to do two of ours over but they always get pushed down the list! I cannot, CANNOT believe your baby girl is going to be a freshman next year. How on earth did that happen? Hope you are all hanging in there and doing well. XOX

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