Considering it’s been over two months since I’ve posted any progress pics of our new house, I figured it was high time I get my ducks in a row over here. Honestly, not many “new” updates have happened lately, but I’ve been holding off posting before/after pics because I haven’t hung up a lot of stuff on the walls and/or I’m still thinking that I’m magically going to get a stroke of brilliance that will make me the next Joanna Gaines (or something like that).
However, I reminded myself that the beauty of these posts is that they are MID-PROCESS updates (or so I tell myself); therefore, it’s okay if I still plan to change things around, add stuff to the walls, etc. etc.
Today’s room is our downstairs bathroom, which was easily the most drastic paint change that we did (and that’s even taking into consideration that we had a gigantic red accent wall in our living room and kitchen that we painted gray!).
Note: There are affiliate links in this post, but all the thoughts below are my honest opinion! I only post affiliate links to products that I already own or would honestly love to own.
First, let’s give you a little taste of the before (both pics taken from the previous online listing of the home by the previous tenants):
Of course, when we moved into the house, the bathroom didn’t even have the decals anymore (they’d been ripped off, taking quite a bit of paint with them):
As you can kind of tell from the last picture, the bathroom was just DARK with all those purple and brown paint colors on the wall, especially because there’s no window to speak of (seeing as it’s a basement bathroom). You can’t tell from any of the above pictures, but there is a shower in the bathroom on the other side:
Although it’s not a super big bathroom, we were still stoked about it since the only other bathroom we have is upstairs, so this makes a nice little addition to the basement, especially when we have guests over.
However, I knew I couldn’t handle the bright purple and brown, so this was one of the very first things I decided to repaint in the new house. We had to prime the walls a couple times to tone down the dark colors enough to paint over them, then we finished with a crisp white (Behr’s Bit O’ Sugar) and a gray accent wall (Behr’s Classic Silver, the same color we did in the upstairs front room). We already had yellow towels that I knew we were probably going to use down there, so I stuck with a basic gray and yellow idea when picking out the (very few) additions to the room we have thus far.
Mid-process, this is currently how it looks:
As I’ve been watching WAAAAY too much HGTV lately, there are still several “pie in the sky” updates I’d love to do eventually in the bathroom. Some of these updates would only run me a few dollars, but some will be things that we’d have to save up to do (so they won’t be happening anytime soon!).
First, though I’m all for the bare counter look, I wouldn’t mind putting SOMETHING decorative right there–maybe a (fake) plant or a basket of textured woven balls or something. This will likely be the thing that happens first since I could probably find something for fairly cheap at a garage sale or on clearance at a home goods place. Eventually, I like the idea of taking out that towel rack (or moving it forward) and putting a in the corner there, like the one below. I know it’s something you typically put in a kitchen, but I like the idea of filling it with fresh hand towels and washcloths on the bottom and some pretty decorative soaps on top. What do you think? Would that look weird?
Second, I don’t love the mirror (and the one in the upstairs bathroom is the same thing). I’d love to trade this plain one out for one with a bit more interest, whether that’s by adding a frame (which I could do over this one, I guess) or by buying a new mirror in a different shape. I really like antique-looking, distressed frames, so this might be a good thing to have Matt build for me or to see if we can find an old frame at a garage sale or something and then have the mirror fitted to it.
Third, I want to change out the light fixture, but that might be a bit tricky since it IS such a dark space, so I might need to add in some can lighting (esp. over the shower) at the same time I update the fixture. Changing light fixtures is really intimidating to me (just because it seems like such a permanent change), but I quite like (though I worry it would be too dim for the space):
Fourth, my “pie in the sky” dream would be to update the countertops to either marble or a marbled quartz or granite.
Fifth, that wall to the side of the shower is looking awfully bare. Eventually, I’ll install some simple towel hooks or a towel rack, as well maybe a decorative shelf, like from Chip and Joanna Gaines’s new Target collection (can you tell I’m a Fixer Upper fan?!). I love the idea of putting a plant on one side (fake, of course, seeing as there is no window) and some cool wood elements on the other.
Last, another “someday in my wildest dreams” goal would be to retile the shower. Right now, it’s as basic as they can come, but I would love to tile it in a funky gray and white pattern to match the rest of the colors of the bathroom, or even just a simple white subway tile look.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with how the bathroom is currently looking, but I definitely want to start looking for some of those less expensive updates that I could implement fairly soon!
What do you think of the updates so far? And what do you think of the future design ideas I have so far? Would they go well?
