One of the projects I completed during my stay in Florida was the final touches to this small bathroom refresh. When we bought this house, we talked about extending this bathroom to the backyard to make it bigger since it’s the master bathroom, but decided to just update it for a more modern feel. (We’ve decided against expanding because it’s not our forever home when we finally make the full-time jump to Florida next year.)
I didn’t want to spend a fortune updating it so this bathroom refresh was done on a budget. I bought cheaper materials to challenge myself. Biggest expense was manpower, we needed to remove the horrible florescent lights and wire new ones for the sconce above the mirrors and also vent to the outside for humidity/smells. We also had to pay a plumber to come and move the vanity pipe from right to left for better flow. Labor costs several hundred dollars, but well worth it.
This is the room I started with. Notice the old laminate cabinets, the pink formica tables (wow!), the dark gray porcelain floors and the dingy, and the hideous incandescent light fixtures eating up the ceilings. I changed all that.
This is today’s room! It has a new mid-century style walnut vanity on the left instead of the right to allow for a more reasonable entry and exit to the walk in shower. New lighting, mirrors, storage and tiles give the room a much fresher look!
Moving the vanity to the left is very important to me, it allows one person to brush their teeth if the other is in the shower. Previously the faucet was right in front of the shower door which made absolutely no sense, and there was a lot of wasted space in this bathroom before.
The new vanity is 6” shallower than the previous table, allowing extra room to move around. I like the feet, they make sweeping and mopping easy under them.
We lost table space but I created more of a horizontal surface with metal and wood storage shelves and small glass shelves on top. Above the toilet (not shown) I added a tall IKEA Godmorgan medicine cabinet for even more storage.
I reused the white towel rod, it was so good it stayed, same for the white toilet paper holder next to the toilet.
The new floor and backsplash is a super affordable white porcelain tile mosaic that we installed on the floor and walls. Simple, classic, and very inexpensive. It cascades into the wall behind the dresser for added protection against splashing water.
Bathroom shelf from IKEA. I simply painted it in a brushed brass finish to coordinate with the gold tone on the mirror and picture frame. It provides a small ledge for toiletries and a smaller display.
The art is my own sketch that I colored in a muted pastel desert palette, I’ll be adding it to my print shop next week.
What hasn’t changed at all are the tiles in the bathroom. It’s white tile everywhere on your basic 4×4” and it’s so nice that it stays on. I repeated the lattice design on the floor to complement each other. You can catch a glimpse of the shower tiles in this image. The shower door was chrome and eventually I was able to replace it but maybe not because it works so well and as we all know new shower doors can be expensive.
There is an additional 6 inches of space between the shower and the shelf since removing the old vanity and faucet. A little more room to move around when getting out of the shower makes a big difference!
The wall color is White Sand by Benjamin Moore, a pale beige color which I would definitely use again, it’s a perfect neutral.
We installed our new comfortable height toilet (not shown) in the corner of the 3×4′ toilet on the right and above that I hung a tall IKEA Godmorgon bathroom vanity for additional storage. Overall I’m very pleased with how the space has changed and it’s much more enjoyable to shower and get ready here than it was a year ago!
bathroom source:
mid-century style vanity in light walnut / black & walnut shelves / mosaic tile floor & backsplash
sculpted milk glass brass candle holder / round rectangular mirror / glass shelf / towel ring
godmorgon bathroom cabinet (above toilet, not shown) / bamboo lid storage
pink clay woven rug / pink clay stripe towel / bamboo tray / paint color : BM ‘Pasir Putih’
