Before/After: Bathrooms

Next up on our fun before/after list is our three bathrooms – one half-bath on the first floor and two full bathrooms upstairs. Three bathrooms sounds like kind of a lot, but our townhouse had four full bathrooms so having one less to clean really rocks my world.

Bathroom #1
Unfortunately I don’t have a ‘before’ picture of this bathroom, so you’ll have to use your imagination. It was covered in wallpaper. The wallpaper wasn’t quite as offensive as the design that you’ll see in bathroom #2, but still bad enough that it had to go. And yes, I realize I just said “number two” and “had to go” in the same sentence and I’m giggling because apparently I’m a 12 year old boy.

Before we even moved into our house, I hired a handyman friend to remove all the wallpaper from the stairs going upstairs, the upstairs foyer, the upstairs bathroom AND the downstairs bathroom. Yes, I could have done it myself… but I was 8 months pregnant so I splurged a little. Also, we got a really good deal on his handyman help because we did a trade where my husband worked on his jeep in exchange for house help.

I remember that I painted this bathroom one day soon after Jack came home from the hospital. The first coat went up during a morning nap and the second coat went up a few hours later when he was napping again. It’s funny the things you remember two years after they happen.

Downstairs bathroom - 2014

Downstairs bathroom b - 2014

Throwing some paint on the wall is pretty much all we did for this bathroom. The flower picture came from Homegoods a few years ago and was in a bathroom in our last house too. The basket that we use for storing extra TP came as part of a gift set at some point in the last 10 years. I swear, I think I have dozens of baskets hidden away in this house and I probably only paid for 1/3 of them. I think I might be a basket hoarder.

What Still Needs to Change?
The drawback of this bathroom is that it’s incredibly tiny. You pretty much have to squeeze in awkwardly to shut the door behind you. The pedestal sink doesn’t really take up that much area, but I often wonder if it would feel a little less cramped if I tore it out and replaced it with one of those trendy half-sinks like this one. Also, I could replace the medicine cabinet/light with a prettier light and flat mirror. It’s workable though, so these projects are WAY DOWN on my list.

Bathroom #2
Now THIS bathroom has changed quite a lot from when we moved it. Here’s the before pictures and I’m sure you can see why I called it my “Ugly Green Bathroom.”

Upstairs bathroom - 2012

Upstairs bathroom b - 2012

I actually blogged about the changes step-by-step if you’re interested in seeing how we did things.

My Ugly Green Bathroom
Ugly Green Bathroom Update: Less Ugly and Less Green
No Longer the Ugly Green Bathroom

The “after” is quite impressive, so I’ll pat myself on the back for a minute while you check it out:

Upstairs bathroom - 2014

Upstairs bathroom details - 2014

The shower curtain is from West Elm, the rug is from World Market and the hand towels are from Homegoods. I found the “You are my sunshine” plaque on Etsy and the Robot wall art at a local kids shop called Greenberries. It’s from Modern Moose and I LOVE it so much that I’m considering buying one of their clocks for Jack’s room.

What Still Needs to Change?
Well, the ugly green bathtub is still there… hidden behind the curtain. However, the tub and tile are both in fine shape so it doesn’t make sense to demolish the bathroom just to switch out to a white tub. For the time being (and possibly forever), we are done with this room.

Bathroom #3
For a master bathroom, our bathroom isn’t very master-like. It’s actually quite small. If it were on an episode of House Hunters, the buyers would be disappointed at the lack of double-sinks or a soaking tub.

Master Bathroom - 2012

We haven’t really made many changes to this room. I hung a tension shower curtain rod and curtain (from West Elm) because I don’t like being all naked in the middle of a room. We also switched out the leaky silver builder-grade faucet with a new one in oil-rubbed bronze. I added in an old CD stand holder that I got from a friend for free years ago to hold some stuff like extra toilet paper, soap, etc. That’s about it.

Master Bathroom - 2014

What Still Needs to Change?
I want to rip this bathroom down to the studs with a full renovation. I want to take out the capsule shower, bust down some walls (maybe into my office, which is on the other side) and put in a nicer shower. Maybe something pretty like travertine with one of those rain shower faucets. If we can make the room for it, I’d love to have a double vanity with a long space of countertop. The medicine cabinet will be replaced with one that sits flush with the wall (and fits in between the wall studs) and the lighting will also be upgraded. I pinned a few ideas on Pinterest that show you the ‘feeling’ that I’d like. This sounds expensive though, right? Yup. That’s why we haven’t done it.

What do you think?
This was probably the least exciting of my before/after posts because on all three bathrooms we’ve probably spent less than $700 total in the past two years. Even though I’d love a designer master bathroom, the one we have is livable… so a full gut-job will probably not happen for a long, long time.

How about you, which rooms do you make your priorities when doing home improvement projects? For me, I’d rather have an un-updated bathroom as long as I have new, matching appliances in my kitchen!

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16 thoughts on “Before/After: Bathrooms”

    1. Thanks Katie! I have no idea WHY they thought the foresty green was a good choice in fixtures. Having a brand new bright white toilet just makes my butt happy, you know?

  1. The only thing we’ve “redone” in our house so far is the kitchen counters. I blame Pinterest and the DIY and HGTV networks for my Wish List.

    1. Oh yeah, HGTV totally sparks my ‘house unrest’ feelings. Last night we were watching a kitchen renovation and they were taking a sledgehammer to the countertops. I turned to Travis and said “this show is making me want to grab a hammer and start demo-ing something” and he just looked at me and said “uh oh…” =)

  2. I love your makeovers! I know what you mean about being naked in the middle of the room. The shower curtain was a perfect idea! Sharing the SITS love today. 😉
    Joy

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