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welcomeeatery · 6 years ago

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Small Bathroom Design Ideas

When it comes to design, a small bathroom presents an opportunity to have some fun. Consider that you typically only spend a few minutes in a small bathroom or powder room. As long as you get the bathroom layout right and provide all the necessities, you can really go in any direction with your bathroom decor.

We were excited by that idea when we finally decided to tackle our small main floor powder room over holidays. In just over two days, we transformed it from a red and sombre space to one that is pleasant and surprisingly pretty. You can get a whole new look without a costly bathroom renovation. Here's my best tips for a quick budget bathroom remodel and designing a functional small bathroom with style. *Affiliate links are used in this post

Before I dig into the changes we made in this bathroom remodel, let's take a look at what this bathroom looked like before. We moved into this house two years ago and we hadn't touched this space. Here's a few things that had to be fixed:

the bold red paint that made this room feel dark and small

weird ceiling angles emphasized by the paint treatment

a window with blinds that were constantly closed to provide privacy

modern dated fixtures that didn't fit with the warm and traditional design scheme we had in the rest of the house

no towel holder, art or accessories and a lack of style

So how did we remodel this small bathroom on a budget?

1. Keep Existing Fixtures and Furnishings

The biggest costs in a bathroom renovation are incurred when you make changes to the existing layout and furnishings. Things like moving the toilet or faucet placement, changing the vanity, or making structural changes can significantly increase your budget. In this budget bathroom remodel, we didn't have to make any costly alterations. The toilet worked fine (though it was wobbly and needed to be re-installed) and the vanity and countertop were adequate. The floor tiles really weren't our style but they continued into the connected kitchen so we decided to live with those as well.

2. Use Inexpensive Molding to add Character

One great thing about small bathrooms is that you don't have a lot of square footage to cover. We decided to keep this project at a minimal cost by relying on inexpensive paint and moulding to bring about a dramatic transformation. To bring character to the space, we decided to continue the wall moulding treatment into the bathroom. The moulding outside the bathroom was installed a few years ago by the previous owners but we were lucky to find trim pieces to replicate the look. We had leftover trim from our living room project that exactly matched the chair rail. We did purchase additional picture moulding which was super inexpensive, about $8 for the entire room, and we kept the existing baseboard.

3. Expand Your Space With Paint

How can you make a small bathroom look bigger? All it takes is the right paint colour and a few reflective accessories. By painting the wall above the chair rail and the ceiling the same white paint colour (Simply White by Benjamin Moore), and using a darker colour on the bottom (Stonington Grey by Benjamin Moore), we were to make the room feel taller. Having the ceiling the same colour as the walls also helped to minimize the weird angles. The small door on the right above the vanity is a door into the laundry chute which runs from the floor upstairs to the basement downstairs. It's pretty handy for tossing down dirty tea towels but it creates this strange curved ceiling in the bathroom! Another space-expanding trick is to use mirrors. This round mirror fills up the area nicely and reflects the sunlight from the window, making the bathroom feel bright and airy. I also like how the round shape plays against the hard edges of the vanity and towel bar and the minimal design doesn't overpower this small room.

4. Be Creative With Your Privacy Options

Privacy is something you need to have in a bathroom but that doesn't mean everything needs to be closed off and dark. Window film is a great option that is not only functional but helps to make your small bathroom feel bigger. We lined the entire window with this window film and I added a simple tension rod, curtain rings with clips, and a cafe curtain I sewed out of scrap fabric to the bottom half of the window. This way, you let in natural light but don't feel exposed when you're in the bathroom.

5. Choose Clean Lined Decor Elements

Although the mouldings and trims are very curvy and traditional, I balanced them with more modern and streamlined toilet paper holder, towel rod, and knobs. Their minimal design doesn't draw too much attention or compete with the moulding. Keeping everything in a matte black finishe also helps tie the entire look together.

6. Make a Statement With Light

Light fixtures are one of my favourite ways to bring style and impact to a room. Typically, you might only have one or two light sources in a small bathroom. Make the best use of that opportunity by choosing a light fixture that combines both functionality and design. This Permo Industrial Wall Sconce comes in 5 different colours and was less than $35! With it's mixed brass and metal finish, it packs a lot of style in it's small form. I love the swivel head and the extended arm which allows light to be cast downward in a nice cone shape.

7. Use Art in the Bathroom

It might seem counter-intuitive, but I would encourage you to use a really nice piece of art in your small bathroom. Art can elevate the feel of an entire space, make it feel 'fancier' and, well, less like a bathroom! I've had this modern print for years and was just waiting for the right spot to display it. Who knew it would end up here. I love that it's unexpected and how the art picks up on the black, white, and cream tones found in the room.

I was extremely happy with how quickly this room came together. How long does it take to renovate a small bathroom? It depends on the complexity of changes you are making but this budget bathroom remodel took us only 2.5 days. If you have a small bathroom in need of a makeover, make a few select changes and you and your guests will be sitting pretty in no time!

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aussiemumsadventures · 6 years ago

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When it comes to French doors and privacy, there are only so many options. I started researching some of them when we installed our French doors on our house here in Virginia. We have a larger lot (over 2 acres) and are surrounded by woods, but in the winter, the trees take their deciduous steps and distant neighbours have now got much better views into your domain. This bothers me, particularly at night when it is so dark outside and the house is lit up like a small supernova. I definitely like my privacy. What to do on a budget? Well, given I had no clue how to make French Door curtains, I purchased some and they’re fabulous and cost about $30.

We have another set of French doors in our basement and it has always bothered me that my kids could be down there playing (the video gaming is set up down there) and anyone can see into those doors too. I had originally planned to buy another set of the same style of curtains for down there, but then I remembered I actually have a ton of curtains from our various moves – yes, when you move like we do, you acquire so many things – some of which are a metallic Grey and would match the decor down there absolutely perfectly! The curtains I had purchased (pictured) looked very easy to copy the style of, so with a few modifications, I set out to repurpose my existing curtains into practical ones for the French door.

The first thing I did was measure the window opening in the door to ensure the curtains I had were long enough, they were. Then it was a matter of taking approximate measurements of the existing French door curtains to match up my gray ones. I measured the width of the curtain and realized I had to cut quite a lot off it. This is a little scary mind you as you are ruining, I mean restyling, something perfectly good. I found the best thing to do was to measure all the way down putting a small sharpie mark along the length then getting a ruler and joining these marks together, then it was just a matter of biting the bullet and cutting (if I ruined them, well I did have another back up pair that weren’t so perfect but would do). I made my curtains 26″ (66cm) wide with a half inch hem on the side that needed a new hem. Therefore, my marks were made at 26 1/2 inches (67.3 cm) across ensuring the 4 circles (normally what would go on a rod) became the feature top of my French door curtains and were evenly spaced on both sides.

With the length I cut off, I measured the amount I would need to make the two pieces that velcroed together, holding the entire curtain up when you wanted to allow daylight in. I did screw up a little bit here as I didn’t take into account the fact that the second piece wouldn’t have any hem on either end, don’t do what I did, make that second piece a fraction longer, it will make life easier and save a burnt finger when it comes to ironing that hem on. I made each of these pieces 19 1/4 ” (49cm) by 2 1/2 ” (6.35cm) PLUS hem – important you don’t forget to factor this in.

I didn’t even tell you that I wanted to do this entire project without sewing! I had lots of iron-on hemming tape and thought it would be perfect for this job.

If you have never used hemming/bonding tape, basically you use an iron to melt it together, ergo bond the fabric together at your given hemline. The iron has to be hot (so the fabric you use has to be capable of withstanding a reasonably hot iron, and you must turn the steam function off. Be careful not to touch the hemming tape with the hot iron, it will melt immediately and leave a sticky residue on your iron – if this happens, turn iron off and wait to get cold before wiping with a clean cloth that has some rubbing alcohol on it (I do not know this from experience ;)). I decided to double hem my edges because I wanted a clean ‘finished’ look, it did mean a lot more work but it looks better in my opinion. One other thing I did was to cut the hemming tape in half lengthwise as it fitted each of my little, narrow hems much better like that.

Once everything was hemmed and ironed, I folded the front of the curtain over so it gave my front a more professional finish, I used more hemming tape at the top to secure these two folds together.

I then joined the two pieces on to the back of the French door curtain like so (I pinned everything in place after I had measured it and before I permanently attached it so I could be sure it was all going to work and look nice and neat). My strips were attached 6″ in from the edges on each side. Then it was a matter of attaching the Velcro. Again, I didn’t particularly want to sew, not that I can’t, I’m just not very good at it and don’t particularly enjoy it, so I had some sticky back Velcro from another project and just used it. This really is a matter of eyeballing and making sure they will align when joined together. Pinning helps with this too. Finally, it was time to attach a curtain to the French door:

I love how these turned out. They match the decor down here perfectly, I had everything on hand so didn’t actually have to purchase anything and now I know we will have privacy downstairs too!

Would you try this at your house? What do you think of this project? Please come on over to Aussie Mum’s Adventures on FB and like my page: Aussiemumsadventures. You can find me on Twitter: @ozmumsadventures, on Instagram: Ozmumsadventures, on Pinterest: Aussiemumsadventures And please subscribe to my YouTube channel: Aussie Mum’s Adventures (I’m still working on it, so please have patience with me!). Shut the French Door! When it comes to French doors and privacy, there are only so many options. I started researching some of them when we installed our French doors on our house here in Virginia.

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billydmacklin · 7 years ago

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Updated Beach House Tour!

Although we’ve been sharing lots of little peeks of our beach house progress on social media, John and I realized it has been nearly THREE WHOLE MONTHS since we gave you a full tour of everything (since this video tour from back in December!). And not only have there been some big projects since then, like building in a pantry and constructing the bunk beds, there have also been a flurry of smaller updates that we haven’t posted about at all – some that we completed as recently as this past weekend. And thus, this post was born.

similar chandeliers / dining chairs (ours are “gray”) / marble “vase” / range hood / glass pendants

As usual, I’ll kick off the post with the video tour because it’s the easiest way to get the full update on everything (if you scroll past it and check out the pics, you’ll get a general gist… but no amount of photos + words can compare to a moving video through a space – and I dive into a lot of bonus stuff in the video just because I like to flap my gums). Oh but we realized afterward that, most likely due to my aforementioned propensity to jabber, I forgot to walk into the mudroom and the downstairs bathroom – but the mudroom is basically just a holding room for our tools and scrap wood right now, and the downstairs bathroom looks the same as the last time we shared video footage, so you’re not missing much. Anyway, the rest of the house is covered, so you can get a detailed wak-through of the progress we’ve made (and the areas that are still, shall we say, lacking) right here in the video. Note: if you are viewing this in a feed reader you may need to click through to the post to see the video. You can also watch it here on YouTube.

If you can’t dive into the video quite yet, I’ll give you some highlights via photos (the video has a lot more POVs though). First is the project that John was surprisingly enthusiastic about since it has been a long time coming: finally putting a top on the secondhand coffee table that I found for $5 on a local buy/sell/trade group. Up until now, you’ve probably stared curiously at that strange octagonal cage that floats around aimlessly in the middle of the living room, just begging to no longer live her life topless and alone. You can see it below in this photo from way back in October when we first moved in furniture (before we switched out the light fixture for something larger with more light, added a rug, and hung curtains).

art (it moved to the front bedroom) / similar chandeliers / ceiling medallion

We’ve been attempting to get a top for it for MONTHS now. First I got a few quotes for having an octagon-shaped marble or quartz top cut for it, but they were staggeringly expensive (as in more than $500 and sometimes more than $800 – even for remnant slab pieces) so that was out. But we were set on the idea of a light colored stone look, just because the rug and the couch are dark and we want to break things up with something nice and light in the middle. Then we realized we could create a white concrete top that would do just that if we built a wood top and used Ardex feather finish to skim coat it for that solid white concrete look – sort of like we did to our old kitchen counters. We love that it’ll end up being lighter & easier to move since it’s just a veneer of concrete, and we’ve never used the white concrete feather finish yet, so we’ll definitely keep you posted when we get to that step. So far we’ve just constructed the wood top:

light fixture / sofa (no longer sold as a sectional) / similar rug / similar coffee table

Also in the living room, you may have heard us debating several pink chairs on our podcast (and previewing them as they came in and immediately left on InstaStories – ha!). We kept coming back to the fact that this cane chair that we’ve had for years was a better fit than anything else we could find. And I swear it’s much more comfortable than it looks (let me tell you, John “Practical” Petersik does not tolerate uncomfortable chairs for purely decorative purposes) so that’s a legit endorsement to give cane chairs a chance and just sit in them to see if they’re really bad or really good.

curtains (we cut the tabs off) / rods / lamp / similar side table / similar chair

I just added a seat cushion that I found at Pier 1 (the flamingo pillow is from HomeGoods years ago) and it’s starting to look right at home. I only wish we could find another identical chair so we could have a matching pair in there. We found this one at a thrift store ages ago, so maybe someday one will pop up on Etsy or something? This weekend we also got to hang some big art to anchor a large empty wall in our kitchen. It’s from Urban Outfitters of all places, and it was perfect in just about every respect: the theme (it’s an aerial photo of the sea meeting a sandy beach), the color scheme (pink + blue), and the price ($199 for a giant 30 x 40″ print that comes framed!). The fact that the natural wood frame is so similar to our 100-year-old pine floors was a pretty exciting revelation for me when it arrived. It also comes in other sizes and other frames and it’s 20% off right now if you’re in the market for some art.

similar rug / similar stools / art / glass pendant lights / sconce / hardware

You’ve may have also noticed that we finished hanging curtains downstairs (extra long curtains + 9′ ceilings are great for bringing the eye up and emphasizing the added height) and I finally got around to hemming them all this weekend. We have been buying Lenda curtains from Ikea, washing them to pre-shrink them, and then cutting off the tabs before clipping them up. Some still need more steaming but we finally found a steamer that does the trick (after returning another one that did not do a thing). This Mac daddy upright one from Target was the winner. But even if some of our curtains are a little creased, they make the house feel so much more complete and oh so beachy. Long breezy white curtains FTW!

similar stools / curtains (we cut the tabs off) / curtain rods / art / pink letter board / sconce

We also got our new cabinet installed where the mini-fridge used to be (over the last few months we realized we never used it and decided more cabinetry and counter space there is so much better than a secondary fridge) and we also finished adding the cabinets along the right wall of the walk-in pantry. They’re shallow 15″ cabinets, just like the ones flanking the back door in the kitchen, so it’s really nice to have them continue in there.

hardware / shelves / sconces / faux eucalyptus / marble board / pink bowls

Assembling and hanging the cabinets wasn’t hard (we built them one Friday night and installed them the next Saturday morning) but we always forget all the little dangling to-do list items after that, like adding the hardware, cutting new counters, and reinstalling the baseboards and toe-kicks. We finally got that done this past weekend. They just need some paint touch ups and they’ll be 100% completed. Have I mentioned the pantry is one of my favorite rooms in the entire beach house and I wish so badly I had one in our kitchen at home? That pendant is original and we had it rewired so it’s all safe and updated. (*Insert dreamy lovestruck sigh here*). Note: you can see how we built the shelves along the left wall of the pantry here.

fridge / white pantry bins / similar blue mixing bowl / microwave / similar baskets

We’re still assuming that not all of this room will be dedicated to food storage since it’s just a weekly vacation rental (but we do hear that people bring lots of those large boxes of cereal and chips and even things like beach coolers, so it’s nice to have a spot where those things can all live). We also think it may become useful for overflow kitchenware (extra dishes, cooking gadgets, etc) and even some extra towels or linens, since the house doesn’t really have a proper linen closet anywhere. Time will tell! We’re just grateful to have concealed storage space to spare.

cabinets / hardware / counter / plant basket / blinds

As for upstairs, if you caught our podcast show notes a few weeks ago, you’ve already seen most of the bedroom progress. We got more of those breezy white curtains up everywhere (these still badly need to be steamed) and they really help anchor the rooms and make them feel softer.

striped blanket / headboard / side table / lamp / rug / curtains (we cut off the tabs) / curtain rods

That picture above is the front bedroom, and before when there was just a wide headboard sitting in front of that skinnier-than-the-bed window it felt kind of odd and unfinished. But once we hung the curtains it was immediately so much more balanced and finished looking. So if you have a room that necessitates that bed-in-front-of-the-window placement (the only other free wall in here has two windows, so the bed needed to be in front of a window any way we sliced it), consider adding some curtains hung high and wide on a nice substantial rod. Really makes a huge difference.

The middle bedroom has sort of a warm/brass thing going on. It started with the lamps, then I added some of my favorite gold frames with handmade prints that I picked up at a local craft fair last year, and we even hung a mobile in one corner. I can’t explain how simple this room was to put together (matching side tables, matching lamps, two pictures, simple curtains, neutral headboard and bedding, etc) but it feels so serene and beachy. The breezy gold mobile is like the icing on the cake.

duvet / throw blanket / similar side table / lamps / frames / similar mobile / similar headboard

The back bedroom, which is where we sleep when we stay there, also got curtains and otherwise has just seen some small tweaks: we lowered the sconces and simplified all the stuff on/under the night stands (there were baskets under them, and some leaning frames and books and stuff on top). I keep saying this, but the beach house is SO SIMPLE and such a nice breath of fresh air to us – so I didn’t want to lose that feeling by piling in too much stuff.

striped duvet / side table / sconces / blue pillow / headboard / art

All of those less covered surfaces at the beach house are inspiring me to pare down at home, too! You know that simple, uncluttered, uncomplicated feeling you get in a nice hotel room? We have that at the beach! And now I’m greedy and want it at home. Why not?! If less works out there, can’t it work at home too? Of course we have backpacks and schoolwork and a home office here at home, so it won’t quite be the same, but needless to say, there are a lot of things getting donated or put in some large plastic bins labeled “duplex decor” at home, just to thin things out around here too.

Back to moving the sconces for a second, because we get questions about them every time we show them. Thankfully, moving them was super easy since we designed them with Shades of Light to just be plug-in (so it doesn’t require an electrician to move them and they only make a few small screw holes in the wall that can be speckled if you change their location). There isn’t a junction box behind them or anything – they literally just need to be plugged into the wall to turn on, and then they’re just hung on the wall like you’d hang a mirror or a picture. That’s it, and they’re all “installed” – so easy.

The only other big accomplishment this past weekend was locking in a plan for the backyard, including the size and placement of a shed, choosing a material for a patio, and nailing down a strategy for a nice but not too expensive pathway from the street to the back (it’s like 100 feet long!). But that, my friends, is a conversation for another day and another post…

P.S. To see other beach house posts as we’ve pulled this vacation rental together over the last year, click here. And for all of the paint colors and sources for every last room in the beach house, here’s a page full of that info.

*This post contains affiliate links*

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yesterdaysdreams · 7 years ago