A Cluttered, Dated Bathroom Gets a $600 Makeover That’s “Like a Boutique Hotel”
Perhaps Apartment Therapy’s Decluttering Cure proves it best: A clutter-free, happy space can help lead to stress-free, happy living. That’s why Kiran Ali (@homenflorabykrn) decided to make a change in her once-overwhelming bathroom.
“The ‘before’ was an outdated, cluttered, and anxiety-inducing space,” Kiran says.”There was limited storage in the cabinets that were chewed up and falling apart. The white countertop had also become stained and couldn’t be cleaned with any amount of cleaning.” In addition, Kiran wasn’t a fan of the brown and bronze fixtures and wanted to give those a more modern upgrade.
“I decided to make a change because having a clean, organized, and functional space is vital for my mental health and overall wellbeing,” Kiran says. “Also, the project itself was fun and therapeutic for me to complete.”
The redo squeezes extra storage into smart places.
In her $600 redo, Kiran and her partner, Billy, made some small changes that went a long way in transforming the space and adding a little extra storage.
First, the couple removed the flat-sheet mirror that stretched from corner to corner and replaced it with a storage mirror to tuck away bottles and cosmetics — an instant upgrade in both style and function.
They also added $40 corner shelving on both sides of the mirror “for additional storage and to reduce the clutter on the countertops,” Kiran explains.
A few easy swaps transform the vanity.
Underneath, their vanity redo is one for the inspiration books — it proves you don’t have to completely replace a fixture in order to modernize it. Kiran and Billy covered the beige counters from before with a white marble contact paper and then ordered new cabinet fronts for the vanity.
“The only setback we had in this project was the cabinet faces taking longer than expected to be delivered,” Kiran says, but once they were in, Kiran and Billy painted the vanity and doors black (Behr’s Black) for more contrast and modernization.
The couple painted the walls gray (Valspar’s Essential Shade) for more warmth as well as replaced the old vanity light, faucet, and cabinet handles with new brass ones.
“The only thing I would do differently is having done this earlier,” Kiran says, adding that she’s proud of working on the project with Billy. “We achieved our goal of making it more functional and reducing the clutter. Now it makes us want to spend more time in there instead wanting to avoid being there … I love how it now looks like a boutique hotel bathroom.”
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