This Bathroom Got a Complete Makeover with Mostly Paint (It’s so Playful!)
Blayke Sykes and her husband, Sam Roland, moved into their home in 2019, and even though it technically had 2 1/2 baths, they were only using 1 1/2. There was plenty Blayke disliked aesthetically about the bathroom. “The walls were painted a dull green that clashed with the shiny laminate floors,” Blayke explains. “The lighting was harsh, and the entire space felt cramped and neglected.”
But the main reason Blayke and Sam didn’t use it was because the shower and toilet didn’t work, “which led us to neglect this bathroom even further until we had the funds to spend on the bathroom reno,” Blayke says.
Utilizing plumbing pros, then paint, then hardware swaps, Blayke and Sam turned this dated bathroom into a warm, playful space with a hint of mid-century modern. After saving up money to get the shower and toilet fixed by the pros, the first step was to choose a paint color that would add instant warmth to the space.
New paint made all the difference.
Blayke opted for a neutral dusty pink (Benjamin Moore’s Desert Rose) for the walls and added accents of blue and brown. “It instantly refreshed the room and set the tone for everything else,” she says.
One of the existing features Blayke loved about the bathroom was the window above the toilet. “It let in some natural light, which was a saving grace and gave me hope that the room had potential,” she says. Now that the walls are painted a warm color, the natural light looks even more dreamy.
The shelf next to the vanity is the stylish storage star of the show.
Blayke loved how much storage the bathroom had, thanks to the shelving unit installed in the wall next to the vanity, but there was a problem: “My least favorite part of the room was the cabinet doors that hid the shelving,” she says. “The doors would hit the lighting fixture when you opened them. They made a small space feel even smaller.”
She removed the doors and gave the shelving some major style points with scalloped trim. “Attaching the wavy trim to the shelving was a first for me,” Blayke says. “I wasn’t entirely sure of the best method, but I went for it using a combination of wood-specific super glue and finishing nails to secure the pieces.”
Since the trim wasn’t long enough to cover the entire shelf in one piece, she used wood filler to smooth out the seam, sanded it down, and painted the wavy pieces to match the shelves. “It ended up blending in really well, and it felt great to pull it off without prior experience,” Blayke says.
The shelves got a striped paint job.
Figuring out the wavy trim was tough, but Blayke says painting the stripes on the shelving unit was perhaps the most difficult part of the entire renovation process. “The measuring, taping, and trying to keep clean lines took a lot of patience,” she says, adding that Sam helped, “which definitely made it more manageable (and more fun).”
Although it was the hardest project to tackle, Blayke says the stripes (and the color palette) are her favorite part of the room and “add such a unique, handmade touch.” The paint colors are Benjamin Moore’s Terazzo Brown and Amaretto.
The vanity also got a paint makeover.
Because Blayke and her husband were working on a tight budget made tighter because of the plumbing work, they had to be scrappy. “I definitely picked up a few new DIY skills … but I also learned how much of a difference small, thoughtful changes can make,” Blayke says. “Don’t underestimate the power of paint and hardware.”
The vanity got a paint and hardware makeover, with light blue paint (Benjamin Moore’s Blue Wave) and funky wooden hardware and an extra piece of scallop trim. Above that, Blayke swapped out the vanity light and added a wavy mirror. The cost of the pro plumbing repairs was about $600, and the rest of the redo cost about $845.
“Every detail feels intentional, and there’s a strong sense of cohesion that was completely missing before,” Blayke says. “It makes me happy every time I walk in. Especially because I know how far it has come … and I did that! … I realized that you don’t have to gut a space to completely transform it.”
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