This “Totally White and Plain” Bathroom Gets a Cozy, Colorful Makeover for $80
A brand-new home has perks: modern fixtures that probably won’t need repairs right away, plus zero trace of any previous owners, so no scuffs or dings. But sometimes new builds can feel a little too new.
“I found myself with a tiny guest bathroom, totally white and plain,” Marlene Garcia (@ecreativestudio.marls) says. She and her boyfriend were the first tenants in their apartment.
The bathroom had a tiny vanity and white wall-mount shelf that made it functional despite the small square footage — plus an IKEA shelf that Marlene added behind the toilet — but “I knew a bold paint color would do the trick to make it feel special [and] cozy,” Marlene says.
A piece of art was the design starting point for the bathroom.
Marlene is a designer, and she and her boyfriend lived in their place for a few months before deciding how to make the apartment feel personal to them.
“I found an old New Yorker illustration a friend gifted me years ago and hadn’t had the chance to use, so I took it as the main inspo for the look and feel of the space,” she says. She found a cheap vintage frame for the piece, too.
The true star of the show is the paint.
Although the artwork was the inspo, Marlene says the biggest difference-maker was the paint — and she loves the “after.” The paint color is Sherwin-Williams’ Canyon Clay, and Marlene says color drenching the space (she did the painting herself) was hard work.
I wanted to add a decorative piece of lighting at the wall or the ceiling, but never got the chance to,” Marlene says. “I tried to be practical and get the look in an inexpensive way: bucket of paint; IKEA shelf and [striped] towel; frames, [a] little lamp, and soap dispenser from my local department store; and illustrations I had collected over the years.” Her total transformation cost? About $80.
It “feels like a reflection of my personal taste, and it’s super cozy,” Marlene says.
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