7 Simple Upgrades for the Bathroom

The bathroom is one of the most utilitarian rooms in the home, so it sometimes gets overlooked, although a quality bathroom can improve your life a lot. Meg and Ross have a great bathroom with good storage options and a sense of personal style. To bring your own space up to snuff, click below for seven simple fixes...

• Make sure you have plenty of storage in the bathroom. Use kitchen canisters or wall-mounted racks to store cotton balls, Q-tips, and bathroom supplies, and use wall hooks to hang towels.

• To spruce up old windows and add privacy to a bathroom, use decorative window film. We like Emma Jeffs' designs.

• Update your hardware. It's fairly easy to switch out old cabinet knobs, towel bars, and drawer pulls.

• Replace old light fixtures. Some of the ugliest light fixtures hide out in old bathrooms. For an inspirational DIY, check out Shayna's Vanity Lamp Redo.

• Paint the walls. In a bathroom, you usually want to go with a semigloss paint that will clean up more easily than a flat finish.

• Switch out the medicine cabinet. If you have a surface-mounted medicine cabinet, it's pretty easy to take it out and install a new one in its place. If you have a built-in, there's a good set of tips on installing a recessed medicine cabinet here.

• Spring for new accessories. You could try new towels, shower curtain, bathmat, mirror, or wastebasket.

Any other recommendations for simple ways to upgrade your bathroom?

Comments (16)

i painted my bathroom and changed my medicine cabinet to update my space. it went a really long way!

I like to stick to white towels. They are classic and crisp. The great thing about them is that you can change up your look quite a bit and work them in no matter what.

Also, bathrooms tend to gather mismatched items with all of our beauty routines and white towels provide a simple back drop to whatever ends up in there.

Think spam

-Blogazar

Agreed-white towels, and spring for the "spa" size.

we just re-did our bathroom (as best we could for a rental) - the biggest difference for us was removing the old wall mounted sink and replacing it with a washbasin sink with cabinet space. switching out the toilet seat and even faucets can make a world of difference in such a small space. i have a few pics here.

guys, never take for granted the parts in the toilet tank!

you would not believe the last 24 hours i've had. to make a very long story short, i had to replace several items in my tank all by myself (but i am proud i got the job done). all thanks to a back-up, flood, then discovery of severely-outdated tank parts. a few trips to the hardware store, frustration, and sore muscles later, i have a perfectly-running toilet again.

tip: do all you can not to clog your toilet and replace your outdated tank equipment (especially if you live in a pre-war building as i do)! best thing is, by getting the right parts and reading and following the directions to a t, you can do it yourself!

working plumbing is a true blessing!

anyone know where I could find the clear plastic shelf in the picture?

Yeah, I'm also interested in where I can find the clear plastic shelf.

not to be critical, but i'd definitely spring for a rechargeable-battery-powered clock. that cord mars an otherwise beautiful bathroom!

Better utilize the inside of your cabinets (if they are metal) by storing vitamins/aspirin/small items in the magnetic jars that people use to store spices.
Conair Cord-Keeper hairdryers keep ugly cords at a minimum. The 1875 model even folds in half for storage INSIDE of the cabinet.
Instead of using bathtub surfaces to store shampoo/liquid soap/conditioner, buy suction-cup mounted dispensers. Line them up and mount them spa-style on the shower wall. You may even be able multitask and use your shower gel as hand-soap if your shower and sink are lined up like the shot above.
Don't underestimate the great look of a large clear apothecary jar filled with hotel-sized bath products. Great for guest bathrooms -- your guests can choose their own guest-sized grooming products from your cache.

Any tips for replacing a large flat wall-to-wall mounted mirror with a medecine cabinet in its place? Can you just pry off the existing mirror?

The acrylic shelf comes from The Container Store.

Where did you find that darling weiner dog artwork? I <3 it!

You can get some high quality glass shelves with brass, chrome or bronze fittings at Look In The Attic - they have some of the finest bath collections around. They are online at http://www.LookInTheAttic.com - just great stuff!

The number one thing most people can do to spruce up their bathroom is HIDE YOUR JUNK. Seriously. Keep your soaps, lotions, shaving creams, brushes, pills, and all of that *inside of something else* -- nothing makes a bathroom look cleaner and fresher than wide open empty spaces. I keep my sink and counter almost entirely clear, aside from some nice hand soap, iPod speakers (cord concealed), and an electric toothbrush (cord concealed). The speakers and toothbrush are the same color, which also makes everything look more put together.

I'm always a little surprised when I visit someone's home and they have their depression pills, acne cream, and dandruff shampoo sitting out on the counter... put that **** away!

Paint your cabinet and old rusted sides of the medicine cabinet. The color makes a big difference, and makes it look like a new cabinet. Also, if you have linoleum or vinyl floor, it is easy and cheap to switch it out, or to layer on top with a different color or pattern.

Ditto the question about the weiner dog artwork... I love it!