So lovely!

and .. good job on the stenciling!

It looks lovely, but it'd look more finished if she'd continued it onto the mirror wall.

Guest bathroom, 1/2 bath, powder room; of course maybe they're not everywhere, but certainly not uncommon at all. The after looks really nice & goes to show on a design blog, make your 'before' pic look as unattractive as possible.

Guest bathrooms aren't uncommon at all.

Come on, AT. "installed matching white hand towels"? She put them on the towel bar. That's it. Let's keep it simple.

Kathleen, we have 2 bathrooms at my house. The one without a bathtub connected to the guest bedroom is the guest bathroom. That's not to say we never use it (especially if the main one is occupied) but it helps to name it that for reference.

A Pumpkin and a Princess: You did an incredible job! I haven't seen that pattern with those colors really, it makes it less moroccan and more just aesthetically pleasing, which integrates well with the rest of that bathroom's decor. And God I love orchids. (Excellent "eastern touch" that again makes it not too thematic but definitely gives the flavor.)

Pi is right (& lol) about the towels; I didn't catch it until Pi's comment. I guess she also removed the current from the mirror lights as well; ie, turned them off. Her 'labors' paid off, it looks nice.

Our basement bathroom is also called "the cats' bathroom" because that's where we keep their litter box. It even has a theme! Not cats - xkcd posters. Our friends call it "the nerd bathroom."

wow, really nice. from builders grade to upscale hotel without a lot of $$

Maybe Katherine is not in the US.

One common house arrangement in the US, Katherine, is for the bedrooms and bathroom(s) to be on the second floor. If there's a "half-bath" -- that is, a room with a toilet and sink, but no bathtub or shower -- on the ground floor, lots of us call that the guest bathroom.

The lighting is completely different, making it hard to compare. I assume the dingy yellowy-white of the first photo is due to the lighting, since the toilet seems to change color to stark-staring-white, along with the walls, but they didn't change the toilet.

That's a good point. I looked at Kathleen's old comments and she is indeed, not from the US. Still, it's not unusual to have a guest bathroom. It's a semi-colloquial term, since we use our guest bathroom all the time but guests never use the bathroom that's connected to our bathroom. I have 3 bathrooms, actually, so technically I have 2 guest bathrooms.

The stencil is lovely, but it does look unfinished at the corners. The spot in the lower lefthand corner next to the cabinet would especially bug me if it were my bathroom. I'd continue the stenciling and go above the mirror as well.

it looks clean and fresh! (but I would have changed the light fixture.)

Can I get a tutorial for how to install hand towels?

WOW love this, and the before looks much like both of my bathrooms (early 80s house - only two bedrooms, but two bathrooms.)

I just laughed out loud at this comment. So true. Also, the before picture was clearly taken at night to make the bathroom look dingier (not that it is dingy at all, anyway). The bright natural light in the second pic makes any room look great.

Looks stunning..good job!

I guess Americans are spoiled...lol, I have 2 full bathrooms and 2 half bathrooms and I don't think it's all that uncommon at all.

Looks great, but unfinished. The stenciling isn't complete at the top left corner and the bottom near the cabinet and floor trim.

This looks amazing! I love the stenciled wall and the light gray she chose. But, yeah, it's hard to tell what the before looked like.

Giggling over this one.

"there are a few other east improvements that A Pumpkin and a Princess implemented that helped transform the room — can you spot them?"

Yes, every morning I wake up and walk into my bathroom and think, wow, daylight completely transforms this room!

I never knew a Moroccan stencil could add so much LIGHT to a room! LOL.

Nice makeover. Looky, looky not only is the seat down but the lid too, way to go.

Too bad the orchid is going to die in there without any sunlight ;-)

I applaud your patience I would have given up after the first 5 minutes

I was frustrated by the lighting change, as well... it would have been nice to see the "Before" with natural lighting. But I'm also so impressed by the difference that a little molding around the mirror makes. It turns that bathroom from "hotel bathroom" to finished home bath. Well done.

How did she get the lighting to go from dingy yellow to bright and pretty?

I like the colour choice and the white frame around the mirror. And it's nice to see the colour of the cabinetry. Which leads me to...

One of the improvements that seems evident in the after photo, is the lighting (and/or white balance) is different for the photograph itself. In the first shot the bathroom lights provide the yellow hue. In the after shot the light source is completely different and the bathroom lights are off.

I'm also a bit of a lighting nerd and I'd like to see what the room looks like with the lights that would actually be used in the room - whether it's the same light fixture with different power/temperature bulbs or a new light fixture altogether.

I've seen this change in lighting in a lot of before and after shots. Light has such a powerful impact on a space (and is one of the most important creative aspects of photography) that it's difficult to see just how the hard work done to a room actually changed it with this variable being inconsistent.

You have such patience! It looks great :)

I would liked to have seen it under the same lighting conditions to get a true comparison.

Just to add to the bathroom discussion guest bathrooms in the UK have baths in them too, normally that would be called a cloakroom or loo here.

Very good job. I am not sure if it is the lighting, but I really like the way the cabinets turned out.

I am into the make do with what you have attitude. So many people would have ripped out the lights and the mirror and vanity. She made them look great. I also appreciate the stencil on only one wall; any more would have been over kill. And, it does not bother me one bit that the edges are unfinished. I am so impatient I would have quit with the wall half painted.

Towel installation tutorial comment is hilarious.

It looks great! All that is left to do is change the vanity lighting.

Looks awesome. Wish the before pic was taken with the same lighting so we could tell the actual result, and not just that the second photo</I> looks better...

Wow, amazing how a simple pattern can completely update and transform a room. Great job!

'installed matching white hand towels'??? That must have been quite the process, I'm imagining powertools and hours of intensive labour.

"Builders grade" to "upscale hotel" are the exact vibes I got -- I was spooked when I saw ec05's comment. The yellowish cast of the "before" registered as dingy, and the grayish color looks sophisticated. This makes me rethink my idea that maybe we're ready to revive "cream" and move away from gray, because the cream version looks down-market.

Great job. The room looks much improved.

Great makeover! I am thinking about using gray in my bathroom but need to figure out which shade to use. I really like the stencil too! I've used stencils on a smaller scale and am guessing that doing it on a wall is a ton of work. Thanks for the inspiration!

Guest bathroom: neat, clean, tidy. The Household Bathroom: too embarrassing to be seen by guests (toothbrushes, soaps, creams, hairspray galore).

It still amazes me how something simple like just one wall patterned, a mirror framed really transforms a room. It also helps that the light in the after shot is sunlight, rather than just the over the sink light.

I love the gray & white together. The stenciling on one wall is perfect. Beautiful job. :)

Pretty! I love it. I don't think I could ever ever do stenciling - don't have the patience or steady hand, but it's really great.

Nice work - really beautiful! I love seeing these kinds of things on AT. As much as I love reno projects, it's inspiring to see what a huge impact small, well-planed, do-abe changes can make! (Not to downplay your mad stencil skillz, of course!)

I love the way it turned out!! Looks so light, clean and airy. And I have no doubt that was a lot of work. Way to persevere. Seriously beautiful!

What a beautiful bathroom! I love the stenciling; stunning! Great work!

I love, love the stenciling - wanted to try stenciling, but am afraid that the outcome would not
look professional.