This Before & After comes from Sarah — a former entrant from our 2008 Color Contest: Sarah's "California Dreaming" Hello! I love the Before & After features on Apartment Therapy so when I finished painting my bathroom, I knew I had to send you the photos!
When I moved into this rental unit, the bathroom was powder blue with a narrow space for the sink and toilet and no storage space whatsoever — not even a medicine cabinet. In this photo you can see the toilet nook, complete with leaping dolphin painting. And those little squares under the dolphins noses? You'll never guess…squares of Hershey's chocolate glued to the canvas! I wish they had left it behind so that I could have contributed it to the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA).
I painted the room white and then yellow halfway up, as if it there was a chair rail (as I like to do). Then I painted yellow chevrons on the wall behind the toilet and hung a shelf for towels and a canvas box for extra storage. It's certainly a powerful little space now but it's not overwhelming. And when I stumble into the bathroom in the morning, I can't help but smile!
Thanks Sarah!
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lovely transformation!
I need that painting.
Dude. Way to go.
I think it qualifies for the MOBA even without the Hershey's squares. Great job, Sarah!
GREAT JOB. Love it!!
Very cool and upbeat. Nice job!
Love this! So cheerful!
That ALMOST makes me wish I had a teeny tiny bathroom! Very inspiring.
Life gave you lemons, you made lemonade. Fresh and delightful!
Cute!!
You should move the shelf brackets to the top side of the shelf so they don't cover up your design, though!
Holy wow, that looks so so good. I mean seriously I'm not even a huge fan of yellow but this is just awesome.
Sarah, you did great! How on earth did you get them so perfect!?
Wow. I despise yellow, and yet you've made it look so beautiful in your teeny tiny bathroom. You should be so very proud of this.
I echo everyone else's comments. What a lovely and successful budget friendly transformation! Your bathroom really does make me feel so happy--I emailed this post to a lot of my friends. :-)
This is so cute and fresh! Great use of the minimal wall space! <3
It would have been quite humorous if the stripes were pointing down instead of up.
Astonishing!
You obviously have far better taste than your predecessors! It looks great!
Wow!
On one hand, lovely.
On the other hand,
yellow in the bathroom?
Ewuu. . .
(Obvious reasons)
So cool!
i used to have a bright yellow shower curtain. replaced it with one in painted bands of yellow, aqua, turquoise, green and lavendar. it's very pretty, especially in natural light.
thank you, everyone! it took a lot of patience, measuring, and taping but i love how it turned out!
I LOVE IT!!!!! :D So simple yet so interesting.
My only critique is that I'm not a fan of the utilitarian-looking shelf. I would have gone with something a little nicer looking, but the folded towels look cute.
I might end up copying you haha
I love anything chevron! The measuring must have taken a lot of work, kudos to you. I think you should paint the shelf, white, yellow or even a contrasting color. Great job livening up a dreary space!
love white & yellow
I really like this! I would love a bathroom this cheery.
I'm glad you're not afraid to have fun with toilet decor ;) In any other room this would be 70s nightmare hideous, but here it's fun! Well done!
Woah! That paint makes this space look SO much bigger! And it's just about exactly the size of my tiny "toilet nook"...hm, ideas...
Also, if I were a dolphin, I would definitely jump out of the water for a Hershey bar.
Love it great idea...i think the shelf would look better painted white or yellow...
it is really beautiful
love it...how did you do it so perfectly?
Yellow isn't my kind of color (I find it a little abrasive) but I love what you've done with it and that chevron wall is fabulous.
Love the Chevrons! The whole wall behind the toilet from floor to ceiling should of been painted, it now looks a little unfinished to me.
May I ask why you didn't paint the piece behind the toilet?
Fantastic!
I love!! I love the idea of using paint as a focal design point. Awesome!
OBSESSED!!!! LOVE LUV LURVE IT!!! AMAZING JOB!
Outstanding! I was prepared to be unimpressed, and I was blown away. Fantastic before and after pictures.
sacha, to be honest, i didn't paint the bit down low by the toilet because i got lazy! :) plus, without having a center point, it would have been really difficult to get the lines straight. in the end, i decided that i didn't mind how it looked without the bottom half filled in.
thank you for all the wonderful comments everyone!
sarah
So cute! LOVE it. It's now so bright and cheerful. The only things I would change is to paint the shelf as suggested, and add some small molding strips painted in the same white to where floor and walls join, or just to that wall-floor join with the chevron as it looks a little ragged there. You can adhere them with construction adhesive. You might want to add a molding to where the white and yellow colors join on the walls too for a more finished look. GREAT job!
How can you go wrong with dolphins?
Sarah - Thanks for answering. LOL @ getting lazy I know that feeling all too well when it comes to painting.