Before and After: This Boring Bathroom Goes Bold, Bright, and Colorful for Under $1,000

Name: Meghan Hunt Parker (@madebymegblog)
Redo: Bathroom
Level: DIY

When it comes to dull bathrooms with limited space, there are plenty of ways to brighten things up. In fact, sometimes it’s as simple as a giving your bathroom some fresh paint.

This guest bathroom upgrade by Meghan Hunt Parker and her husband Kyle Parker is a great example. The one-time previous-rental ranch house was in “good shape,” but dated, Meghan says, and that included the blah bathroom. To avoid ripping out and tossing what was there, the couple worked with what they had — oatmeal-colored shower tiles and all —to create a fresh look for bathroom.

A huge money-saver for the couple was opting to keep all that original tile. To level it up, the two reglazed the tile and sink using Rust-Oleum Tub and Tile in a fresh white color, which brightened the space immediately.

Meghan used a couple tricks to make the bathroom feel bigger. First, the walls around the shower were painted a coordinating white (Behr’s Swiss Coffee). Another trick: Placing the shower rod higher to make the ceilings feel taller. The cabinet above the toilet and the scattered towel bars were also removed to add a sense of spaciousness.

Next up, the couple turned their attention to the walls. To make the half-wall of tile behind the sink less awkward, the couple connected the space by adding chair rail moulding around the bathroom halfway up the wall. They painted the lower half of the walls with white paint to match the white tile.

On top, Meghan skipped expensive wallpaper and opted for a stencil with a similar look. A bright and bold orange base shade (Sherwin-Williams’s Sunset) sets off a palm leaf design in white. “The stencil work took me a whole weekend, including two coats for the base layer, two coats of stenciling, and touch-ups with a fine brush,” Meghan says. “But the end result makes me so happy.”

The month-long project transformed this space from blah to bold and cheerful, all for well under $1,000 total.

“I love how the fun paint and bright white tile glaze make this room feel fun and fresh,” Meghan says. “And the oversized pothos vine, which my husband says is too big, is perfection.”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.