Before & After: Marie’s Budget Bathroom Makeover

We recently came across this inexpensive bathroom makeover on our Apartment Therapy SF flickr Pool. Marie and her husband Aaron moved into their Menlo Park apartment about a year and a half ago. While their initial decorating tended toward neutral colors and traditional furnishings, Marie felt a need to brighten things up by making her bathroom a bit fresher and younger. See Marie’s less than $50 makeover after the jump.

Here’s a description from Marie of what went into the makeover:

This bathroom was the first project on the list and I couldn’t be happier with the results. We painted all of the walls with Jamaica Bay by Behr (about $25 for one gallon), and I made a window treatment with discount fabric from Ikea ($2 for one yard). The accessories are primarily from Home Goods, and I can’t imagine that I spent more than $40 on the whole transformation.

The branch and birds mural is one of my favorite DIY’s of all time. I painted it by hand using black paint markers from Michael’s. I looked at dozens of Google Images of both branches and birds until I found ones that sort of resembled what I had in my head, and kept referring back to them as I painted the mural. There was also a lot of improvisation. It looked too scary at first, so I added flower buds on the branches and that made it a bit friendlier.

I would love to be able to paint the vanity, change out the fixtures, etc., but this is a rental and I need to keep our budget and my landlord’s wishes in mind. For now, the room makes me smile and it encourages me to work on the rest of the place.

Thanks for sharing, Marie! It just goes to show how easily a space can be transformed with a little paint and some imagination.

(Image credits: Marie Baca)