Before and After: This Pink Powder Room Reno Cost Less Than $600
Laurel Oberst purchased her Portland, Oregon, home in the summer of 2017, adorably naming it “Berrybrier” because of the brambles of blackberries and raspberries in the backyard, she explains on her blog, Land of Laurel.
Both of Berrybrier’s two bathrooms were in desperate need of attention. In the master bedroom’s half bath, the sink was falling off of the wall, peel-and-stick flooring was no longer sticking, and faux wood paneling was overtaking such a small space. To make matters worse, everything was “covered in a layer of seemingly impenetrable grime which even heavy duty cleaners didn’t seem to make a dent in!” Laurel writes.
However, the powder room didn’t quite make it to the top of Laurel’s list of must-immediately-make home improvements—until she found out that the wall dividing the powder room from the main bath had to be taken out completely and rebuilt for proper support.
Laurel used the unexpected makeover opportunity to expand the powder room by 10 inches, hugely impacting such a small space. Her goals for the renovation were pretty straightforward: One, she wanted to keep it super affordable—like, $650 affordable—so that she could potentially renovate again later on and create a full master bath. Two, she hoped for the room to feel style-appropriate within her 1909 house. “I wanted to renovate with respect to the history of the home and make it feel like it belonged here,” she writes. “Thus, I chose materials that were popular at the turn-of-the-century or shortly thereafter.”
Laurel took part in the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge, during which she blogged about the entire renovation process.
She saved big by using leftover tile from her parents’ bathroom renovation, keeping the same toilet, and using grout, thinset, and drywall from previous home projects. The lighting came courtesy of her aunt, who saved the fixtures from a neighbor who was renovating, and Laurel moved the medicine cabinet over from the main bathroom of the home. The overall project cost her just $582; she said the main expenses were a new sink, plumbing, shelves, trim, and beadboard.
Let’s talk about that beadboard! Gone is the faux wood paneling, replaced with beadboard painted in Benjamin Moore’s Pink Beach in Natura Eggshell. Laurel came up with the idea after spotting the bathroom in HBO’s “Sharp Objects.” “The color is the perfect shade of pink that’s mature, calming, and looks great on everyone,” she writes.
She calls the new bathroom joyful, clean, and, above all, functional. The smaller sink, from Wayfair (with a faucet from Amazon), and extra 10 inches in the bathroom allow for much more movement, and shelves above the toilet mean she can now keep towels and extra toiletries in the room.
Laurel’s best advice for home improvements? “Read blogs!” she writes. “I tackled so many big DIY projects (like two full bathroom renovations) solo with zero experience, because I’d read so many blogs that described how to do each and every bit of the [processes]. That’s what gave me the know-how and the confidence to try it myself.”
Thank you for sharing, Laurel!