Before & After: A Tiny Townhouse Bathroom Gets an Uptown Makeover

published Jun 21, 2016
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(Image credit: Risa of Really Risa)

Risa’s bathroom update is such an impressive mix of super sensible (shout out to dark grout!) and totally gorgeous (those fixtures!) in a small space.

(Image credit: Risa of Really Risa)

From Risa: Our small townhouse bathroom (in Philadelphia) was the color of mucus. The kind you see when you have the flu. This bathroom was kind of like having the flu. It made you sick and achy all over just looking at it.

No amount of elbow grease could get this thing looking clean. The leaky tub faucet kept turning the white grout black, the tub and shower walls had rusted metal handlebars drilled into them from a previous homeowner, the walls were crumbling, the medicine cabinet was huge and rusting … the list goes on.

When we finally got an opportunity to gut this hideous bathroom I knew I wanted lots of white, dark grout, brass fixtures, a wall-mounted sink (to open up some floor space) with a marble backsplash and an overall crisp, clean, simple aesthetic.


The end result is better than I ever imagined. My toddler can’t stop telling everyone how “Won-er-ful” her new tub is and sometimes I just stand in the doorway staring at that clean, white room wondering how we lived with that horrendous, mucusy, flu-like bathroom for all those years.

Thank you, Risa! You can see more on Risa’s blog Really Risa.