Before and After: A Retro Bathroom Gets a Fresh, Art-Filled DIY Overhaul for Just $1,000

You know those vintage pastel-colored bathrooms? While they certainly have their charms, some haven’t aged as well as others. Meryl Rotch‘s powder room as was just peachy, and not in a good way: It was filled with a peach toilet, peach sink, and even a peach toilet paper holder.

It also “wasn’t a very friendly or inviting space,” says Meryl. “The faucet gushed water out so intensely that it would spatter all over the walls and wasted so much water at the rate that it came out. The room’s square footage is quite generous for a half bath, but when you walked in to use the room, it felt like the toilet and the slim pedestal sink were floating in an expanse of empty, unused space.”

So, Meryl and her husband decided to tear everything out, handling a total bathroom renovation completely on their own. Completely! “We did this project entirely by ourselves, and I did probably 85% of the work solo,” says Meryl. “My husband and I removed the fixtures together (that sink was so heavy!), and I put it all back together over the course of about 6-8 weeks.” That included electrical work, drywall repair, painting, cutting and installing picture frame molding on the walls, and hooking up the faucet and sink plumbing. By going full DIY, the couple was able to spend just about $1,000 on the whole redo.

What’s arguably the most eye-grabbing aspect of the room—all of that art—was also the cheapest. “A lot of the art has been collected over the course of a decade or so,” says Meryl. “Most of it was affordably thrifted, the photography is my own, and there are a few originals in there. Other than an Etsy download to fill in a spot, the art was not specifically purchased for this renovation project, and I had all of it on hand to pick and choose from.” BRB: We’re off to turn every bathroom wall into a gallery wall.

Meryl says that, if she were to have done anything differently, she would have chosen bolder colors or wallpaper. “At the onset of this project, we were potentially moving due to a job change,” she explains, “and it forced me to keep things a bit more simple than my eclectic decor-loving self probably would have gone.”

But Meryl created something she deservedly takes a lot of pride in. “It was a huge confidence booster and very empowering to realize that I don’t necessarily have to rely on others to make things happen in my home,” she says.

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