5 Basically Free, Tiny Tweaks That Will Transform Your Bathroom

My bathrooms is a high-use, highly practical space. Because it’s so important to the function of my home, it’s become an afterthought when it comes to making it beautiful. All I need is a functional, clean space — it doesn’t need to feel as relaxing as my bedroom or living room. Plus, it’s not like I have the time (or money!) to invest in transforming the bathroom space by hiring a stager or designer. But I’m interested in making each space feel a little more beautiful these days.

That’s why I reached out to a handful of home stagers and designers to ask them how to revamp my (or your!) bathroom for basically free, whether you’re putting your home on the market or just want to romanticize your life more. Surprise! The tips centered around cleaning, decluttering, and organizing — to make your bathroom look like a minimalist paradise without spending a cent (or spending just a few).

Here are five items you can expeditiously toss for free (and replace for nearly free) that will revamp your space if you so need it. 

Just like you probably do in other areas of your home, cleaning and bathroom maintenance tools should be put away. That means that the plunger hiding behind your toilet should find a home in a cabinet somewhere, and that your myriad of cleaning products you might keep right by the bathtub should also find a new, under-sink home, too.

“No one wants to see a toilet brush in plain sight,” says Cem Evirgen, founder and design director at Monomid. Evirgen says you can invest in a holder that conceals the brush entirely so it doesn’t detract for the overall appearance of the room, or you can remove it altogether and store it in the garage or a closet instead. 

Sure, some decorative soaps are just so cool that you think they have to be displayed. But why keep something like soap if you aren’t going to use it? “Dusty, decorative soaps shaped like seashells or flowers are doing more harm than good,” says Nicole Saunders, founder and interior design specialist at The Design Build Vault. 

If you’re trying to sell your home, they can “make your space feel outdated and collect grime and dust,” Saunders says. But even from a living perspective, they’re just not as useful as a “sleek liquid soap dispenser,” or, if you are a solid soap enthusiast, a “minimalist handmade bar soap that is both functional and stylish.”

If you don’t want to throw something away that’s been unused, you could also finally try to use those decorative soaps and see how it goes. 

Some people (me included) believe every bathroom should have an exhaust fan, no matter what. But the really loud or dirty ones? It’s time for those to go. If you have no interest in spending the money to replace an exhaust fan, doing a deep clean of it should help — especially if you have a potential buyer who is switching light switches and fan switches on and off as they tour your home.

“Bathrooms are meant to be a sanctuary, but when one turns on an extremely loud exhaust fan, it can overwhelm the senses,” says Karina Pruitt, design consultant at Ashton Woods Homes. “Additionally, looking up and seeing a dust-covered fan can create a bad impression.” Not to mention it can be a hazard as well.

You know that lavender-scented hand lotion that your aunt gave you, or the hair paste from when you had a pixie cut that expired two years ago? Trust me — you won’t ever use those again. Get rid of them. They’re just taking up space, causing clutter, and making your bathroom and storage space feel smaller than it is. 

“Collect like-minded products, like medicines, skin care, and hair products, so you can see what you have,” says home stager Barbara Brock, founder and CEO of Barbara Brock Inc. “Then it’s easier to weed out products one hasn’t used in a long time.” Brock has another decor tip, too: “Perfumes are really not supposed to go in a bathroom, so I would remove those and showcase them on a bedroom vanity or dresser area instead.”

Truly, no one wants to look over in someone’s bathroom and see all their bathroom-related garbage, whether they’re a guest or a homebuyer. “An uncovered trash can can be an eyesore,” Evirgen says. “A small, lidded bin or a pedal-operated trash can is both functional and visually pleasing.”  

Plus, buying a lidded, small bathroom trash can is an extremely cheap investment that instantly neatens up your space. If you want to splurge a little more, you could buy a bathroom set (a lidded trash can, a toilet brush with the covered brush, and a soap dispenser) that all matches in order to make it look sleek and less jarring. 

I’m taking these tips of advice to heart and starting this weekend with a cull of my old toiletries. From there, I’m going to look right up at my exhaust fan and see if it needs a good cleaning. Even if it’s just a tip for me, it’ll make my bathroom feel less cluttered and make me happier.