Before and After: This Funky $100 Bathroom Redo Uses Paint in Cool, Surprising Ways

Basic can be nice—but it can also be a starting point for something with a lot more spunk. Take Angie Scheer’s guest bathroom: While perfectly nice, it was also just… not that exciting to Angie. “It was plain Jane with zero personality,” Angie says. “But I love color and have an eclectic style.” Not exactly a match! Thankfully, the room had good bones, and everything was in good shape. It just needed a fun face lift.

Among the things Angie knew she wanted to change were the faux marble floors, the dark vanity, the clip-on mirror, and the pale blue walls. She gave herself $100 and a full week for the project.

The vanity inspired the whole bathroom. Angie saw a pink vanity on Pinterest and knew that’s what she wanted, too. She used a pale pink (Benjamin Moore’s First Light), then chose a green color for the walls to complement it (Sherwin-Williams’s Gallery Green). New gold hardware adds a hint of glitz.

Angie painted the vanity wall white, then used a Sharpie paint pen to hand-draw spots from floor to ceiling. “I saw spotted wallpaper at Target and figured I could just recreate that look myself with a sharpie pen and it would be eye catching,” Angie says. “That wall was the hardest part. I just never thought it would end. I was literally seeing spots!” Swapping a framed mirror—bought at the thrift store—for the old frameless one gives a high-end touch.

Last up: the floors, which Angie painted white and then stenciled with gold paint in a star pattern. “I was originally going to stencil it in black but thought it would compete too much with the wall so I did gold and loved it!” Angie says. Maybe the pattern mixing isn’t for everyone, Angie says, but “I have an eclectic style and mix patterns all the time.”

Now, the bathroom gives guests a fun surprise when they walk in. “It’s currently my favorite room of the house,” Angie says. “It just makes me so happy! It’s fun and eclectic and fits my style so much better than the before.”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.