Before and After: A Boring Beige Bathroom Gets a Colorful, Sophisticated Redo

published Jun 2, 2021
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Credit: Hana Sethi

For essential workers, home has been a place of comfort, a place to rest and recharge for the next day’s work throughout the pandemic.

DIYer Hana Sethi of Hana’s Happy Home‘s brother, Neal, is an essential worker “who has tirelessly worked with COVID patients over the last year,” she says. To thank him for keeping the community safe throughout the pandemic, she decided to take on a special DIY project for him.

Between Neal’s work demands, his 38-weeks-pregnant wife, Asma, and their two young daughters, the family had a lot on their plate. Hana decided to help them take on a bathroom renovation that would make things easier for the whole family.

Credit: Hana Sethi

Hana’s two nieces’ bathroom before was beige and blah. It “lacked character,” Hana says. “These two lovely little girls need a beautiful space they can grow into.”

Credit: Hana Sethi

Their vision for the space included an emerald vanity and colorful, floral wallpaper, plus new tile to add texture and interest to the space. This would require gutting the entire bathroom, which Hana was prepared for — but what seemed like a straightforward bathroom reno quickly became more complicated.

Credit: Hana Sethi

“We had a really hard time removing the vanity as the plumbing came out through the floor, not the wall as we saw in every YouTube video,” Hana says. Plus, when they removed the old tiles, they were surprised to find an additional layer of concrete. They needed a jackhammer to get all the way to the subflooring.

The construction obstacles — plus a COVID scare with periods of isolation and testing — made the project last six weeks.

“Anticipate that there will be things you just don’t know how to do, but with some creative problem solving, you can figure it out,” Hana says. “I’m shocked we didn’t need to hire a professional.” She’s most proud of the way her family worked together to get the job done.

Credit: Hana Sethi

Hana, Neal, their mom, and Asma had all hands on deck to complete the project. “My pregnant sister-in-law was on the floor tiling the whole way through,” Hana says. “She’s a champ!” The tiles — a geometric floor mosaic on the floors, a glossy field tile in the shower, and a white marble hex choice on the walls — were worth the hard work.

Credit: Hana Sethi

Hana’s tip for working with hexagonal tiles? Account for extra time it takes to grout around all six edges. One of Hana’s favorite features is that the new floors are heated, perfect for walking on when first waking up on cold, Canadian winter mornings. “That’s such a nice perk,” Hana says.

Credit: Hana Sethi

She also loves the peel-and-stick floral wallpaper, and here, again, Hana has helpful advice for future DIYers. When she was browsing wallpaper online, she found a pattern she loved but thought a larger scale would better suit the size of the bathroom, so she messaged the artist to see if it could be blown up.

“I was nervous asking her because she is an artist, and I would be asking her to modify a piece of art,” Hana wrote on her blog, but the designer, Karolina, was gracious and happy to accommodate the request. After a couple of days and iterations, Karolina created the perfect wallpaper for Hana. The lesson: Don’t immediately count out your favorite patterned wallpaper if its scale isn’t quite what you’re looking for.

“It is easy to message artists through Spoonflower’s mail system,” Hana said on her blog. “I just clicked on her name and drafted my message.” As a result, she has a beautiful, customized wall covering that can grow with the girls.

Credit: Hana Sethi

The wallpaper plus the tiles make the bathroom showstopping and fun, Hana says. And the new vanity adds storage that wasn’t there before. With finishing touches like a gold-framed mirror, new gold and glass-globed lighting, and hanging plants, the bathroom is both more glamorous and more functional for Hana’s hardworking (and growing!) extended family.