An “Old and Rotting” Bathroom Gets a Dramatic Ruby-Colored Makeover
Red is an unexpected color for a small space like a bathroom, but there’s something about a deep, muted ruby tone in a bathroom — like in this powder room, this full bath, and this bathroom — that I’ve been really into lately.
One of my most recent favorite reds I’ve spotted is Melanie Cooke’s (@thisismelaniecooke) red bathroom redo. “I wanted the darker colour to really pop in there against the lilac pink,” Melanie says on Instagram (where she’s known as @banish_the_beige_). And banishing the beige is precisely what she did in this little space.
She describes the before as “white, sad, and a bit dirty,” and it hadn’t been updated since 1980. “Everything was old and rotting,” Melanie adds. It had exposed pipes, embossed wallpaper, and vinyl floors.
The new floors look great — but they’re a renovation regret.
Melanie and her husband, Christian, gave the bathroom a makeover with a much bolder color scheme. They ripped everything out and had the bathroom re-plastered, and Christian installed red checkerboard floors.
But Melanie has one big renovation regret when it comes to the floor tiles: She used a thinner tile meant for walls on the floor, and now the tiles are moving and the grout is cracking. “The guy in the tile shop warned me,” Melanie says on Instagram. “I still did it anyway. One thing that hasn’t helped is the floor. We didn’t level it; just screwed tile backer board down, which has a bit of a bounce in it.”
She says they’ve since re-installed about 12 of the tiles with wetter adhesive, and they are no longer cracking, but they’ll have to come up with a more long-term solution. (What are your biggest renovation regrets? Let us know in the comments!)
Goodbye, exposed pipes.
Melanie’s dad also helped out with the renovation by building covers for the pipes. Melanie says it was their first time working with tongue-and-groove paneling (found over top of the pipes and the cistern for the new sink), and it took a lot of trimming and caulking to get the paneling to fit correctly in the corners and to hide imperfections.
The tongue-and-groove covers are painted Edward Bulmer’s Lilac Pink (the more neutral shade on the walls and the radiator, which Melanie also gave a fresh coat) and Pompadour (the bold red underneath the sink).
The sink was a splurge — but it’s completely stunning.
Speaking of the sink, it’s one of Melanie’s favorite parts of the “after,” and it was a splurge that took up about a third of the total bathroom budget.
She liked the little blue sink from before and was sad to part ways with it, but the new sink works better with the updated plumbing in the bathroom — and it’s a striking statement piece.
Melanie’s best advice for anyone tackling a bathroom makeover is to “choose a piece you love … and design the space around that.” In her case, those pieces are the sink, taps, and mirror. The overhead light fixture is from Pooky Lighting. Melanie’s bathroom renovation totaled around $2,700 USD.
For another stunning red bathroom makeover, check out this color-drenched beauty.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.