Who loves a good makeover? I know I sure do, especially when it’s under budget and a big impact. This little bathroom project has been on my list forever and I am doing the happy dance now that it’s complete. I did a quick “fix up” when we moved in 4 years ago, but I never. was thrilled with the final look. Now I’m loving every detail and can’t wait to share them with you. It’s crazy how much you can change a space with paint. I know I tell you that all the time but it’s just so true. Come see what we did with this old space and tips on how to spruce up a boring space.

 

Of course every good makeover starts with a before, so that’s where we will start. The photo below is from the previous owners and I snapped this pic when we were doing a walk through.

 

Before:

 

 

The walls were a periwinkle blue and the floors were a brown linoleum. They added bead board to just one wall but i felt like it made the space look so unfinished.

 

 

I painted over the periwinkle with a Light French gray but never was thrilled with how it looked in the room. It still pulled a light lavender in the lighting.

 

 

I also stenciled over the floors. At the time we had no budget for this room and I wanted to try out the trend. I figured since we would eventually be replacing the floors it couldn’t hurt to try it. I was happy for the most part with the look, however, I made a rookie mistake and used polyurethane on the floors instead of polyacrylic and it yellowed after about 6 months. It continued to yellow and look dingy as the years went on but held up pretty well for 4 years of wear.

 

 

Also, our German Shepherd always loved to sleep in here. It was cool, quiet and right next door to my husbands office. So, that is why this particular area looked so bad. It was worn down and dirty, yuck!

 

 

 

 

During:

 

There was also a large, random cabinet over the vanity that was  such an eyesore! It took up so much space and invaded the entire vanity area. It was so annoying and I was ready to get rid of it. Once we pulled that out it was amazing how much it opened up the entire area.

 

 

 

I also wanted to get rid of the mirror. It was not straight and off center and I didn’t care for the boxy style so that was on the list to go as well.

 

 

To say I was nervous about removing it is an understatement. I was so worried it would be glued to the wall and would shatter or not come off. We started by taping it off to prevent from shattering. Once the mirror was taped we removed all the trim surrounding it.

 

 

Once the trim came off, we were able to lift it off the wall pretty easily and no big disasters came from it, (WHEW!!)

 

 

Since we were planning to hang shiplap on the wall, we weren’t worried about doing any patch work.

 

 

Progress:

The other thing we did was add additional bead board to finish off the wall treatments and I can’t believe how much of a statement that made. We just purchased sheets of bead board from Lowe’s, cut to size and attached with a brad nailer. We had left over trim from an old project that worked perfectly to complete the look.

 

 

 

Once the items around the vanity were removed and the bead board was completed, we started with the shiplap. We purchased 3 shiplap boards from Home depot and used a brad nailer to attach them. I’ll have a cost and supply breakdown at the end of the post.

 

 

 

 

We painted all the wall treatment area with Alabaster by Sherwin Williams. I had considered wallpaper for the upper areas, but then decided the floor would be busy enough. The black above the white gives the perfect amount of drama and contrast.

 

 

Here it is looking so fresh already with the white paint and the shiplap almost complete. We also decided to save money on the shiplap and do left over bead board behind the toilet instead of the shiplap. There was a perfect transition in that space so it worked out great for us.

 

 

 

 

You can see the bead board transition behind the toilet in this photo, However, wow can you believe how awesome that pop of black looks at the top? I love the sharp contrast  and how fresh it looks.

 

 

Then came the floor. First, ewww can you believe how yellow that floor looks? Wow I can’t believe how bad it really looked once I got the new stuff down. I went with a peel and stick luxury vinyl and it was not only cost effective, but super easy. This is an easy tip on how to spruce up a boring space.

 

 

You just peel off the backing and lay all your solid tiles first. Next, you do the outer edges by cutting each one to fit. It’s a bit tedious but very easy to cut with a straight edge blade and trip with scissors. I didn’t worry too much about it being perfect since we planned to caulk all the edges at the trim work.

 

After:

TaDah!! What do you think friend? Can you believe the difference? I am doing the happy dance big time. I’m just so happy with how it all turned out and so glad we pushed through with the details we wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies You Need To Spruce Up A Boring Space:

• Shiplap-Home Depot 13 boards at $8.90 each                     $115
• Bead board-Lowe’s 2 4×8 sheets at $22                                   $45
• Trim-Left over scrap
• Paint- Sherwin Williams                                                             $56
  • Alabaster
  • Tricorn Black (leftover)
  • Primer (leftover)
• Flooring- Wayfair                                                                         $50 ish
• 50 sq feet $11.90 a box and used 4 boxes(free shipping
• Mirror-Hobby Lobby $99, 50% off)                                           $50
• Wallpaper (left over)
• Amazon (from previous makeover)
• Faucets-Amazon(from previous makeover)
• Vanity Paint- Walmart Waverly chalk paint in the color Ink with clear wax

Total cost approximately $350

 

 

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Overall this was a very cost effective and simple project although pretty labor intensive. I really love all the texture from the wall treatments and the patterned floors. The black and white is crisp and chic  which gives an overall clean, fresh vibe. I love decorating with black and white if you hadn’t noticed ….

 

Happy Decorating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW TO SPRUCE UP A BORING SPACE