DIY Bathroom Renovation – Before & After

Since we’re all friends here, I’m going to ask you to show me a little grace.  This post needs grace and maybe a teeny bit of imagination.

I’ve not claimed to be a style, DIY, or home blog.  Not at all.  I’m just living my little life in my tiny part of this world and sharing it with you – the good, bad, and ugly.

I’ve showed you a whole lot of ugly in my life, so these photos will be mostly good, but they’re lousy photos.  This is where the real grace comes in.

There’s no natural light in my bathroom and me and my point-and-shoot camera can’t seem to get good pictures, so work with me please.

I painted my bathroom and I’m kinda in love with it.

On a whim, I loaded my kids in the car and went to Lowe’s.  Now, this isn’t an advertisement for Lowe’s and they aren’t paying me for this post, but I’m pretty much in love with Valspar paint.  It’s more the colors than the actual paint, but the paint isn’t so bad either.

For each season, they put out a new line of colors and they sell samples.  I have 5 gallons of ugly baby mint green to prove I make bad decisions when all I have is a one inch paint chip to help me make color choices.

I very much appreciate seeing the mixed colors in a clear container.  I can make good (possibly crazy) choices when I see the colors mixed.

If you have a small bathroom, go bold with color.  I read that once and it has always stuck in my mind.

Since our bathroom is about 90% done (we still need trim), I decided to show it off.

Our bathroom has been a very difficult renovation.  It was 1/2 the size (and it’s still small!) when we bought the house.  We had to rip the entire floor, ceiling, and three walls completely out.

When I say “we”, I mostly mean my husband.  I help and I clean up, but he does most of the actual work.

The plumbing has been our biggest nightmare.

That’s my animal print shower cap, because I’m like a feisty eight-two year-old woman.  Now, we’re besties.  You’ve seen it all folks.  I don’t show just anyone my shower cap.

The clock is for fun.  I wanted to add a few green accents and I truly love these kind of clocks.

My daughter and I went shopping for a green bathmat, but then we saw this beauty and we couldn’t resist.

I mean, how fun is an owl bathmat?

We even bought a hand towel to match.  The coloring looks off, but it’s the same green that’s in the bathmat.

This next photo isn’t a true before and after, because I don’t have any photos of the real “Before”.  This before is after it was renovated.  We just made it useful and I always figured I would decorate it and add my personal touches at some point in the future.

It’s amazing the amount of personality a paint color can add to a room.

You can see, we don’t have a ton of storage.  I have no linen closet anywhere outside of this room either.  This is an old house and in the olden days, closets were not a necessity.

When we were working on the house, we picked up a book shelf at a yard sale and it ended up in the bathroom.  It’s not the ideal storage, but we need a place to keep our toiletries, so this works.  I would love to make doors for it one day, but hey, no one ever has to ask for a towel.  They know right where to get one.

I plucked the metal baskets from a pile of garbage on the side of the road.  I thought they were a pretty good find.

Paint:  Vlaspar in Tropical Oasis

Mat & Hand Towel:  Walmart

Shower Curtain:  Goodwill

Clock:  Walmart

Do you like the bold color choice or does it look like a giant, over-ripe blueberry?

Do you gravitate towards bright colors or a more soothing, natural color palette?

I’m linking this to Savvy Southern Style – Y’ALL.

Now, you know I am neither southern or savvy, but let’s just pretend, kay?