let’s talk: EASY WAYS TO TRANSFORM YOUR BATHROOM
Good Afternoon!
Last week I had posted on Instagram about wanting to do a DIY project. SO… we went ahead and did one! My sister and I upgraded the bathroom we used growing up at my parent’s home. We have absolutely ZERO handy skills AT ALL but we were able to find some quick fixes that ANYONE can do. Let’s talk about them below.
So, as we do, let’s talk Real Estate, let’s talk EASY WAYS TO TRANSFORM YOUR BATHROOM…
To give you an idea, we transformed this…
Into this..
Here is how we did it.
#1 We painted EVERYTHING
Literally everything. We did…
the Ceiling
A white ceiling really OPENS up a room. We painted the ceiling Timid White by Behr. Every paint we used during this process is a semi-gloss finish, as the glossier finish helps repel moisture and is generally easier to clean.
Quick Process Overview
(1) Cover the shower
(2) Tape the ceiling light fixture
(3) Paint away!
We did not tape the walls because we painted the ceiling first, and were going to have to paint the walls anyways! “Pro” tip- paint from the top down.
Materials Needed
Sheets to cover the shower
Painters tape – I used FrogTape.
Paint roller
Paint Roller Extension
Paint
Paint trays
the Walls
For the walls we used Behr Premium Ultra Plus in order to do the least amount of coats possible. The color is Park Avenue with a semi-gloss finish.
Quick Process Overview
(1) Tape the ceiling (once dry). We did two rows of tape on the ceiling so that we could be reckless while rolling the walls and not worry about getting the Park Avenue wall paint on the white ceilings.
(2) Remove hardware / racks from the walls.
(3) Spackle where necessary – I used the DAP Patch-N-Paint from Home Depot and it was awesome.
(4) Clean / sand the walls where necessary (I wish I had done more of this).
(5) Paint around the edges of the walls with a flat brush.
(6) Roll the walls until everything is blended in and your heart is content.
“Pro” tip – they sell $3 flat brushes to help you paint behind the toilet or touch up the trim – they work SO WELL.
Materials Needed
Painters tape – I used FrogTape
Small paint brush to paint the edges
Paint brush
Flat paint brush
Paint roller
Paint Roller Extension
Paint
Paint trays
Dap Patch-N-Paint
Sheet Sander
the VANITY
After doing the ceiling we had PLENTY of white paint left over. Since the vanity was originally made out of brown wood, we figured it would be easy to paint. We tried to take a short cut and paint it without taking off the doors and sanding it… bad idea. We ended up having to redo them again later but they turned out pretty well! This was a WAY cheaper solution than replacing the vanity all together, especially because this original vanity space was a SUPER awkward size.
Quick Process Overview
(1) Tape the vanity top and surrounding wall.
(2) Remove the doors and drawers.
(3) Sand down the cabinet face, doors and drawers.
(4) Paint away!
(5) Hang the doors back up and insert drawers only AFTER all is dry.
Materials Needed
Painters tape – I used FrogTape
Small paint brush to paint the edges
Paint roller
Paint
Paint trays
Sheet Sander
the VANITY TOP
As I mentioned above, the vanity was a weird size. And it was not very easy to find an affordable new top to replace the older cream marble. SO, we decided to take a chance and use white appliance epoxy to essentially paint over the marble (I know that sounds a bit cringeworthy but the marble was VERY old and outdated). My takeaway was, I wish I had purchased the appliance epoxy paint vs the spray can. But overall, it worked! And took a total of 5 minutes to do! So for $5 + 5 minutes of my time – I feel like this was a good win.
Quick Process Overview
(1) Clean surface
(2) Tape the faucet
(3) Spray away!
“Pro” tip – We sprayed the vanity top before painting the wall around it so that we could avoid taping where the wall met the vanity top. Can you tell we hate taping and love shortcuts?!
(4) Let dry for for 5-9 hours.
Materials Needed
Painters tape – I used FrogTape
Appliance Epoxy
the FLOOR TILE
YES, you read that right. We painted the floor tile. We were SO nervous to do this but I had seen some true DIYers do this before…. So after watching several of their YouTube tutorials, we decided to hop on the bandwagon. We used the Rust-Oleum Floor Coating Kit. Surprisingly, this came in a TON of color and finish variations. We went with an ultra white semi-gloss finish. All in all the process took about 32 hours (31 of those hours being drying time) BUT $40 later we had a brand new looking bathroom floor!
Quick Process Overview
(1) Clean surface with cleaner provided in floor coating kit.
(2) Paint color coat. “Pro” tip – Paint from the back of the bathroom to the front so that you do not box yourself in the bathroom. We used paint rollers.
(3) Wait 7 hours to dry.
(4) Paint top gloss coat with rollers.
(5) Let dry for 24 hours.
Materials Needed
Painters tape – I used FrogTape
Rust-Oleum Floor Coating Kit
Paint Rollers
Paint Roller Extension
#2 We updated the HARDWARE
All of the hardware in the bathroom is now a polished chrome. We were kind of married to chrome because of the shower door handles that were already in place. I am very much of the opinion that all hardware must match. So we bought new towel/toilet paper racks and cabinet pulls!
Turns out hanging towel racks can actually be harder than you think. I ended up pushing some seriously big holes into the wall during this process. So we returned the “hard to install” racks that I clearly could not hang, and opted for some easy screw in ones that were about 1/10 of the price. So maybe sometimes cheaper is better!?
Materials Needed
Cabinet Pulls
Towel Rack
Toiler Paper Rack
Screw Driver
#3 We installed a NEW VANITY LIGHT
I want to talk about the process of replacing the original vanity light because we made a few mistakes when searching for a new one. Our old vanity light was connected to the wall with a 6 inch circular backplate. So when I bought a 4 inch rectangular light, I had a giant whole in the wall that I needed to find a way to close up. In order to find avoid having to close up that hole, we searched for a new light that had the same circular shape and size.
Quick Process Overview
(1) Cut the power at the source. Do not just turn off the light switch. Walk down to your circuit breaker and make sure the power to this light is totally cut off.
(2) Remove the current fixture.
(3) Install the new mounting bracket to your wall and secue it to the existing junction box.
(4) Wrap your copper ground wire that is attached to the wall, around your ground green screw.
(5) Wrap the copper wire that is attached to your fixture around the ground green screw as well. You may need to loosen the ground screw a bit in order to get the two copper wires wrapped round the green screw tightly. You can always tighten the screw after the copper wires are fully wrapped.
(6) Connect the white neutral wire, that is attached to your wall, to the white neutral wire that is attached to your new light fixture. You will connect these by twisting the top of the two white wires together and capping them with a wire guard. These wire guards essentially look like pen caps. “Pro” tip -these caps do NOT typically come with your light fixtures, you will probably have to buy them separately. We kept the ones from our old light fixture and used those!
(7) Connect the black hot wire, that is attached to your wall, to the black wire that is attached to your new light fixture. You will connect these by twisting the top of the two black wires together and capping them with a wire guard. Remember -these caps do NOT typically come with your light fixtures, you will probably have to buy them separately. We kept the ones from our old light fixtures and used those!
(8) Secure the light fixture to the wall.
(9) Put in a light bulb.
(10) Turn the power back on at the circuit breaker.
(11) Flip the light switch back on and voila – you should have yourself a working light ladies and gentlemen!!
I was so proud watching my younger sister work on wiring the light fixture. We are SO NOT HANDY so this was a big deal for us.
Materials Needed
Screw Driver
Wire Connectors
Vanity Light
Light Bulbs
**I probably way oversimplified this process. I am DEFINITELY NOT a professional electrician so it is important that you consult with one before installing your own light fixtures. I am merely sharing the steps we took as a guide.**
#4 We replaced the medicine cabinet with a fun MIRROR
We decide to remove the old medicine cabinet because it was from, honestly god knows what year, and was just super old and worn down. Originally we were going to just replace it with a new medicine cabinet, but we could not find one that worked. SO we decided to patch up the hole and install a fun mirror. In order to patch up a hole this big, we had to hang/install some new drywall. The good new is this seemed like a way bigger task than it actually was. The bad new is, it still did not look perfect but here is how we went about it.
Quick Process Overview
(1) Sand down the edges of the hole that needs to be patched up.
(2) Measure the space that needs new drywall.
(3) Draw out the size of the piece you need to cut down on your drywall panel that you purchased. “Pro” tip -Home Depot sells drywall in smaller sizes so you do not need to go and buy a huge sheet of it. I was the fool that thought I needed to buy a massive panel until a Home Depot Pro kindly helped me through what I really needed to do.
(4) You can cut down your drywall using a box cutter. You simply score the edges of the shape that you are hoping to cut and ram your knee into the crease, so that it breaks along your scored line. Here is a 2 minute YouTube video on how to do this.
(5) Make sure your freshly cut drywall fits into the space you are looking to fill.
(6) Install a piece of wood in the hole that connects to the existing framing. You want your drywall to have something to latch on to. Okay so here is where we messed up. We did not buy any wood to do this step. So we cut down another piece of drywall and essentially turned it into a 2×4 by connecting it to the existing framing inside the wall. I have no clue if this will work long term but it worked for now!
(5) Attached your drywall to this new piece of wood using drywall screws.
(6) Compound around the edges of your drywall with mud. It is okay if this goes all over the wall, you will sand down and out later.
(7) Once you have put the mud around the edges of the drywall, place drywall tape over the mud to further secure the edges.
(8) Add another layer of mud OVER the drywall tape.
(9) Let dry for 24 hours.
(10) Sand down excess mud so that the new drywall is flush with the exisitng wall.
(11) Paint the wall to your liking.
(12) Use heavy duty picture hangers to hang your new mirror!
Materials Needed
Measuring Tape
Sand paper
Drywall
Drywall Tape
Drywall Screws
Box Cutter
Screw Driver
Joint Compound
2×4 piece of wood
Sheet Sander
Hammer
Picture hangers
Fun new mirror!
#5 DECORATE
In order to make this bathroom feel more “relaxing” we bought a couple new candles and faux flowers from Target to spruce up the sink a bit! It made it feel less like a “home bathroom” and more like a hotel or spa like bathroom!
We did this entire project for under $900 and, honestly, we had a ton of materials left over that we plan to use to update other rooms around the house. Full disclosure: 55% of that $900 was spent on the mirror and light fixture so this could ABSOLUTELY be done for way less. While it’s not perfect, it definitely looks a heck of a lot better and was way less expensive than hiring a professional contractor! Share with us your latest DIYs! I am now obsessed and determined to get better and do more.
Happy Wednesday! & Stay Healthy!
Erin
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