Spruce Your Bathroom

Yesterday I shared what my bathroom looks like (when it’s all cleaned up). I’m blessed with a large amount of cabinet space on the left when one first walks in, which allows Doug and I to have a shelf apiece(!) and also space to keep more than just bathroom items in it–stuff like extra queen-sized sheets and a huge metal toolbox). That said, I know that a lot of bathrooms don’t have as much storage as I do and sometimes things must live on the counter. Here are a few things I’ve seen around blogland that can help decrease the clutter factor and increase the cute factor… all on a budget!! 

A Fun Shower Curtain: Okay, this is hands down the easiest thing. If you are stuck in a boring beige and white and tan bathroom, you can push the limits of shower curtains. Explore options like normal curtain panels, big Urban Outfitters tapestries (use these with curtain clips instead of regular shower curtain rings), or making something yourself from fabric found at a thrift store. Image from Urban Outfitters.

Make Storage Work for You: If all you have is under-sink storage, putting things in caddies is super helpful. You can pull the whole caddy out to find the item you need, and better yet–they will prevent items from getting pushed all the way to the back. That is, the pipe zone. The danger zone. I don’t know about you, but under-sink pipes give me the heebie jeebies. Image from The Container Store.

Color: If you are able to paint, choose a great color and stick with it. In a small room like a bathroom you can take a chance you wouldn’t necessarily consider in a large or more prominent room. Try a moody dark gray, navy blue, or a saturated teal paired with a bright white shower curtain and fluffy white towels. Be careful when considering yellows and reds, these colors can bounce around the room and make you look a funny color (just try doing makeup if your face is a weird greeny color!) Painting test swatches is a good tip in these situations.  Image from a Young House Love house crashing post.

Paint the cabinetry: Again, for lots of people this isn’t an option, but then again it makes a huge impact for the dollar spent. In this example, the plain-ole plain-ole cabinet base got a pretty coat of pale blue which immediately took it from “snooze” to cute. Photo from Katie at Bower Power.

Cute storage containers: Personally, I keep all my jewelry in my bedroom, but I know lots of people who keep it in the bathroom. Free up drawer space for your makeup or hair products by using something small and unobtrusive like this cute little wooden set of drawers on the counter. Larger wooden containers can also be used to corral straighteners, curling irons, tubes of toothpaste, etc. Image from Carrie at Dream Green DIY.

Frosting the window: The mini-blinds in our bathroom were seriously nastytown, but at the same time I’m also not crazy about using fabric to dress the window in a room that gets so moist. So, Doug and I took a cue from  Young House Love and frosted the window. This eliminates the need for a window treatment, but still ensures privacy. It also diffuses the light nicely. Image by me.

Bling it out: Pretty hardware can add up, and fast, but if you only have one or two cabinets (like many apartments do) you can splurge for something fabulous. Save the old hardware in a ziplock somewhere safe and put it back on when you move out. But don’t drill holes if there weren’t preexisting ones. That’s just bad form. Image from Anthropologie.

I know this list is by no means exhaustive. Every bathroom has its own particular solution. Got any tips? I would love for you to share them in the comments!