My Bathroom Glow-Up Plan

Talking through bathroom updates – no remodel required. Let’s make it a little Less safe and a Lot more interesting.

I recently shared the plan for my bedroom glow-up and have been slowly working through it. It’s coming together really well, which is great. Love that for me. But also, as that room gets closer to being finished, my brain has already moved on to the next thing…the bathroom.

(If you missed the bedroom plan, you can catch up here…it will make a lot of this make more sense.)

I also realized while putting this post together that I’ve never shared pictures of my bathroom before. So here is my four-year-overdue bathroom reveal, which also serves as my bathroom makeover before pictures. A twofer. So efficient, I know.

So that photo of the sink wall above looks pretty good. It’s got some personality and some depth. However, this is the view of the bathroom from bed.

It’s very white. White usually feels calm and quiet, but since the bedroom has gone dark, the white is suddenly very loud. My goal is to tie the bathroom and bedroom together and make them feel like one cohesive space.

So, let’s take a tour (aka me turning in a circle with my phone camera on 0.5 zoom), and then we will talk through the changes that are swirling around in my head.

We’ll start back at the main wall, which is the only one that isn’t plain white-on-white.

The green backsplash tile is obviously the statement here, and I still love it four years later (It’s the Cloé 5×5 glossy ceramic tile from Bedrosians). The cabinets are the same as the rest of the house…flat panel stained maple cabinets, with half moon hardware. I like them, but if I were starting over, I would 100% do walnut cabinets with a clear coat instead. But that ship has sailed, and they aren’t changing.

At the back of the bathroom is the shower, which is also very white. I was trying to go safe (and cheap) with this choice four years ago, and would probably make a different decision today. But once again, it’s staying, and we’re just gonna make it work.

On the right side of the bathroom is my husband’s closet and the toilet closet (with bidet…and yes, you need one.)

On the last wall are the doors that lead to the bedroom.

And that’s the bathroom. It not big, but it’s big enough. I’m just grateful it has two sinks.

Alright, now that you see what we’re working with, let’s jump into all the bathroom glow-up nonsense.

Walls & Trim

Let’s start with the biggest change in the room, the wallpaper. I want to wallpaper the whole dang thing. I’m looking for –

• Something that has some dark green in it, to tie it to the bedroom walls and bathroom tile
• Something that also ties in the bedroom accent colors of warm browns and creams, and teal is a bonus
• a mural, or something with a non-annoying repeating pattern
• Something thats not too cutesy or too realistic

I came up with six that fit the bill –

From there I narrowed it down to two… the Judarn one from Anthropologie, and the Vintage butterflies from Wayfair. I had a tree type mural in mind the whole time, but in my searches I came across the butterflies and kinda fell in love with them. But also…I’ve been lusting after the Anthro design for years. It’s the same design I chose for my bedroom curtains, and I wouldn’t hate having more of it around. I appreciate that both of these have a lighter background, because I don’t want the bathroom to be too crazy dark.

Both wallpapers have problems though. The butterflies only come in peel-and-stick. I know I’ve spent forever testing peel-and-stick wallpaper and found some great options, but I want traditional pasted wallpaper for my bathroom. I have no plans to ever take it down, so I want something that is on there for good and I never have to think or worry about.

Then there’s the Anthro wallpaper problem. It’s not tall enough. Since it’s a mural, it only comes in a 9-foot length. My bathroom ceiling is sloped, and the walls on one side are 10 feet. Some of the other mural options are tall enough, but ultimately, I just love the Anthro one. And so that’s the one I bought.

So…now we have to explore options to make short wallpaper not look weird. As far as I can see, there are two options –

1. add some sort of wainscoting/paneling partially up the wall, and them put the wallpaper above it.
2. Wallpaper the whole thing, and them bring the ceiling down visually, so it looks more intentional.

I’m leaning towards option 2, because it seems simpler, and I really want a full wall of pattern.

My thought is that I paint the ceiling green, just like it is in the bedroom (helps connect them), and then bring the color down on the walls so it meets the top of the wallpaper. Like a green “lid” on the room. It may turn out questionable, but also…it may turn out great. We won’t know unless we try. Also, perhaps a dark green ceiling will help tone down the blinding whiteness of the shower, which I would like very much.

Along with that, I’m going to paint the trim and door frames the same dark green (Essex Green by Benjamin Moore). It would look weird if I didn’t. I’m not looking forward to actually doing the painting, because painting a room stopped being fun somewhere around my third kid.

The Rug/Bathmat Situation

I currently have a runner and a stone bath mat, both of which need to go. (Sidenote, the stone bathmat works awesome but looks disgusting. If you get one, don’t get white like a dummy.) Instead of going with another ‘tiny rugs scattered about’ look, I want to get a bigger rug that can cover both areas. Washable of course, because…gross. I love the four Ruggable rugs that I already own, so I looked over their website and picked some that I think would look good with the wallpaper.

I’m not going to buy one until after the wallpaper is installed, but I’m leaning toward the Pierre, the Palazzo, or the Inkdrop Copper, because something clean and geometric would contrast nicely with the flowy organic-ness of the walls.

Mirrors & Lighting

Both these things are fine, and I don’t think I’m going to mess with the pendant lights. I might change out the mirrors though, because right now they kind of disappear. Thinking something with a wood frame would warm it up and give it some extra character. Here are some of my favorite options –

The Towel Situation

Right now, all the towels are randomly scattered about, like green ghosts haunting my bathroom.

They’re isn’t enough wall space for a towel bar anywhere, hence the multiple hooks. Not sure what the answer is here, but it’s on the list of things to think about/change.

I think that’s pretty much it – just a few changes that are going to completely transform the space. It feels like a lot, visually, but I’m into it. It’s been safe for long enough. So, here is my to-do list –

To-Do

• Paint trim and ceiling dark green
• Install wallpaper
• Paint the cabinet frames so they look like wood (currently white)
• Buy 5 x 7 washable rug to replace current rug mismash
• Reconsider towel setup
• Replace mirrors (probably)

Anyway, I’m still working on the bedroom and fully intend to finish that first like a normal, responsible person. But also, I already bought wallpaper for this room, so…we’ll see.