Welcome to the tiniest, ugliest little powder bath you've seen in a while. This thing is straight from the 90s, complete with yucky brown walls, a clamshell sink with a matching toilet seat, and a vintage medicine cabinet.
Despite being our only main floor bathroom, I hardly use it. To top it all off, nothing's even on center with each other. But today, that all changes, so let's get started.
Plan & Prep
I created this mockup in Canva over a year ago, and what excites me most about this bathroom reno is that it's more or less a plug-and-play. Meaning, a big part of the job is simply unhooking what's there and replacing it with something new.
I'm going to get started on demo and painting. The trim in here must have been done with an oil-based paint because it has yellowed a lot. I'm using Sherwin Williams Emerald trim enamel in the color Pure White, which is a much brighter color but still leans warm. This is going to help the room tie into the rest of our house. It's actually the same paint that we used on our upper kitchen cabinets.
For the walls, I'm using Sherwin Williams anew gray, which is the same warm grayish color that I've used in other bathrooms in my house. We're going to do a feature color on the back wall, but first, we need to finish up our demo and do a bit of drywall patching.
Demo & Drywall
It was a two person effort to get the original pedestal sink out, and we ended up having to shut the water off to replace the supply valve because they were leaking everywhere. We were also left with a hole in the tile that will need patching, but I have a plan for that.
Now that the sink is out of the way, it's easy to fit a sheet of drywall where the medicine cabinet used to be, as well as relocate the lightbox to be in line with the future vanity.
I covered the old hole with a fiberglass patch, and then after a few coats of mud and a bit of texture, we are ready to paint.
The color on this back wall is Sherwin Williams Warm Stone, which is actually just a couple of steps down on the same color strip as Anew Gray. If you want an easy hack to making colors play well together, try using colors from the same color strip.
Tile Repair & Grout Paint
Now, I tried to find a tile to match the existing floor, but nothing at Home Depot or Lowe's was quite right. Because this tile is going to be hidden under the vanity, I decided to use automotive body filler, which is just a two-part epoxy, to fill this hole instead.
It cures within an hour and is both sandable and paintable, which is perfect. I had a sample paint tin in a color that closely matches this. So after getting the shape just right, I brushed that on and got started on painting the grout.
This little bottle I got from Mapei has gone such a long way throughout my house, breathing new life into my grungy kitchen floors. I love grout paint, and it feels like an undiscovered gem to me. So if you're curious to learn more, checkout my full tutorial here.
Plug & Play
Let's start by installing our new light. This gold fixture is just the right size and complements our kitchen hardware.
Then I'm going to swap out the clamshell toilet seat for a nice clean new one.
We preassembled a lot of the plumbing in advance for the vanity, including a click-lock drain and matching gold faucet.
After sliding that into place and getting everything hooked up, we installed this black wooden mirror, as well as a matte black towel ring and toilet paper holder to give a little contrast.
The last step was to hang a couple of floating wood shelves, and we are ready for the final reveal!
The Reveal
This bathroom feels brand new and is now my favorite in the house. I love the cozy feel and how the colors blend right in with the rest of our main floor.
The feature wall pulls you in, the light is finally in line with the sink, and between the organic wood textures as well as the black and gold hardware, the bathroom has a very upscale, lived-in feel, which I love.
I'm so proud of this project. Thanks for sticking around. I'll see you next time.