Masterbath Makeover

Barb Orthmann
by Barb Orthmann
2 Materials
$225
4 Days
Medium
It started and ended with a shower curtain. I bought a shower curtain and bath mat set in Walmart thinking it looked a dark teal in the store but when I got it home it was clearly navy. My bedroom is coastal style and done in blues ranging from dark teal to aqua. I liked the navy blue but the change started the wheels turning. I thought I'd do a simple bathroom make over by painting the vanity and mirror white to match the bedroom furniture. Well one thing led to another and I ended up touching everything in the bathroom except the shower.
I am hesitant to call my bathroom a "master" bath because the footprint is tiny! It measures about 5'x 4' not including the shower. The up side is that less space equals lower cost! The marble or granite tile (really not sure what it was) was dull and faded and stained. I tried 3 different products to try to bring the luster back up, but nothing worked.
Travertine tile EVERYWHERE! It surrounded the entire tub enclosure, the floor and half way up the walls. The tile itself was fine but this was overkill and the floor was not in good shape. Despite scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush and with every cleaner I could find, I could not get the black out. The tile is pitted, and the grime was just embedded in those pits. icon



I started by painting the ceiling, trim and door a bright white. Next I painted the walls with a coordinating blue from the shower curtain.
The original plan was to paint the vanity white, but when I stepped back and looked at it, I didn't like it at all. So I got another quart of paint that picked up a darker blue in the shower curtain. I didn't like that color either. It was too bright and still too light. I mixed in some black chalk paint until I got to a dark blue that I liked.
Next up was the floor. I picked up this peel and stick tile at Lowes for .98c each. I took out the toilet and laid the floor starting at the door and working back. Wow! what a a difference! The floor alone was such a HUGE change. It looks amazing, was easy to install and super inexpensive.
I also wanted to do something with the tile on the wall. It just wasn't looking right with the other changes taking place. I found this wallpaper on Amazon, which looks like beadboard and is paintable and pre-pasted. I filled all the little pits and divots in the travertine with spackle and sanded smooth. I neglected the lines between the tiles and they are visible through the wallpaper. So don't make my mistake! If you paper, make sure your surface is clean and flat. I am not a fan of wallpapering and all I can say is it's a good thing I was trimming this all out with wood lath because I could not make a clean cut on the ends to save my life. The paper just wanted to bunch up under the blade. After the paper was hung, I cut and glued wood lath to frame the beadboard, caulked all the gaps and painted everything in a satin white exterior paint.
I applied a coat of Kilz primer to the vanity top and proceeded to sponge and draw on acrylic craft paint in several layers until I got the look I was after. This was sealed with 3 coats of gloss polycrylic.
I'm really happy with how this turned out!
Rather than hang another towel bar, I built this little towel rack out of reclaimed wood from my stash. I scrubbed the wood with a nylon brush to remove dirt but did not sand them. I sealed them with a matte polycrylic. The whales tails were purchased on Amazon and the decor was all from stuff I had in my craft closet or around the house
An oatmeal container covered in craft paper and modge podge makes a perfect toilet paper holder. I used construction adhesive to glue coiled sisal to the lid.
Cleats and sisal are my new hand towel holder.
Added another new shower curtain! After the bathroom was done, I needed a way to tie the travertine still in the shower to the rest of the bathroom. This shower curtain brought it all together.
It's such a small space that it's hard to get a clear picture of the whole thing put together, but I think you get the idea. I love this space now and am really happy with how it all turned out. The entire project took me 2 weekends to complete. The cost of everything I had to buy was $225.00 not including the first shower curtain (icon ). This included 3 quarts of paint, the flooring, wallpaper and accessories (including the second new shower curtain icon ).
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