Easy & Cost-effective Bathroom Make-Over

9 Materials
$380
3 Days
Medium

Give your tiny bathroom a facelift with paint, a dado and the very clever use of plumbing fittings!

The guest bathroom in our old farmhouse was really nothing to write about, its checker-board floor being its only redeeming feature. The basin was horribly small and impractical and the untiled shower – although roomy – sported a very silly shower head. These were definitely the first 3 things on our list: a shower head, a basin and some tiles. This bathroom is also adjacent to my husband’s office (which incidentally is also the guest room!) so we opted for a more masculine space rather than a frilly powder room look.

The shower was tiled with a simple 15x15cm matt Johnson tile with a black metro tile dado. The black detail was continued around the perimeter of the room with one of my favorites, painted black to match. Above we opted for a lovely deep blue (Plascon’s Oceanus) – this colour is popping up everywhere in my house now! – which rather than making the tiny room feel smaller, it actually seems to enlarge the space. Below the dado we kept the original off-white, but finished it off with a black skirting. The skirting and dado are such small details but they make all the difference and give the room a simple finishing touch.

I have to admit I am very proud of what we did with the basin. Margaux found a wonderful picture of a Victorian-inspired basin with an antique pipe-work detail around it. Since we love creating looks on a budget, I went to the hardware store and with the help a very clever sales assistant, we built the whole structure right there in the store. Find out what I used for the frame here.

While looking for all the relevant pipes and things I also found these industrial tap fittings which I immediately fell in love with. Fitted to a simple plastic bracket, they make amazing hooks behind the door – an essential in a small bathroom.

I prefer to have a plain white shower curtain, especially since it’s such a small space, but hanging a fabric curtain in front of the shower curtain just softens all the hard lines in the room. I installed a shelving bracket on the wall and threaded the curtain over it. This geo-print was bought from PEP at a steal!

To finish off the room Margaux sourced some Delft images on the net which we them put in 0ld picture frames that I painted white. The random collection of frames really pops against the blue wall with the delicate blue prints adding some pattern to the solid colour. For more fantastic DIY projects and ideas, visit our website!

Suggested materials:
  • Shower head and arm
  • Tiles, grout & bonding liquid
  • Basin
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Homeology.co.za
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  2 questions
  • IFortuna IFortuna on Sep 02, 2016
    So where to do you put your bathroom stuff? That magazine rack (library) needs to go over by the toilet LOL
  • Ell9584399 Ell9584399 on Jul 17, 2018

    Love the outside shower curtain idea. What type of bracket? How long? I have a similar shower and just need that tiny bit of privacy as well.

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