Guest Bathroom Facelift

Michele Pappagallo
by Michele Pappagallo
7 Materials
Our guest bathroom was a throwback to some other decade.....not sure which decade, but it was an UGLY one...so we decided to give it an update to make it match the rest of our beach-themed house.
BEFORE - Builder Grade Guest Bathroom
BEFORE - As you can see, the room was a standard builder bathroom....no appeal at all!
The vanity was in good condition, and is solid wood so we decided to keep it and just update it with paint and new hardware. The vanity top is a neutral white color with streaks of grey which is perfect for our beach style!
The old towel bar left much to be desired! LOL
I was so excited to get this room done that I didn't take a lot of "work in progress" photos....but the first thing I did was paint the walls. I used Sherwin Williams 6204 - Sea Salt....one of my favorite paint colors! I added a chair rail molding on the walls and then painted all of the trim and baseboards Valspar 7002-7 - Dove White. I glued pieces of molding to the builder-grade mirror to dress it up a bit...and painted it white as well.
My hubby switched out the old light fixture for something a bit more modern. In this picture, you can see the wood blocks I glued at the corners of the mirror before adding the flat molding.....I love the framed look and everyone that sees it comments on it!
The next step was to paint the vanity. I used Sherwin Williams 6073 - Perfect Greige. It is perfect with the aqua walls and goes right along with our nautical/beach theme. I added stainless hardware to the front to upgrade the standard vanity...and absolutely love how this turned out.
I filled the room with beachy accessories, including this whale tail that we use as a rack for a hand towel...We still have to switch out the faucet for something a little more modern....but that will be another day!
This is what I used to replace the old metal towel bar. I love the nautical look and it works great to hold multiple towels for guests.
AFTER - This is the final look! The entire list of projects in this room included wall paint, trim paint, framing the mirror with molding, switching the light fixture, adding a chair rail molding to the walls, painting the vanity and adding new hardware, switching the shower rod to a curved one and adding all new beachy accessories. The total cost of this project was really great, because it was mainly paint and accessories! The total cost was about $225 and it took two days to get everything done! We are thrilled with this new room, and love how it now matches the rest of our house! ***FYI - These pics were taken BEFORE we switched out all of the switch plate covers and plugs in our home for new ones....They have all been replaced with modern white ones now.**
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  • Gail Gail on Aug 28, 2019

    I remember those bathrooms! I wonder if in 20 years or more they will talk about things like ship-lap and country chic in those same terms.?

  • Krysten Kelly Krysten Kelly on Aug 28, 2019

    Where did you get the whale on your toilet?

  • Sandy Sandy on Aug 29, 2019

    Love the final outcome

    what did you do to prep your cabinet for painting?

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  • Jawene Jawene on Apr 23, 2020

    Change out those switch plates & outlet plates to metal ones that fir with your décor. The simple change will add additional richness to the room.

    • Michele Pappagallo Michele Pappagallo on Apr 23, 2020

      yes....When these pics were taken, I had already ordered new switch plates, etc for the whole house and they weren't in yet. We installed them right after we received them. Looks much better!


  • Jawene Jawene on Apr 24, 2020

    Fantastic! We do think alike!

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