If you have a small bathroom in need of a face lift, I have some inspiration for you! I transformed our builder grade bathroom on a budget using paint and a few new accessories. Ready for the tour?
This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for details.
Welcome to our hallway bathroom upstairs. This is the bathroom my daughter uses and I also do my hair and makeup in here since there’s more space than our tiny master bath.
As with everything in our home (built in 2005), everything is as builder-grade as you can get in a bathroom. Honey oak vanity with no hardware, basic mirror and light, and your standard tub/shower combo.
Over the past three years of living here, I’ve slowly taken on (mostly cosmetic) projects to give our home a fresh new look on a budget.
Here’s the original listing photos of the bathroom when we bought our house:
Check out these blog posts for more bathroom inspiration:
- Small Bathroom Makeover: Updating Our Builder-Grade Bathroom On A Budget
- How To Paint A Bathroom Vanity
- Bathroom Drawer Organization Tips
- Modern Green Bathroom Makeover
- Take The Tour: Neutral Calm Bathroom Reveal
<<PIN THE IMAGE BELOW FOR LATER!>>
This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for details.
Budget Bathroom Makeover
I can’t wait to show you around this bathroom because everything I did in here is really affordable and beginner-friendly. If your bathroom could use some TLC, I hope you’ll find some doable ideas and inspiration. Ready to look around?
white walls, black ceiling
I painted over the previous pastel purple walls with white paint I had leftover from our entryway/front room. The wall color is Whipped by Clare Paint. I also painted the oak baseboards white using Fresh Kicks Trim Paint by Clare.
When I decorate, I love to include a high contrast element and decided to try out the black ceiling trend in here. A lot of people were pretty skeptical about this, but I think small bathrooms are a great spot to experiment and the result is gorgeous (in my opinion).
The black ceiling adds a bit of contrast and drama to an otherwise light and bright bathroom. And no, it does not make the room feel smaller at all. The painted ceiling feels like an extra special touch. I used the color Blackish by Clare Paint.
Shop paint and supplies:
Painted bathroom vanity
Another project I tackled in here was painting our old vanity and adding hardware. I used the color Summer Friday which matches the inside of our front door downstairs. It’s always nice to repeat colors and design elements throughout your home, and this cheery blue gives the room the pop of color it needed. I shared a detailed vanity painting tutorial here.
In addition to painting the vanity, I also added simple black hardware.
Related: How To Paint A Bathroom Vanity
Shop sources from vanity photo:
Bathroom Drawer Organization
We don’t have a ton of storage in here, but the vanity at least has three small drawers (unlike our master bathroom!). These drawers are filled with makeup and hair products but I’d never taken the time to organize them in any way. Things were just thrown in here wherever they fit which made it a daily annoyance to locate items.
I already documents a more in-depth look at our organized bathroom drawers and shared a lot of tips in that post, but you’ll see here that it was really just some decluttering and new drawer organizers that made a massive improvement.
Related: Bathroom Drawer Organization Tips
Shop bathroom drawer sources:
Organizing under the bathroom sink
The awkward space under a bathroom space is pretty easy to let get out of control. As you can see below, random items had just accumulated here. Mostly cleaning products along with some larger personal care products that don’t fit in drawers. It was a complete mess.
I was actually able to purge a lot of the items in this cabinet which made space to relocate all of my larger bottles of lotions and hair products from a drawer to a turntable. I also stacked two clear bins under here for additional storage. It looks a lot better, right?
Shop bathroom sink sources:
Decorating Our Small Bathroom
For a small bathroom like this, a few decorations go a long way. I upgraded the toilet paper holder for a nice black one, changed out the soap dispensers, added some hooks for towels by the shower, hung a new shower curtain and rod, added a pretty rug, and hung a few pieces of art around the room.
A few simple, budget-friendly swaps made this bathroom feel inviting and so pretty.
Shop decor and accessories:
Painted Interior Door
My final project in this room was painting the door and upgrading the handle and hinges. This is a continuation of the interior door makeover I started last summer. At that time, I painted all of the doors on our main floor which leaves the doors upstairs to complete yet. I’ll probably paint these doors one by one as I work on projects in each room over the next year or so.
The door color is Seize The Gray and I used this handle and these hinges.
Related: How To Paint Doors (The Complete Guide)
Shop door makeover supplies:
And that concludes the bathroom tour! This room feels so fresh and modern now and I actually enjoy getting ready in here unlike that pastel purple that was stained and always hurt my eyes.
There are a few upgrades I chose to skip for now to keep this project more affordable. So a couple of future things I’d still like to do include upgrading the mirror, upgrading the light fixture, and upgrading the window blinds. A room is never completely done, but I sure do love this one for now!
Bathroom Makeover Sources
Paint Colors:
- Walls: Whipped by Clare
- Ceiling: Blackish by Clare
- Baseboards: Fresh Kicks by Clare
- Vanity: Summer Friday by Clare
- Door: Seize The Gray by Clare
Bath Accessories
Organizers
- Drawer Organizers (3×3, 3×6, 3×9)
- Turntable
- Clear Drawer
- Clear Bin (stacked on top of drawer)
- Floral Drawer Liner
- Buffalo Check Shelf Liner (under sink)
- Bath Toy Organizer (not shown, but a lifesaver in the bathtub!)
Decorative Items
- Rug
- Step Stool – HomeGoods
- Plant & Green Planter – HomeGoods
- Floral Artwork and Frame
- Landscape Artwork and Frame
- Accordion Hooks
- Vanity Hardware
- Door Handle and Hinges
I love doing cosmetic makeovers in bathrooms because just a little paint and decor can go a long way! Unlike a larger room, bathrooms can be pretty quick transformations.
Check out the makeover I gave our downstairs powder bath (click here for the full green bathroom makeover details):
And I’ll also share the bathroom makeover I did in our first house. This was one of my first official DIY projects as a homeowner and my first time using any power tools beyond a drill. It wasn’t perfect (nor was my photography) but it’s crazy how much I did with paint on a super small budget!
Check out these blog posts for more bathroom inspiration:
- How To Paint A Bathroom Vanity
- Bathroom Drawer Organization Tips
- Modern Green Bathroom Makeover
- Take The Tour: Neutral Calm Bathroom Reveal
Have a fantastic day!
