My husband and I knew that our powder room needed a facelift to add value to our home. Since the powder room is our only bathroom we have in the downstairs area, we use this bathroom frequently, as well as most guests in our home. Without doing a full remodel of the powder room, we were able to dramatically upgrade it with a few minor changes.
Like many other powder rooms, ours is a very small space. When smaller spaces have darker colors on the walls or fixtures, it makes the space seem smaller than it is. Typically, light and bright colors make smaller spaces feel bigger.
The sink fixture in the powder room was originally a dark brown wooden cabinet. We knew this needed to be painted lighter. We kept things simple and chose to paint this fixture white. For more information on how to paint cabinets, please refer to my step by step guide on how to paint cabinets.
The chair rail and baseboards in the powder room were more of a rustic style, which we knew needed some upgrading. Initially, we thought painting might work. We eventually discovered that removing and replacing both the chair rail and baseboards would be better for the overall look. If your chair rail and baseboards are in good shape, I recommend simply adding a few fresh coats of trim paint. The chair rail and baseboards were nailed into the wall and were very easy to pry off the walls with a Stainless Steel Scraper. We purchased a chair rail and baseboard to replace the old one, measured it, cut it, and secured it to the wall using nails and Gorilla Glue. Ensure your nails are flush or slightly indented into the wood board. I suggest indenting them so that you can put spackle over the nail area, then sand and paint. This method is suggested because it will make it easier to paint rather than painting over a nail. Once the boards are secured and the glue has dried (I recommend at least 24 hours), it is time to sand and paint the boards. We painted the boards a semi-gloss white, the same one we used for the sink fixture.
The next thing we did to brighten up the powder room was paint the walls. We started with a mauve colored wall, which is on the darker side and made the space seem much smaller. We chose Behr – Dove paint color, which is a very faint beige-gray (greige). We wanted a very neutral color but did not want to have white walls. We chose to use this color in most rooms in our home. If you have never purchased paint before, like myself, it can be overwhelming. My husband and I went to Home Depotand selected a color on the paint wall in the paint section. We found several that we really like in the “neutrals” section on the wall. You will then ask the associate at the counter to mix the paint color for you. There are different options of the type of paint you can use (matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, etc). We asked the associate for a high-quality, low VOC paint base. We ended up using Behr Premium Plus interior paint. Before painting, I recommend sanding, applying spackle in any holes in the wall, then sanding again once the spackle has dried. If you have never painted before, also be sure to remove the light switch or outlet covers and replace with new ones if needed. This is as simple as unscrewing them from the walls with a screwdriver and screwed back in once completed. We had silver covers, so we purchased new solid white covers on Amazon. They are pretty standard so the basic ones you find on Amazon should work. We were able to complete the painting on the walls using 2 coats, plus a little touch up. Apply more coats of paint if needed. Depending on how dark the initial color was, it may require more coats for you or vice versa.
Another important part of upgrading a bathroom is replacing the mirror if it is small or has too large of a frame. We found a mirror at Home Goods that fit perfectly into the space for a mirror. This minor change dramatically opened up the area and made it feel much bigger than before.
The light fixtures and hardware on the sink were in pretty good shape, so we did not need to change these things. If you think the lights or hardware in the bathroom, like the faucet, seem a little dull, I recommend changing these out as well. Because this can involve plumbing or electricity, I recommend hiring a professional to make these changes for you.
Finally, to decorate the bathroom a little more without overcrowding it, we adding a few finishing touches. We installed a towel rack above the toilet that was dual functional. The bottom portion is a towel rack and the top portion is a shelf. The towel rack required us to drill wall anchors into the walls, so be sure to use a level and stud finder when hanging larger things on the walls. This is important to avoid running into any electrical wires, plumbing, or air conditioning. On the other side of the wall, we decided to hang 2 frames with prints. We found very lightweight frames from IKEA. I like to use frames with a mat because it seems to highlight the print or picture much better than frames without a mat. I really like these frames because they are lightweight, plastic, and not too pricey. Because we have small kids, if one of these ever came down, it would probably not hurt them or break. We used Posterjack USA to get prints made from my phone. We found 2 images online that we really liked and were able to enlarge them, have them printed and shipped using Posterjack. It was not very pricey to get these prints done and you can customize the size you would like.
