I don’t know about you guys but my bathroom is SMALL. Worse than that? It’s very ugly. Let us assess the situation.
Just like my kitchen, the bathroom is a mash-up of various dingy, once-white elements and high-gloss white walls. People, please. If your walls are to be high-gloss white and you have anything — and I mean ANYTHING — else white in the room, then it has to be BRIGHT WHITE. And I mean sparkling. Write that down.
I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with my bathroom but it will likely involve paint and framed art, since that’s my standard method of operation. Whenever I’m unsure of something I generally head to Apartment Therapy for support and inspiration, as they’ve been around a long time and have lots and lots of photos for me to admire. (I hope more readers start sending in photos of their spaces for me to share!) I found many lovely things to show you. I’ll begin with the easiest fix: Paint!
Just a little bit of paint and these tiny bathrooms really pop! Another way to add oomph and personalize a small bathroom is with art and photos. These are things I have WAY too much of. I can’t help myself; I collect things. And with friends like these it’s impossible not to cover my walls with photos!
You don’t need a large space to make a big impact. In fact, I think the BEST place to make dramatic design choices is in a small room. You can do something crazy and, since it’s just a small amount of crazy, it’s completely acceptable and easy to live with. Wallpaper and other wall designs are great examples of this. Put them in a small space and MAGIC HAPPENS. And you don’t hate yourself the next day because it’s just a few square feet of insane happiness!
I don’t know about you but I’m feeling inspired! I think I’ll get some paint for The Scientist and have him get started on the bathroom this weekend. He was looking a little too relaxed yesterday, anyway. I’ll be back on Monday with some more inspiration and a bathroom reveal. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!
Apartment Envy 
truly inspiring ! thank you for sharing :)
I’m so happy it inspired you! Thanks so much for reading :D
I’m jealous you have the ability to paint your bathroom! My walls are tiled floor to ceiling.
If you can’t paint you should add visual interest with art! Being a longtime renter, I am very familiar with the 3M removable squishy white double-sided tape stuff. You can totally use that to hang art on your tile walls! I bet it would look amazing. Please try it — and then send the before and after photos for me to share on the blog ;)
I vote for turquoise! Or the black and white wallpaper in the last photo (although you could totally recreate that with paint…time consuming, but cheap).
That striped bathroom is amazing! I think I’ll go the paint route for now, just for a quick fix so I don’t go crazy. Then I can take more time and do something more fancy later. Like stripes!
Oh hell I love all of these! We have similar tastes in bathrooms. What I am about to say is almost sacreligious, but we actually have a bigger bathroom now and I am having a harder time finishing it than I did with the way smaller one in our old condo. I am so used to getting things off the floor and into cabinets and shelves that now that I have floor space I am like what is this? I don’t know you.
For bathroom paints I always go white or blue or some form of turquoise aqua or grey. Anything that reminds me of water + clean + blue.
We do have similar tastes! I’m thinking a sea foam color paint — at least for now. I need a quick fix! Why don’t you send me some photos of your bathroom for me to put on the blog? Maybe I can help! Recommendation #1: Bring for-realsies furniture in there! Why not? Who cares if it’s a bathroom? And with all your vintage shopping you can definitely find some amazing pieces to bring in!
Kerra - which brand of paint do you use? Any particular favorites? We are going to paint our living, dining, bedroom, and kitchen soon and starting to do our research - so many brands and choices!
I’m so happy you asked!
For high-traffic areas like foyers, bathrooms, and kitchens, my absolute hands-down #1 choice is Benjamin Moore’s Aura. It practically lasts forever and is very stain resistant. Since it’s a paint and primer in one (and very saturated pigments) you only need 1-2 coats, no matter how dark the color! It’s VERY expensive though. If you go to your local Benjamin Moore they should have a “mistint” area. Sometimes you can get lucky and find some Aura, which should only be about $5-10 per gallon on the mistint shelf. Otherwise it’s generally $60+ per gallon, depending on where you live.
For everything else I highly recommend Olympic Zero-VOC paint. You can get it at Lowe’s and it’s about $15-20 a gallon. Unless it’s a very high-traffic area, I think everyone should use No-VOC paint. It’s better for your body and the environment. I personally have used this brand of paint many times and it’s very high quality with lots of beautiful color options.
If you don’t have a Lowe’s near you then I would use Mythic, which is sold at most ACE Hardware stores. It’s also inexpensive but Zero-VOC. They don’t have as many color options as Olympic but the paint is still a good quality without damaging your lungs!
Hope that helps! Let me know if I can be of any further assistance ;)
Once you have removed, by hand, 5 rooms worth of wallpaper? Including the ceiling? You hate wallpaper forever… But? As much as I hate wallpaper? I LOVED those wallpapered baths…
Ack! Even the ceiling?! That sounds awful!!!
I love the look of wallpaper but, you’re right, removing it is a miserable task. Since I’m a renter, I certainly won’t be putting up for-realsies wallpaper but am considering the removable kind. It’s easy to put up AND I can easily take it down when I move out! Magic!
Your Dad told me that your Aunt Malu has all the rolled up maps they used when your Grandfather was the headmaster of his own school in Mexico City. I am going to ask her to bring them to me when she comes to visit next time as I thought they would make fantastic wallpaper for a small room, like a bath.
I wish I had a house so I could have them! Sad!