Our Small Bathroom Makeover [Design Ideas]

The hubby and I recently finished a little makeover on our small guest bathroom so I thought it might be fun to share some before and after pictures.

I was in a bit of a quandary on what direction to go with it because it doubles as not only our girls’  bathroom but also our guest bathroom. So I called upon my good friend Jessica Bennett from Jessica Bennett Interiors to give me some ideas. Lucky for me she offered to give me some design opinions in the midst of all of her big projects. Thank you JESS!

It is really nice having a friend that is an interior designer, because I was going to make it a more cutesy-cutesy kids’ bathroom-ish but Jessica’s opinion was to make it a lovely guest bathroom which kids also happen to use. 

I am glad she set me straight because I love how it turned out. I think it is tasteful and stylish for guests, yet I was also able to throw in a FEW cutesy details for my girls.

Here are my befores and afters (please excuse the weird angles and shadows, the bathroom is so tiny it is really hard to photograph!):

Bathroom Before:

As you can see, it was a tad dark and lacking any personality or cohesive style.  It was sort of a mishmash including a 6-year-old faded pink and khaki shower curtain, rusted shower curtain rod and outdated pastel shell wall art. Ugh.

The first thing we did was to paint it a lighter color a (Behr’s Natural Almond.)  Click here for a must read post on an easy way to pick your paint colors – such a great Jessica idea. My husband then added crown moulding. Lucky for me I have a handy husband that likes to take on projects like this…

I was inspired by these cute monogrammed towels on My Favorite Everything and I think these turned out sooo cute!  I replaced the standard bath towel rack with two hooks and added hanging towels. She also gave me the tip to get the bath towels with hooks at Ikea. Cheap and functional!

Jessica found these cute Hot and Cold Hooks on Pottery Barn on which to hang them…

Another one of my favorite new things we added to our new bathroom was my husband’s DIY homemade “double wide” kids’ stool in plain white.  It is great because it is wide enough for both girls to stand on and not push each other out of the way to get to the faucet, which they inevitably did, even with two separate stools.

Another useful addition was the little black hanging hand towel for the girls adjacent to their stool at their level.  Before they would use the regular hanging guest towel, but because they had to reach for it, they would end up pulling it off a lot and it would end up on the counter or the floor.

I found a matching robe hook and then actually used a hanging washcloth in black (great for kids) also at IKEA which had a built in hanging hook.

Playing off the black and neutrals from the shower curtain, I found these cute monogrammed containers at Pottery Barn for each girl’s toothbrush and toothpaste! Easy for them to reach and they like having their own “letter” cup to put their stuff back in when they are done!

For the bathroom wall art, I was looking for something a little fun (and I admit a TAD cutesy) so I was so excited to find these darling bathroom art prints on Etsy. I emailed the link to make sure they were “Jessica approved!”  I love that I could use the “Hang Your Towel” one above the girls’ towels.

And I just LOVE the Pottery Barn Shower Curtain Jessica recommended.  The ruffles make it feminine and fun for a girls’ bathroom. This piece sort of set the decorating tone for the entire bathroom.

Overall, I love the new look. We made a bunch of changes, all cosmetic, but these things can make a big difference. Here are a list of links if anyone is looking for these items!

Medicine cabinet: Classic Recessed Medicine Cabinet from Pottery Barn

Light fixture: Bennett Triple Sconce from Pottery Barn

Faucet: Heritage Double-handle Centerset Bathroom Faucet in Chrome Porcelain Cross from Overstock.com 

Vanity Fixtures: Chatham Knob in Polished Chrome from Restoration Hardware

Mongrammed toothbrush cups: Ceramic Monogrammable Bath Accessories from Pottery Barn

Guest Towel Ring: Bennett Towel Ring from Pottery Barn

Kids’ Towel Hook & White Bath Mat: Bed Bath N Beyond

Bathroom Art Prints: DeliveredByDanielle on Etsy

Frames: Matted 11 x 14 black frames from Michael’s (check your weekend paper for coupons)

Shower Curtain: Ticking Stripe Ruffled Shower Curtain on Pottery Barn 

White Bath Towels, hand towel and black washcloth: Ikea (in store – make sure to look for the ones that have the HOOKS if you want to hang like we did)

Towel Monogramming: The Monogram Store, Newport Beach

Wicker Vanity Tray & Waste Basket & Kleenex Holder: Crate & Barrel

Candle & Oil Diffuser: Pomegranate from Pottery Barn

 Thanks for reading and special thanks to Jessica for giving me her professional opinion and great ideas! 

www.jessicabennettinteriors.com