Bathroom Facelift: Before and After

After almost nine years, I decided it was time to update my ensuite bath. When we built the house, I was absolutely in love with the yellow-with-blue-accents look, but it had seen its day.

Here’s what it looked like before the facelift:

I fell in love with a grey/blue paint colour I saw on Pinterest, and while I couldn’t find the exact same one, I went with the closest: “Night Sky” from CIL Paints.

This wasn’t a huge renovation, as I kept all of the big-ticket items: vanity and counter, shower/tub unit, toilet, and flooring. Here’s what I did change:

Faucet Before (Builder’s Grade)

Faucet After

Light Fixture Before (hard to tell that it’s rusting in spots, but I swear it needed to be replaced)

Light Fixture After (not hugely different)

Ceiling Moulding Before (nonexistent)

Crown Moulding After (We figured that as we redecorate rooms in the house one by one, we might as well upgrade the moulding as well.)

Baseboard Trim Before

Baseboard Trim After (Another idea I saw on Pinterest: our carpenter added some decorative trim a couple of inches above the existing, and I painted white in between, giving the illusion of higher trim. No one spends enough time in our master bathroom to stare and notice the difference. In fact few people are ever in there, but I am, every day, and I wanted it to look pretty!)

Towel Bar Before

Towel Bar After (I still need some art to go above it. I’m thinking of taking a black and white landscape shot on our property and having it put on canvas. Maybe a fall/winter one and a spring/summer one.)

I don’t have any shots specifically of the old mirror, but as you can see if you scroll up to the original “before” pic, it was just a huge frameless kind. I replaced it with a smaller one, framed to match other accessories. That would be my biggest piece of amateur advice here: stick to one finish. When we built the house I loved “silver” but that ended up being a mix of shiny chrome and brushed finishes, which just never seemed to look right. This time I went with brushed nickel everything. I even changed the heat register cover!

So, here are the final “after” shots:

I’m quite pleased with the spa-like results. I’m still looking for a white shower curtain and window treatment ideas, but those may take some time.
I’m also very proud of myself for pulling everything together, as well as for the elbow grease! My brother’s talented carpenter friend did all of the trim work and installed the faucet, but I did the patching, sanding, painting, and assisted in the towel bar, light fixture and mirror installations. It really does bring a great sense of accomplishment…but can you guess what I’m thinking now?

On to the next room!