3 Easy Ways To Update Your Bathroom

It’s been over six months since we bought our home here in Hawaii, but it’s taken me that long to get things situated. I don’t know if its because I own these walls or what, but I was so hesitant to do any firm decorating (nails, shelves, etc) without being 100% in love with the design first. I know – weird. But, after our feature on Apartment Therapy, I wanted to sort of give a look “inside” the photos, if that makes sense! So today, I’m tackling 3 easy ways we gave our bathroom a facelift. All of them are relatively quick, easy and painless and take a boring bathroom into something that is your own. So – here are 3 easy ways to update your bathroom!

3 Easy Ways To Update Your Bathroom

When we bought our house, the guest bathroom was dismal at best. It lacked character and it was almost as if the previous owners had just plopped a toilet down and cemented it where it landed. Truly! There isn’t equidistance between the vanity and the tub, which drives me INSANE, so standard above-the-toilet shelving or those hutch type set-ups were immediately out of the question. With a few simple changes, we gave the tiny bathroom a whole new look and feel – one that I love much more! Is it weird to say you love a bathroom? Ha! Anyway, let’s talk about what we did.

1. Paint.

First things first, the walls had a builder grade white paint on them, which would be fine, but I wanted to warm it up a little bit – it seemed so sterile! I chose Benjamin Moore’s Stone Hearth, because it is the perfect “greige” tone and plays so well with natural light. It’s definitely a color, but not overwhelming or too dark.

2. Shelves.

My friend Laura owns a furniture design and refurbishing company, so when I saw a concept for floating shelves, I sent her a text to see what she thought. Less than 24 hours later, she had drawn up some custom plans, taken measurements and the rest was history. A few days later she was in my bathroom installing them and I could not be happier with how they turned out! I chose thicker shelves in an even width apart for a clean look that didn’t seem cluttered or bulky, but still allowed me to decorate a little bit!

3. Details.

I know that sometimes decorating the guest bathroom can be weird – Photos? Candles? What do you even put in there?! I personally find it a little unnerving when I go into a bathroom and see photos of people, so I avoided that entirely and used some Tiny Mighty Frames from my DIY Instagram Wall and framed some of our favorite beaches here on Oahu. I ordered a whimsical pennant, BEACH sign and pineapple candle from Waiting On Martha and added a rustic bath towel hook from Target. The Hawaiian Eye Chart was a cool print we picked up on our most recent trip to Maui and hadn’t found a place for yet.

Fun idea: Find ways to incorporate necessities into your decor in unlikely ways. The glass jar was collecting dust in our garage and serves as a great way to store travel toiletry bottles for guests and the blue jar holds cotton balls 🙂

What are your tips and tricks for turning a room around on a budget?