More Like Home: $100 Bathroom Makeover

Lest you think this is about "going green" in the trendy environmental way - no.

As my husband likes to say: "Why do you paint everything green?"

And, as Harriet the Spy says: "I can't help it if I know what I like."

So. If you want to watch me literally turn my bathroom green for almost $0? Keep reading.

If you want tips on going environmentally green? I mean, we still make castile hand soap, we clean chemical-free with e-cloth, and... not showering everyday saves water? There you go.

On to today's project. Here's the before:

This bathroom is what I consider our "main" bathroom. We have another full bathroom downstairs that gets used just as much during the day, but this one is where we do all the teeth-brushing and most of the baths/showers. We don't have a master bath, so this is shared by our whole family. It's one of a few spaces in our home I haven't touched since we moved in almost nine years ago (apart from a few functional updates). Because guess what? Your home doesn't have to be perfect to be good and to serve your family well. And this bathroom wasn't just fine, it was the nicest we've ever owned by a long shot (you can check out Tiny Bathroom Past here and here). Don't get me wrong, I think it's well worth tweaking things to make your home your own, but all these things take time and money and time and money (yes. twice.) and it's okay if that process takes, you know, time. Turning a house into a home is about so much more than what your home looks like, and you can create a cozy, welcoming home for your family even if it doesn't look just like instagram or even just like your dreams.

I lead with that because we're daily pummeled with photos of perfect homes on social media (even more so thanks to AI creating images of homes that have never even existed). And I don't want you to forget what real life looks like. While creating a home for our families is a noble cause, discontent is the enemy of a peaceful home. We need to find the balance between working to create cozy, useful spaces, and being thankful and content with what we have.

All that said, everything fell into place to finally update this bathroom, and I want to share how I did it on a budget to help you spot ways to do the same in your own home.

Here's what I did:

First, I looked for all the good things I had to work with. Existing tile floors and wood cabinets. Faux board and batten installed by the previous owners. A blessed window. Leftover paints in the basement. Fortunately, this bathroom had a lot going for it. (After many years of living with painted cabinets and painted trim, I can tell you that you'll be hard pressed to find me painting over wood at this point in my life. So I knew I wasn't going to touch those cabinets, and I knew I wanted to do something that would complement them.) This first step is key. When you can work with what you have, it saves so much money and time! Something as simple a rearranging furniture can make a huge difference and it's totally free!

Then I looked for the things I didn't love. It was really only two (minor) things, which is why we hadn't bothered to touch it in nine years.

The the board and batten collected every bit of dust and dirt in the house and always looked dirty no matter how often I cleaned it.
I don't like blue and have wanted to paint over it since we moved in.

There are probably other things that I might change in a world with unlimited time and resources (like the lighting I don't love) but really, guys, no house will ever be perfect and even if you get it "up to date" it's not going to stay that way. It's ok to prioritize and work with what you have! So I got to work:

I painted the top portion of the wall white using leftover white paint.

No more blue. At last. I used the Valspar Swiss Coffee from Lowe's that I always have on hand for anything I paint white. I've used it for walls, our DIY hood, and our fireplace. In general I try to stick to the same shades throughout the house now because:

It saves money over buying a new can of paint every time (I don't know if you've bought paint lately, but it's crazy out there and if I had bought new paint it would have been $40-70 per gallon),
It helps the whole house feel cohesive,
It's so easy to just grab a paint you already love from the basement when you get the itch to paint something, and
Touching things up is a piece of cake because I always have the colors I need on hand.

It's not a hard and fast rule (I bought a quart of muddy black just for a cabinet in our kitchen), but it's been a natural system for me most of the time!

Here is the progress after the top section was painted white. I nearly chickened out on painting the board and batten and just left it like this. But I'm so glad I didn't!

I painted the board and batten with leftover green paint.

I'm hoping a darker color here will hide the handprints and dust a little better, and green feels decidedly more "us." I had two options with enough paint leftover and, surprise, both were green: a lighter option that I used for the boy's bunk beds and a darker options left over from the second-hand bookcases I put in our living room (a true painting nightmare that I don't think I've ever shared here). I was originally thinking dark for the bathroom, but when I tested it, it was way too dark. The color from the boys' room was perfect - it's HGTV "Retreat" from Lowe's.

It's always funny how colors can feel so different in different rooms! Which I why I have two different shades of green in the house, despite my general "stick to a few colors" philosophy. This is after the first coat (never trust a first coat):

I put up a new shower curtain and bath mat.

The shower curtain was from Hobby Lobby's Christmas decor section, of all places, and it was exactly what I didn't know I was looking for. I've wanted to update the bathroom for years, but this was like the missing key and as soon as I saw it I knew just what I wanted to do. (I also bought the matching table runner to use during Christmas because green + plaid is my perfect mix.) Their Christmas decor is always 50% off so it was only $13. Here's a link to it on their website, but I don't know that you'll be able to get your hands on one now that Christmas is over since they tend to come out with new merch every year. Sorry, peeps.

The bathmat was from Ollies discount store and it was only $14 for a two-pack. (I found them on Amazon if you want the same one called French Connection Nellore Bath Rugs, but stores like Marshalls often have cute options that are cheaper!)

I spent about a week doing three coats of white paint and two coats of green paint, put up my new pieces, and it was done.

All in all, this project cost me almost nothing because I already had the paint and my mom actually gave me the rug and curtain for Christmas. I say almost nothing because... like all projects, this one is not actually entirely done. Once again, the wonders of the internet make this look all perfectly tied up with a bow. But if you could walk through the screen right now, I would show you where the previous owners caulked the trim below the tub with a silicone caulk the paint won't stick to. So I'll have to scrape it all off and buy a paintable caulk to really finish things up. But the shower curtain hides it for now and that's a project for another day. I'll say it again - it doesn't have to be perfect to be good.

If I had bought everything new for this project - paint, shower curtain, and rug - it would have come in right around $100. And that still would have been a pretty good deal for the impact it made!