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Our DIY Small Bathroom Makeover on a Budget

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Today I am sharing our DIY small bathroom makeover! This was a very quick makeover that we were able to complete in ONE day. Yes, you heard me! One day. And on a very tight budget.

The time has come to share our small bathroom / powder room (whichever you’d like to call it) renovation. This is hands down one of our easiest and most transformative projects. We didn’t have to do anything crazy to completely transform the space, which makes this even sweeter. With just these small updates, this little room has come such a long way from being my least favorite to most favorite space in our home.

This downstairs bathroom/powder room is truly tiny. There is just enough room for a vanity and toilet, and itsy bitsy bit of room to move between the two. I knew that it would be a good idea to keep this project as simple and clean as possible, as to not overwhelm the space (or our budget, most importantly). 

diy small bathroom makeover

cyberspace sherwin williams

Before our small bathroom makeover:

small bathroom remodel

Here is a photo of our original bathroom before the updates.

This photo above is actually from our real estate listing when we purchased the house. It looked a little different starting this project as we did give it a very quick, budget makeover shortly after moving in.

IN-BETWEEN OUR BATHROOM MAKEOVER:

This was back in 2019 when we gave this room a VERY BUDGET update by painting the vanity, spray painting the light, adding a pretty mirror, adding shelves. And I’m truly apologize that this tilted photo is the best photo I got (lol).

The bottom line is that this bathroom is tiny with zero natural light. In spite of my budget efforts, it desperately needed a fresh coat of paint, a new bathroom vanity, new fixtures, new hardware, and overall, a little bit of hard work.

With it being such a small space, I really wanted to keep things really simple as to not overwhelm the space. So I began my journey in piecing things together.

The Inspiration for our Small Bathroom Renovation:

I was inspired by modern meeting vintage and deep, bold colors for this room, as well as mixing metals. Being drawn to bold colors for this room really surprised me, as I am a neutral girl at heart.

But this bathroom is so small that I thought a bold color would be a fun way to ease me in to darker colors, while bringing this space to life!

Searching Pinterest for a design you love is a great place to start before landing on your look. I kept coming back to look of brass, wood, bold color. CLEAN.

I am a simple girl at heart. I love clean and minimal. And this look, while simple, packs a punch.

The darker color really makes a small room feel luxurious.

Are you seeing the trend here? Hehe 🙂 I sure did.

Clearly I was being drawn towards a bold color, SOMETHING WOOD, brass accents, mixing metals. Timeless, clean, and still really fun.

Obviously, all that inspires me vs. what we can afford for our small bathroom remodel does not always meet in the middle!

I realized pretty quickly that most of these gorgeous wooden vanities with nice tops were wayyy out of our budget. Also, lumber prices right now are not in our project favor.

This is where I had to get creative!

Here is a VERY interesting poor quality photo of my computer screen (LOL), as I tried to gather my thoughts of how to achieve this look based on what we could afford.

I use photoshop for this (as I already pay a yearly subscription for it as a family photographer), but I have been known to use canva as well to throw “mood boards” together!

You can see where I photoshopped in a new paint color, vanity, mirror, faucet, and light.

And here’s how we brought it to life!


HOW WE TRANSFORMED OUR SMALL BATHROOM (DIY SMALL BATHROOM MAKEOVER):

1) FIRST STEP – PAINT!

Paint is such an easy way to transform a space and make a huge impact quickly. And the good news is that it’s not expensive to paint a small bathroom.

We removed the old vanity and mirror, cleaned up the walls, spackled any nail holes, and then gave this room a fresh coat of paint!

We painted the entire bathroom (including trim). Painting the trim as well is a great way to add a deeper, bolder, cleaner look.

*In order to keep this even more budget-friendly, we opted not to do any wall treatments. But with a bigger budget, you could add a wall treatment such as shiplap, board and batten, etc. to add more interest.

THE PAINT COLOR WE USED:

For paint color of our DIY bathroom remodel, I was on the hunt for the perfect navy/dark gray/almost black.

After quite a bit of research, I landed on Cyberspace by Sherwin Williams, and it fit the bill perfectly.

We had it color matched at Lowes and used Valspar Ultra in Satin. Amazing coverage – HIGHLY recommend this brand (not sponsored). The bathroom pretty much only needed one coat, with touch ups here and there.

The color varies anywhere from black to gray to navy, depending on how the light hits it. I couldn’t love it more and am currently looking for what else I can use this color on in our home!

2) REPLACED OLD VANITY WITH NEW VANITY.

The next step after painting was to replace the old vanity. We found this weathered “wooden” vanity at Mernards for $125.

It fit the dimensions that we needed and honestly, was just a great price for the quality. I do not say this lightly. If you look up wood bathroom vanities, you will realize pretty quickly that these cost a pretty penny.

The one we purchased is manufactured wood, but looks amazing in the space. Better than I could have ever imagined or hope for. I was worried about the gray wood, but the warmth of our floors and overhead light warms it right up.

I did consider a pedestal sink for this space due to the size. HOWEVER, we need storage more than we need room, it’s just a fact. So I chose something larger that would allow to store more of our necessary bathroom items.

The vanity you choose will vary based on your preference and the needs of your family!

**The vanity we chose isn’t sold with the top, so we bought this top to go with it. The vanity and top combined were less than $240 together (a great price, in my opinion!) Anything I personally found for this price was way smaller or of less quality.

The thicker look of the top we chose really makes this lean high-end, in my opinion.

Don’t mind me and my 100 year old project shirt in the reflection 😉

Lucky for us, our toilet was in good condition and didn’t need replacing. So we did get to skirt the system a bit there.

3) REPLACED MIRROR, HARDWARE, & LIGHT FIXTURE

We paired our new bathroom vanity with this faucet, also from Mernards. We got it while we were in store purchasing the vanity. However, you can get one very similar from Amazon and just prime that baby 😉 I believe the Amazon option is more affordable as well. We actually purchased the faucet from Mernards solely because we were already there getting the vanity and top.

I think the faucet modernizes it a bit and brings it all together so nicely.

diy small bathroom makeover

WHERE TO FIND THE HANDLES:

We did purchase the handles separately as well, but got them in the back of Mernard’s actual store in their hardware section. I dug through the drawers of handle pulls to find these. They were cheap, but I haven’t been able to find an online link for them. So I do have to apologize for that! But here is an Amazon option that looks incredibly similar. My suggestion is to buy something really “sturdy” and quality looking. I think it really helps to make the vanity look well-built and high-end.

EDITED TO ADD: I did find the handles at Mernards, but the Amazon handles are the same price, look identical, and can be primed.

small bathroom remodel

I feel like I’m in a spa when I walk into this bathroom now. The updates make the space feel luxurious and calming.

For a budget bathroom makeover, I am pretty pleased with the outcome!

WHERE TO FIND THE LIGHT AND MIRROR:

It’s important to note that we bought a lot of our items in-store, as we did this project really quickly. But if you have time to plan, Amazon is an easier way to stick to your budget and have things delivered directly to your door. So I do like to always include an Amazon alternative!

We found the light at Lowes. You can find a similar one here at Amazon.

We found the mirror at Target. You can find a similar one here at Amazon.

diy small bathroom makeover

4) Replaced towel ring and toilet paper holder.

This is where I had fun mixing the metals. While the light fixture and mirror have a brass finish, I chose a brushed bronze toiler paper holder and towel ring from Home Depot.

Amazon alternative that includes both!

diy small bathroom makeover

cyberspace sherwin williams

In terms of small bathroom remodels, we didn’t make a ton of difficult changes and were able to complete this in ONE day.

Cosmetic changes made all the difference in this little space!

And here is a before and after, side by side of our DIY small bathroom makeover. For kicks and giggles. This little space really came a long way!

All in all, this was a pretty easy DIY and quick, budget-friendly makeover! We were able to complete the whole project in one day and with a limited budget, so I’d call it a win.


Vanity | Vanity Top | Faucet | Light | Mirror

Paint Color:

Cyberspace by Sherwin Williams (color matched at Lowe’s)

Similar, Cheaper Amazon Items: (actual products linked above)

Faucet | Light | Mirror

I hope our budget-friendly bathroom makeover gives you some great ideas for the small bathroom of your dreams!

Until next time,


Need more quick, budget friendly home improvement ideas? Check out this list of weekend projects under $100.


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7 Comments

    1. Hi Dana! It’s actually held up BEAUTIFULLY. Still the same quality as when we purchased 🙂 I hope this is helpful!

  1. How big is your bathroom? We are redoing our tiny bathroom. And looks like yours might be the same size?

  2. love! whats the width of your bathroom? Considering same vanity size and my bathroom looks about the same.

    1. I’m actually not sure on the exact width! I can tell you though – it’s small enough that if I were to stand in the middle and stretch my arms out on both sides, I’d be almost touching the walls on each side. I’ve been really grateful for the storage the vanity provided!

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