Guest bathroom refresh

Hi friends!  Yes I am still here, still expecting a little baby girl coming soon , and still living in our current home… The last few months have been unusually strange, totally unpredictable, and just hard for me as I am used to being busy doing house projects to share with you and just haven’t been able to do that.  I think I will do a quick update on both baby and house stuff and sort of where we are right now next week and I even have some yard sale finds to share with you tomorrow!  But today lets talk about decorating or refreshing a space.  

We had guests stay with us last week and I realized I never shared updated pictures and sort of how I refreshed my guest bathroom. I didn’t do a total total makeover or even totally redecorated it, but just by making a few simple changes (most of them free) and honestly just REMOVING stuff from the room it made a big change.  Sometimes one of the best ways (and cheapest ways!) we can update a room is just to get rid of some things.

So here is where our hall bathroom started when we first moved in this house.  I had no clue about home stuff and decorating when we got married (before the world of Pinterest and home blogs and even smart phones – that makes me sound so old!)  So I registered for and did a lot of “themey” stuff in rooms – I DO NOT recommend this now.   Our bathroom was “boat/lighthouse/nautical” themed so all of that just got moved into this house.  Over the years I tried to simplify and make the room less “themey” looking but it still needed some work.

 

Thankfully it hasn’t looked like that for a LONG time.  And I have learned a LOT about decorating since then.

A few years ago, my DIY skills had increased and I tackled putting up DIY board and batten in here, framed in the mirror,  and spray painted and changed out the light fixture.

 

Then a year or so later I painted the top half of the wall gray, changed out the handles on the cabinet, the towel rod came out of the wall so I replaced with hooks instead (which I LOVE!) and just rearranged a bit of the decor. Oh and my camera and photography skills were starting to improve as well which definitely helped!

So much better! But then back in the fall I realized the shower curtain really did need to be replaced.  It was 10+ years old and had some bleach stains on it and I was just ready for something new.  I wanted to brighten up the room some so I found a navy and white shower striped shower curtain at Bed, Bath and Beyond and after a 20% off coupon it ended up only being about $15.  I added a driftwood wreath I found at either Ross or TJMaxx and that was only new things I added – other than that I just removed and rearranged things!  So here’s how the bathroom looks now.

The navy boat is from our honeymoon in Hawaii and the beach picture from a summer family vacation – I love meaningful decor.

I made the pallet backdrop on a visit to my friend Molly’s house last year and love the rustic/beachy vibe it adds.

I added a few pops of yellow with a rug I grabbed from another room. 

Nothing done in here was expensive at all in all the changes over the years.  The mirror frame was probably $10 worth of supplies and the board and batten $20-25 worth of supplies – then just some paint, a few thrifted or made pieces of decor and a few store bought pieces have made this room so much better over the years.

From this…

To this…

to the final after!

One of the ways to help your home stay fresh and current is to make simple/inexpensive/small changes over the years – removing things, rearranging things, updating a wall color, etc.  It doesn’t have to be complete makeovers and break the budget.  

Have you updated a room recently by making simple changes – rearranging, removing, and changing out just a few pieces?