Design For Half Bathroom – The half bath has become one of my favorite small spaces in the house. Originally we were going to leave it pretty much as is, but at the last minute we decided it needed some tweaking. We were actually able to make some budget-friendly updates that gave the space a completely new look.
Nothing bad about it, but nothing special either! I really like the original tile and thought it would be a crime to get rid of it. Just need a little spice!!
Design For Half Bathroom
I searched for hours for both the wallpaper and the vanity. Do you know how hard it is to find a semi-decent looking 18″ vanity?! Almost impossible!!!
Diy Half Bath Makeover In A Windowless Space
I found this vanity and it was priced within my budget where I was able to replace the faucet and replace the knobs with this beauty. Honestly, the faucet was more of a vanity :/ but I feel like it was really needed to take it to the next level.
Side note – I’m working hard on polished nickel right now. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I could completely nickel polish the kitchen next door. From a die-hard gold/brass fan, that’s a huge statement ;).
And then wallpaper…wallpaper! Lavi. In March, I studied all the different wallpaper samples to find the perfect wallpaper. I asked everyone on Instagram stories to vote between these three…
I really liked them all but in the end I came out on top. Since the house is almost a hundred years old, there are cracks on the walls
Small Space, Big Changes: Our Small Half Bathroom Refresh
Too much texture for them. I thought the wallpaper business would do a great job of hiding the texture!
I got the wallpaper from a new company called Spoonflower. I’m really impressed with the quality and would definitely recommend it. They all have different textures, but I chose traditional stone that is not chipped.
By Sophia Lee is a blog created by designer Sophia Lee in 2016. From her dorm room to her million-dollar restoration, Sophia shares the lessons she’s learned at home.
Get inspired with weekly home renovation updates, our favorite home finds, and exclusive emails straight to your inbox. I can’t believe I finally finished this DIY bathroom makeover! And you guys, my husband didn’t even fight me on this! 🤣 I think he finally believed my renovation mom and basically said, “Okay, when do I get the floors removed?” What a man? Let me tell you, we have come a long way. Laugh out loud. Watch this video first!
Our Half Bath Renovation (cost Breakdown + Sources)
This whole project stemmed from some tiles I originally purchased for our fireplace and ended up not using. After purchasing a few more things I had enough to make the floor in this bathroom and I thought it was the perfect fun space for them! And if I do the floors, why not do it all again, right? The pedestal sink was crooked and I went crazy every time I sat down to pee. Laugh out loud. It had to go. So after tinkering with the design for a while this is what I did in Canva.
These were these beauties I had and thought would be a lot of fun in a half bath. I’ve seen them around in brown and black and white, but when I was in TX I found them at Floor & Decor in their sage/seafoam color! (Their price has gone up a whole dollar per tile since I bought them, yes!). The thing about encaustic tiles is that you have to seal them before you grout them. So an extra step, but worth it, e.g. They are beautiful and much more modern than our old .50 cent builder tiles.
To install these, we removed the sink and toilet, and broke up the old tile floor. I mixed this mortar, laid cement board down, screwed it in, and let it dry. I then used this pre-mixed grout and laid my tiles with the 1/8″ joint spacers I used in the kitchen. This was followed by a good cleaning and two coats of sealer before grouting. I Since then this white grout has been used so the tiles were white.
I used PVC sheet and batten because this bathroom gets a lot of use and our area is humid in summer. When wet, MDV will become permanently warped. I originally planned to paint it with the same paint I used on the DIY laundry makeover cabinet. When I painted a sample on the wall, it looked purple there! So I reluctantly started mixing different paints I had (I hate spending money on paint samples) and I finally came up with this color!
How To Make A Bathroom Handicap Accessible
I love how it has our Sherwin Williams Pure White paint on top of it, which is how the rest of the house is painted. There are 8,000,000 board and lathe guides, so I’ll leave you with that. But I suggest that if you want to keep your existing skirting trim, don’t just go out and use 1″ wood like everyone else. It will sag and look terrible, and there will be “hacks” to it with angled cuts. Or extra pieces of trim no bueno. If you want thicker board and batten, this is what I bought from HomeDepot and they were shipped to me.
Since the sink we purchased was a wall-mounted vessel, I actually installed it first. This way I knew that the sink was not dependent on the cabinet I was going to build. Unfortunately the measurements of the sink were wrong online so it was a little over 20″ and I needed just under that. There was a small gap at the back that I had to account for when making the boards and battens, which ended up being fine. I sealed it with a piece of scrap wood and caulk. I used this cheap faucet from Amazon that’s like a baby version of our kitchen sink. Then this towel rack and matching toilet paper holder saves us from the “who never changes the toilet paper roll” debate. I can’t even describe how much more “finished” they look than the manufactured items we’ve had before.
This part of the DIY bathroom makeover was kind of silly. I wanted a new vanity, but we have an extremely awkward corner in there, so I knew it would either have to be small or custom. That bathroom really needed storage, so I decided to try creating one in the room. After assembling all of our new kitchen cabinets, I had a good feel for how cabinets are typically built and thought I could do this. I didn’t record the steps for this very well because I thought it was very unlikely that anyone visiting this blog would have such a funky shaped bathroom. Plus, I was totally winging it.
Basically I made a “table top” out of 1″ lumber that was jointed to the correct depth, then cut to fit my odd shape. An additional “U” to work around the plumbing With cutouts. So I started framing a cabinet by screwing the bottom of my counter into the wall to hold it up. I cut a piece for the face of the counter, as I would for my floating shelf. I do it in the tutorial so that it looks like a piece of thick wood.
This Or That: Bathroom Types. Ever Heard Of A Half Bath Or A Jack And…
With the tabletop supported, I really started working from the ground up. I broke up some old 2×8 scrap I had and made a super sturdy base that fit into the studs on the back wall. Then I cut the base for the cabinet and added the side/front supports using Kregs. Then only the doors were left to be made. As stated in my original plan, I wanted cane bands for this, but then I decided it would be better to use all the scrap from this project/my garage, so I broke out the table saw again and sawed the wood. Started tearing from the middle. 0.25″ and 0.5″ thick, then I played a game of Tetris with my hacksaw and 45 degree angles.
So, we came up with a plan to save our toilet. I added some extension flanges to the toilet flange to correct the height difference between the new tile and the old tile and we managed to get the old toilet back on. A few days later I noticed a leak from one of the toilet bolts. I knew you had to tighten each bolt slowly so they were all level. Well, apparently I made it cry because one twist too far and it cracks. Broken ceramic toilet bowl.
Needless to say, I then had to take the toilet apart and remove it, which was especially annoying since my muscles went out of town on a work trip. I ordered toilet pickup