Master Bathroom Refresh 2.0

A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Refresh, perk up, tweak… whatever you wanna call it, the master bathroom got a teeny tiny little style change-up last week. And we now have a more cohesive master en suite! (That sounds way super fancy for a girl who lives in yoga pants and paint splattered T-shirts 24/7.)

If you’ve been around these parts a while, you might remember our master bathroom that looked like this a couple of years ago.

The Vanity

Before

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

And then we pulled out a few quick and inexpensive tricks like painted the walls and cabinets, put sheet vinyl over the old tile, took down the worn our mirror and busted light.

We have big plans to fully gut and renovate this master bathroom one day, but what we once thought was only a year or two away, we realize now, it might be much longer than that. But that doesn’t mean you have to live with a space you dislike.

It was a night and day difference!

Phase 1

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

But theeeeeeeennnn… after we wrapped up the master bedroom makeover a couple of months ago, I kept staring at this bathroom thinking it didn’t really flow with our more modernized bedroom. (If you give a mouse a cookie…)

So we gave it a quick 2-day tweak. (Because that’s what isolation will do to ya after a while. You start ALL the project tweaking, apparently. Haha!)

Wanna play a game of spot the difference?

Phase 2

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

It looks just slightly less coastal/farmhouse and a little more modern & sleek to flow with our modernized master bedroom right beside it.

With a few panels of peel & stick wallpaper in a contemporary pattern and a hardware swap later, we were officially perked.

Better Homes & Gardens just released 3 new hardware collections at Walmart, and since we hadn’t fully replaced all of the hardware in here from the 80s/90s the first time, this was the perfect quickie project to change it out for more modern pieces from the Chandler line.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

So we did this…

The Art

Before

Remember this corner?

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

I had hung up these thrifted frames I spray painted and filled with freebie coastal art printables. But it started to feel a little cluttered to me lately.

Anyone else craving simplicity these days or is it just me?

Phase 1

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

So I took down the corner gallery wall and put up this DIY leaf silhouette art and large artwork instead to make it feel slightly more modern and pared down.

Phase 2

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

The old shower door is still hanging in there until the eventual gut job.

The Shower

Before

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

But hanging up these curtain panels help soften it.

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Phase 2

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Hooks

We replaced the old hooks with these Chandler hooks since there’s really not enough wall space in this bathroom for a towel bar.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Even though we only did minor changes, the vanity feels more sleek now too.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Light

The previous two-light wall sconce wasn’t as bright as we wanted it to be, so this three-light vanity sconce solved that issue for us.

The tilt mirrors are so much better for when I’m putting on makeup or when Robert is shaving too.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Cabinets

The cabinet paint needed a touch-up and we replaced the pulls with these chrome ones to match the other hardware.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Faucets

And we fiiiiinally replaced the 80s-ish faucets with these chrome faucets that have been a nice upgrade.

Master Bathroom Refresh | A dated master bathroom gets a quick and inexpensive modern refresh using paint, wallpaper, sheet vinyl, and hardware.

Linens

For the little cherry on top, I picked up a new set of my favorite towels that stay thick and plush after lots of washes. I’ve been buying these for yeeeaaaars and always buy white for towels and sheets because they’re easy to bleach and just seem more clean than colored towels to me.

It feels like a fancy little spa in here now.

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I keep wondering if we should go ahead and paint the countertop and sinks in here like we once did in the girls’ bathroom refresh back in the day too. But with staying home currently, I wasn’t sure we could handle the fumes.

Maybe that’ll be the final tweak, who knows. 😉 Should we?!

You can find the sources we used in this bathroom here:

So there we go. We’re done now, I hope.

That is until we can take a sledgehammer to the shower and rip out the janky cabinets. I’m still pinning pretty bathrooms to my heart’s content for when that day comes.

This little bathroom is just proof though… you don’t have to spend thousands to create a space you love. Your home should make you feel uplifted and inspired, even if it means working around what you already have… and even if it means not getting it just right the first time. 😉

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#AD | A dated bathroom gets a quick refresh with paint, wallpaper, and @betterhomesandgardens hardware from @walmart for a bright, modern look on a budget.

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55 Comments

  1. I really think you’ve done an awesome job without breaking the bank. I personally would not bother with the countertop…but if it was mine to do anything with, it would be to paint the vanity and cabinet the same color as your bedroom wall. That would make the 2 rooms pop, bringing them together. But I really applaud you for all the work you do to make your home a special place.

  2. Love it!!!! It’s just what that bathroom needed 🙂 Did I miss the link to the stick-on wallpaper you used? Love that!!

  3. Pop up to join your community covers part of your text and I can’t close it out. The little x is under the edge where you can scroll up and down and won’t let me click on the x. hard to read your text or see your pictures — except parts of them. Using Safari on a MacBook

  4. I so admire your vision. I love the two stage transition, and I love that your husband helps you do all this. That’s soooo half the battle. Ha. I applaud you both. Bathrooms get neglected, I think. Even though they are necessary, as long as everything is in working order and clean they are easy to forget since…life. Other things demanding our attention. But like every remodel/redecorate project I’ve taken on over the years, something will have to get to me for quite awhile before I devote the time to think through everything I want to do about it. I tend to overthink things, and my vision takes a while to come together piece by piece. Of course seeing photos of a finished project makes it look like….voila!…it all happened overnight. And I know in reality it took a lot longer than the two days you mentioned to work ‘it’ all out ahead of time before you started in earnest. I just can’t say enough about how inspirational I find your projects! Warmest wishes and blessing for you and yours in these unprecedented times.