Fast and cheap bathroom update

We have 3.5 bathrooms in our house. Are they livable and functional? Absolutely. Are they my style? Not really.

 

Our house was built in 1994, and while it was used as the model home for our development, that didn't motivate the builder* to use anything other than cheap, builders grade materials. The previous owner also had the house white-washed (well, warm-beige-washed to be exact), so everything is very neutral. Turns out, she had them paint over hideous wallpaper in two of the bathrooms, but that's an entirely different project.

 

Anyway, we had made some minor changes to one of the upstairs bathrooms already, but all of the others have been left untouched. This past weekend I decided to tackle the half bath on the first floor. This is just a guest bathroom, and if the door isn't closed (it usually is), then this is generally what you see:

 

 

It's not terrible, but it's dated. Next to the sink is a window, and across from the sink is the toilet and a large, white cabinet that looms above it. Why? I don't know, but it's big and it's there. I hated the cabinet so much that I don't even have a "before" picture of it.

 

Since this is just a guest bath, I wasn't about to put money into drastic renovations. We need that money for a new patio and kitchen counter! With this room, if I do one big thing, I have to do it all... If I take out the vanity I have to replace the tile floor, tear out the wallpaper, and rip the cabinet down. Any combo of these tasks results in the others needing to get done as well. Solution? Paint and Pinterest.

 

I read about painting cabinets on Pinterest and was intrigued. Testing it out on the least amount of cabinets was also right up my alley. So, off came the doors and everything got painted with Valspar's "Fired Earth" in a semi-gloss finish.

 

 

I decided to salvage the dated brass hardware, and gave everything a coating of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray. The hardware style is still kind of dated, but at least it's not brass.

 

 

We haven't replaced the faucet yet, but it's an inevitability at this point in time. It sticks out like a sore thumb now, and J knew I'd be begging him to change it as soon as I got everything else done. This is what I'm thinking for the faucet:

 

 

Aside from that detail though, it's done! If I had time and money I'd gut the whole bathroom and update everything, but for now this will do just fine.

 

 

And for good measure... A side by side comparison:

 

 

*Fun fact: The home builder for our development is actually in jail because he used the crappiest, most half-assed materials he could find on ebay. Apparently there was a thing with him vs the homeowners, court, lawsuits, etc. Luckily, while our home has flaws, it was spared the worst defects. For example: We have full exterior brickwork over wood, as opposed to wood filler with siding glued on top. Yes, it really happened to our neighbors.