When Jeremy and I first started looking at new places to rent (we never thought we’d end up owning our next rental a year after moving in!), we had a short list of wants. These included a fenced-in yard, a basement, a dishwasher, plenty of natural light, and a front porch.
So, we were really excited to learn that the home we are in now was listed as having “1+ bathrooms.” We were antsy to see what we assumed was a “half bath”/guest bathroom somewhere on the main level. When we saw it, we laughed a little, because it’s more like a “1/4 bath.” In fact, we still refer to it as the “airplane bathroom” because it’s SO tiny! But we still feel spoiled because our previous places have only had one tiny bathroom total, and that often proved a challenge, especially when we had a house full of guests or overnighters.
As you can see, there’s a whole lot of bathroom crammed into not-so-much space. We’re wondering if this used to be a pantry, perhaps?
I’ve wanted to brighten up this space and make it seem a little more roomy, if at all possible. One characteristic it did have from the get go is how tall it seemed. Standing in it and looking up, it seems like the walls up to the cabinets and ceiling go on forever!
I knew straightaway I wanted to keep it simple – the less going on in such a tiny space, the better.
I was able to decide on colors pretty quickly, mainly because I knew I wanted white and we happened to have leftover paint from previous projects. See below for details.
I thought getting rid of the cabinets entirely might make the room seem more spacious, but we didn’t realize just how “built-in” they were (glued and nailed to the walls), so I opted for taking the doors off of them instead, and painting them the same color as the trim, rather than going at them with a sledgehammer. : )
There were little details we tended to that made a huge difference, like removing an ancient, built-in soap holder, which stuck out like a sore thumb from under the mirror. Removing it left an 8 inch x 8 inch hole in the wall, which I patched and painted over. There was also an unsightly old light fixture above the sink that we couldn’t get to work (or look clean, despite several good scrubs.) Jeremy did some research and was able to take it down, capping the wires that remained, which did a lot for that tiny overhead area!
I decided to keep the mirror we purchased when we first moved in, since it fit the area above the sink so well (it’s an oddly sized area), as well as the beard poster, and add just a few finishing touches to fill the shelves.
Incorporating a wall-mounted soap dispenser also made quite a difference, because it means having absolutely nothing sitting on the teensy sink!
Also… so excited to have almost all of our interior doors, which were originally red or brown (you can see a sliver of before in the photo below) throughout the house painted black!
And now…!
This space feels so much bigger and brighter now!
What tiny areas in your home are you hoping to give a facelift? We’d love to see how they turn out!
xo, Aly
Décor: Wire baskets: Gordmans / Woven basket: Target / Plant: IKEA / Hand towels: Target / Tissue cover: Target / Clock: Gordmans / Mirror: Target / Beard poster: Wondermark / Wall-mounted soap dispenser: Amazon / Toilet seat: Meijer
Paint: Trim and cabinets: Valspar High Gloss Ultra White Paint & Primer (cans can be found pre-mixed in the primer section at Lowes) / Walls: Valspar Dove White, semi-gloss finish / Door: Valspar Lincoln Cottage Black, semi-gloss finish
Love it!