We have lived in our home twelve years now and I have not truly ever loved our bathroom. The size of the room is great and I love that we each have our own sink and vanity space. But, that’s where it ends for me. In a perfect world I would have the entire space redone; new vanities, new tub layout, etc. Truthfully, I don’t know how much longer we will be in this home and I just don’t want to spend several tens of thousands of dollars on a makeover. But, I do think I can make it so much better with some cosmetic improvements. Let’s take a look at what I’m working with and my primary bathroom plans.

Long Vanity Wall Before

This vanity is mine. It’s the one you first see when you walk in from our bedroom. You can notice right off the bat how the mirror has become blurred and damaged. That’s from the sunlight coming in from the window opposite the mirror and degrading the reflective backing. I can no longer use that portion of the mirror. Everything else just feels tired and dated. Faucets are all in bad shape and the vanity paint is beat up.

Short Vanity and Tub Wall Before

This vanity is my husband’s. Several years ago I made an attempt to make the window look better by moving the bamboo shade up higher and hanging curtains. I hate it.

I’ve never loved a corner tub. But what I disliked even more than it being a corner tub were the two cabinet doors the builder glued to the front of the tub when I asked them for a paneled front. They charged me $1,000 for that “upgrade” in 2012. I was ticked. Several years ago I pulled the doors off and added shiplap along the front. Not perfect but certainly better than those dang cabinet doors. It’s time to say goodbye to the shiplap as well.

Long Vanity Wall Plans

I used ChatGPT to help me visualize what the picture frame moulding would look like on the walls. It made some things look a little wonky and definitely not precise, but we’re just going to go with it.

Given how tall the ceiling is in here I wanted to fill in some of that space with crown and picture frame moulding. This is the exact same treatment in our attached bedroom so it will also tie the two spaces together nicely.

Biggest difference on this wall is swapping out the one long mirror and one light for two mirrors and two lights. Originally I wanted to bring in taller mirrors and do sconces to the left, center, and right of the mirrors. But, due to how the builder grade vanity and sink placement is I can’t make it work out. Placing a sconce to the right of the mirror over the sink would push the mirror so far to the left that it wouldn’t be positioned over the sink. Over the mirror lights it is.

As mentioned earlier, the marble countertops will stay the same. I also will be keeping the vanity black, but it does need to be repainted. Knobs will more than likely also stay the same.

My big hangup is the sink faucet. The existing countertop is cut for a centerset faucet, three holes placed too close together for a widespread faucet to work. I’ve not been happy with any of the centerset faucets I’m finding. The plan is to go with a single hole faucet and use a… I hate even saying it… escutcheon plate to hide the other two holes. Ughhhh. My other option is to replace the old marble with new marble for the sole purpose of having widespread holes for a proper faucet. That’s a lot of money to spend on countertops for vanities I don’t even love.

Short Vanity & Tub Wall Plans

For the shorter vanity I will keep the single mirror and single light placement. The window treatments will be cleaned way up. Remove the drapes and bamboo shades. Replace those will a clean roman shade mounted inside the window frame in a color that compliments the walls. The fabric will actually be the same fabric that I used on our drapes in our attached bedroom.

Ah yes, that stinking corner tub. Replacing the built-in tub ends up opening a can of worms. It will stay but this time around I’m going to trim it out the way it should have been twelve years ago. It will also get an updated faucet.

Where’s the Shower?

The shower is tucked off to the right side of my vanity. It’s a walk-in doorless shower with white subway tile. It currently has a matching dark oil-rubbed bronze shower kit that I would replace to match the new faucets. There is a light in the shower, but it is dark. It would be lovely if it were opened to get natural light in but that is a whole different type of update.

Sources

• Black framed mirrors – These are the same mirrors I used in my son’s bathroom and daughter’s bathroom
• Light fixtures
• Sink faucets
• Tub faucet
• Shower kit (not shown)
• Roman Shade

Ok, what do you think of the primary bathroom plans? My hope is that I can give it enough of a glow up without spending sick money that I will actually love it. I’m feeling pretty good about it all. Stay tuned!

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