Bathroom Makeover Reveal!

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It’s no big secret that home improvements can be expensive and time-consuming. Real-life budget and time constraints often mean that we have to come up with solutions that are temporary until we can afford to do the big long-term projects we’d really like to.

Bathrooms and kitchens are inevitably two of those big-budget projects. We gave our kitchen a massive overhaul at beginning of last year and it looks as good as new (you can read about the transformation here) so it really was high time that we gave our bathroom a much-needed update, too!

Until recently, it was a dreary and uninviting space…

… but after a bit of hard work and some gorgeous updates, it now looks like this!

As you can see, it’s gone through a pretty radical transformation. We painted the walls a lovely soft grey-green (it’s Pigeon by Farrow & Ball), we built some ladder shelves, replaced the washbasin and tap (both gifted by Kohler), added a vanity unit with concrete counter and I even built our new bath caddy and shower curtain rail!

The calm colours and luxury updates make this room feel so more inviting and one of the biggest changes is how much more storage there is. It’s something we always knew we had to improve and it’s made a huge impact on how well the bathroom functions.

It used to feel like we had bathroom supplies dotted all around our apartment which, of course, is a slight exaggeration as most things were stored in our dressing room, but now everything is neatly tucked away where it belongs.

All of the less pretty items like shampoo supplies and stacks of tissue paper are now hidden away in our new pink vanity unit with these gorgeous brass handles – they are Myford by Swarf Hardware (gifted) – while the items we use on a daily basis are in easy reach on the ladder shelves.

Don’t get me wrong, the bathroom was perfectly acceptable before we started our makeover but it was just so bland (and cheaply done). Now, it’s a much more spa-like and relaxing room. Although I admit that that’s not hard given that until a couple of weeks ago we still had cables dangling from the ceiling! Whoops!

As always, we did all of the bathroom makeover work in here ourselves.

We built the DIY ladder shelves, we painted the vanity and built a gorgeous concrete countertop (more on that soon!) and the other accessories were super budget-friendly and easy little projects, too!

The biggest update is our new vanity with gorgeous new Mica washbasin and Composed single lever tap (both gifted). Along with the other changes, they both help to completely transform the bathroom as they are really high-quality and add a touch of luxury to the formerly very basic bathroom.

Don’t they look fabulous with our new vanity and concrete countertop?

Due to issues out of our control, we already know that we will have to replace our whole bathroom in the near future (I’ll share more details as soon as we know exactly what’s happening) but investing in high-quality sanitary ware now still makes total sense as we’ll be able to keep it all in the long term!

In an ideal world, we would have obviously replaced the whole bathroom now but it’s amazing how rewarding budget-friendly and temporary updates can be, too!

You also know that we’re super realistic aka slow DIYers (and savers) so our temporary solutions usually end up lasting for a long time which is why we go the extra mile to make every project as perfect as possible.

We will be sharing all of the how-to details of the projects we completed as part of this project including how we built our concrete vanity countertop, how to build your own ladder shelves and how to switch your washbasin and tap for something much more stylish (it was surprisingly easy!) over the next few weeks.

For now though, I’m so happy with how this room turned out and the luxury of being able to clean my teeth over a washbasin again (we had to use the bathtub for a couple of weeks while working on this project) still hasn’t worn off!

DIY is always about making things work for you and I absolutely love how relatively small changes can make such a big impact. Our DIY updates have completely changed how the bathroom room feels and functions and have transformed the bathroom into a much nicer space to spend time in.

Having lived with the possibly worst bathroom in the whole of the UK (or at least Manchester) for over 6 years (I’m really not exaggerating, you can take a look at it here) I think it’s safe to say that I’ve well and truly earned a nice space to retreat to.

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Bathroom Makeover Source List:

Towels & Bathmat | Christy

Washbasin | Mica by Kohler (gifted)

Tap | Composed by Kohler (gifted)

Paint | Pigeon by Farrow & Ball

Vanity | Tolen by Ikea (painted in Farrow & Ball Peignoir)

Vanity Handles | Myford by Swarf Hardware (gifted)

Ladder Shelves | DIY project (more details soon!)

Bath Caddy | DIY project (more details soon!)

Shower Curtain Rail | DIY project (more details soon!)

Concrete Countertop | DIY project with Concrete Countertop Solutions (gifted – more details soon!)

Hand Wash | Aesop

Vases | Westwing

Bath Bombs | Lush

Art | Berliner Babylon

We’ve already started to plan our longterm bathroom makeover which will include a freestanding bath and a separate shower!  I think we’d better get saving but in the meantime, we can definitely relax in our refreshed and beautiful bathroom!

We would love to hear what you think of our bathroom makeover! Why not make our day and leave us a comment below!

Do you DIY to save money? What would your dream bathroom look like? We’re trying to be more environmentally friendly and we’d love to hear if you have any recommendations on plastic-free bathroom products!

*This post contains gifted items. As always, we only recommend products we love and hope you will, too! Thank you so much to Kohler, Concrete Countertop Solutions and Swarf Hardware for supporting us on this makeover!