Need ideas for a bathroom facelift

[lessel]

We want to do a major renovation to our bathroom, but that’s not something we want to drop $20k on for the next few years. We need to fix the ceiling in our shower area (roof leak that is repaired🤞) and I’m kind of using that as an excuse to give the bathroom a bit of a facelift.

Pictures of my very late-80s bathroom are below. A friend referred to it as “brass and glass” and that’s totally the current vibe. The previous owners did some work to the shower because I think there must have been a leak. We had to do a quick early pandemic patch repair to the shower floor—a few tiles came loose, which was ultimately fine because they had used wall tiles (shiny and slippery!) for the previous repair. So the shower is a little mismatched with tile, but I’ll worry about that in our larger renovation down the line. Previous owner also put in the LVP flooring, which is in great shape and we’ll leave for now as well.

Things I would like to do in our facelift:
- Repaint (color = ??). Right now the bathroom and our bedroom are the same or nearly identical colors. I especially want to repaint the giant brown mirror frame that matches nothing.
- Replace light fixtures and faucets. (Except I’m not touching the bathtub faucet or the gold mirror… I just want to leave that all as-is lest I fiddle with something that creates a leak below in our kitchen ceiling.)
- Paint the vanity cabinets (?) and replace hardware.

I’m kind of torn on what color fixtures and hardware to do… brass, black, or brushed nickel. Our kitchen and guest bath downstairs are black. Kids bathroom upstairs near our bathroom is brushed nickel. If we go brass that would blend with the bathtub stuff I’m not touching for years, but would match nothing else in the house (if that matters?). (ETA: we do have some brass/black light fixtures and accessories downstairs. Just realized.) I’ve thought about gray cabinets with brass fixtures, but I just don’t love the pics I see with that combo.

In terms of our overall style I would say kind of mixed. Kitchen and guest bath are kind of farmhouse modern, formal living and dining are MCM with vintage furniture (holdover from our old 60s MCM house), our bedroom is modern MCM (West Elm), family room is kind of Pottery Barn neutral. So a mishmash 😬

Open to ideas and suggestions or inspiration pics. I feel like I’m just hitting a wall with ideas. I think I know what I want to change, but not what I want to change it to.

Okay, here are pics if you’ve made it through my rambling thus far…

[maudefindlay]

I like the idea of a green vanity if you do brass fixtures. I'd go with something in the white family for the walls.

[deadwing]

All of those mirrors are giving me anxiety. I'm way too self conscious for that bathroom. I have a lot of respect for anyone who can walk around naked in there.

[woowoo]

If it's not your forever I would also do something fun like green with brass, warm white on the walls and maybe a stencil on one wall (instead of peel/stick wallpaper).

[momin2013]

I personally would focus on the mirrors surrounding the tub more than the vanity. Like PP said, that would give me anxiety, especially while laying in the tub - I don't want to be looking at myself from multiple different angles while I'm trying to relax, lol!

I would:
- Remove the mirrors and replace with white subway tile
- Leave the vanity as is (but if you're really keen to paint I'd pull a grey out of the floor tile)
- Paint the mirror frame black
- Do either black or chrome/nickel fixtures (same finish for light fixture)
- Call me crazy but I love the paint colour so I'd keep it as it - once you make the other changes I think it will actually be quite nice!

[sandandsea]

I would paint the cabinets a navy blue and do brass hardware. You could also paint the mirror frame navy to match.

I would do a light gray paint color with maybe slightly blue undertones.

[lessel]

Funny the comments on the mirrors. There is the infinite mirror effect if you stand in the right spot. (You can’t see in the pictures, but there’s a third mirror on the other wall of the bathtub. 😳)

I really don’t even notice them anymore though. I guess I just don’t look in them when I’m getting dressed or whatnot. Only our kids use the bathtub, so it’s kind of like that tub space doesn’t even register in my mind most of the time.

When we do our bigger overhaul we’ll put our shower in that spot and do subway tile or something. But I don’t want to fork over that money now for something we’d likely have to rip out.

ETA: Now that I think more about it, if we end up painting we might be able to just rip out the mirrors around the tub and paint vs. tile, and hang something on the wall back there or add a shelf or something. Hmmm. I’ll have to ponder this.

[aprilsails]

I like the navy or deep green ideas. I think you could pull that off nicely in such a large space and with all the light coloured tile. Looks good with brass too, and wouldn’t look wrong with the style of the vanity cabinets and the colour of the countertops, like I feel grey might.

I think you could go for a pate grey with navy and white with green and it would be a really nice update.

[winecat]

What about frosting the mirrors in a pattern that’ll look a little less 80s glam? pin.it/6nxi30d

[lessel]

Nov 24, 2021 18:52:46 GMT -5 winecat said:

What about frosting the mirrors in a pattern that’ll look a little less 80s glam? pin.it/6nxi30d

Interesting!! That would tone it down with considerably less effort.

[winecat]

Nov 24, 2021 19:25:49 GMT -5 lessel said:

Nov 24, 2021 18:52:46 GMT -5 winecat said:

What about frosting the mirrors in a pattern that’ll look a little less 80s glam? pin.it/6nxi30d

Interesting!! That would tone it down with considerably less effort.

The brass is in the fixtures, lights, and doorknobs? Anywhere else? You could spray paint all of those if you didn’t want to embrace the brass.

[lessel]

Nov 24, 2021 19:53:01 GMT -5 winecat said:

Nov 24, 2021 19:25:49 GMT -5 lessel said:

Interesting!! That would tone it down with considerably less effort.

The brass is in the fixtures, lights, and doorknobs? Anywhere else? You could spray paint all of those if you didn’t want to embrace the brass.

The brass in the bathroom is everywhere except in the shower room—that has nickel shower handle/head, toilet paper holder. Brass doorknobs are throughout the whole effing house and I’m undecided on replacing with black or nickel so I just haven’t yet.

[TR]

I would embrace the brass, but maybe just get more modern hardware/fixtures for what you want to replace and I love maudefindlay’s green suggestion.

I don’t know that frosting the mirrors will do much except move you from the 80s to the 90s.

I know you said you’re leaving the bathtub faucet, but are you open to switching out the tub handles? Those are peak 80s/90s.

[lessel]

Nov 25, 2021 8:49:35 GMT -5 TR said:

I would embrace the brass, but maybe just get more modern hardware/fixtures for what you want to replace and I love maudefindlay’s green suggestion.

I don’t know that frosting the mirrors will do much except move you from the 80s to the 90s.

I know you said you’re leaving the bathtub faucet, but are you open to switching out the tub handles? Those are peak 80s/90s.

I dunno about the handles. I mean, they’re terrible for sure. But even replacing those means opening up the front panel on the thing, I think. If there’s a way to do it without that I’m open to it. I just have irrational fears of this tub coming crashing through our kitchen ceiling one day.

[TR]

Nov 25, 2021 12:23:43 GMT -5 lessel said:

Nov 25, 2021 8:49:35 GMT -5 TR said:

I would embrace the brass, but maybe just get more modern hardware/fixtures for what you want to replace and I love maudefindlay’s green suggestion.

I don’t know that frosting the mirrors will do much except move you from the 80s to the 90s.

I know you said you’re leaving the bathtub faucet, but are you open to switching out the tub handles? Those are peak 80s/90s.

I dunno about the handles. I mean, they’re terrible for sure. But even replacing those means opening up the front panel on the thing, I think. If there’s a way to do it without that I’m open to it. I just have irrational fears of this tub coming crashing through our kitchen ceiling one day.

Oh ok. I’ve never done it so I wasn’t sure if you could do those just from the top or something.

[lessel]

Omg I just realized why the mirrors don’t bother me when I’m getting dressed. I don’t have my glasses on! I can’t see shit two feet beyond my face. Ha! It just dawned on me while I was getting ready this morning.

[orval]

I think changing the vanity mirror would make a huge difference -- maybe doing two smaller ones above each sink? I would change the light fixtures and cabinet handles. Those would make a big difference until you are ready for a big reno.

lights
www.amazon.com/dp/B093WHS7JS/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?pd_rd_i=B093WHS7JS&pd_rd_w=WIthx&pf_rd_p=54ed5474-54a8-4c7f-a88a-45f748d18166&pd_rd_wg=4nk8S&pf_rd_r=RYKPCXTQ91QNQPCQ8E5E&pd_rd_r=4838fe40-d844-4900-bf67-39562565b637&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExNTkxQVdSSVZHODhBJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjIxNDMwMkRXU1BQVE9FTVY5TCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUExMDQ1MjE1MzJHNVpMWjlVSkpDSCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1


mirror no frame
www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Sydney-Modern-Bathroom-Mirror/6525738/product.html?kwds=&option=8836813&refccid=LL7TV5PFFN4IHBKGOCZWQ2YKXI&rfmt=type%3ABathroom-Vanity&searchidx=25
mirror frame
www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/24-Round-Wall-Mirror-Gold-Modern-Metal-Frame-Bathroom-Bedroom-Decor/34494758/product.html?refccid=TDGEYFV5SKPKR5SEB666RR4KTQ&searchidx=89&kwds=&rfmt=type%3ABathroom-Vanity

knobs

www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/GlideRite-5-Pk-1-1-8-x-1-2-in.-Gold-Transitional-Cabinet-Knobs-Brass-Gold/31488720/product.html?refccid=A5SIEIM65Z6ZP3SCISNHVSXO4M&searchidx=23&kwds=knobs&rfmt=finish%3AGold%20Finish