This guy:
You might remember the wall we were working on before we removed the old shelf and towel bar that weren’t very functional. After we spackled and sanded the holes left by the fixtures and painted the wall, it felt cleaner and fresher.
Now, with just two nails (the canvas is light), we hung a DIY painting I made some time ago. I originally made it for the bedroom, but the bedroom already had too much aqua, so moving the painting here ties the color into the bathroom without overwhelming the bedroom. I used latex wall paint on the canvas—the same paint you’d use on bathroom walls—so it should hold up well in this humid space. It was lucky that the piece fits this wall perfectly. With the tall shower curtain on the opposite side of the room, a larger piece of art helps balance the space and feels less intrusive than the previous shelf and towel bar that stuck out from the wall.
The painting’s pattern doesn’t line up perfectly with the tree border tile that runs around the room—those tiles are pretty busy—but we plan to replace that border eventually with frosted white or gray glass subway tile. When we do that Phase 2 update, the wall will look cleaner and more cohesive. It’s not that the tree tiles are awful; they’re just not our style. Replacing the border tile will help the room feel more like ours.
Here’s a closer look at one art detail. You can really see how the painting complements the space.
One of the best things about the homemade painting is how beautifully it plays with the blue light fixture. The room shifted from feeling beige and builder-basic to looking like a space with personality. That simple change made the bathroom feel more like ours.
And here’s a light detail shot—another small thing that changed the room’s mood.
We also discovered a functional issue: the door is rubbing on the floor grate and won’t open fully. So “remove the door, shave a sliver off the bottom, and rehang it” is now on the to-do list. That will let us use a bath mat outside the tub without it getting scraped by the door. We’ll also add a door stopper so the door doesn’t squash the art.
When we moved in, the door, window trim, and surrounding trim were a beige off-white. With everything else being bright white—the towels, shower curtain, and light switch—the trim looked dingy. We prefer crisp white trim, so I painted it. I used leftover semi-gloss white from previous projects, and after two coats the trim now matches the towels, the curtain, and the switch. The window trim looks glossy and refreshed.
From the doorway you mostly see the refreshed trim and the overall brightness, but once you step inside the room the new artwork becomes the focal point. It’s a simple update with a big visual payoff.
This stage of the bathroom update was essentially free—thanks to artwork we already had and leftover trim paint. It’s a great example of how small, inexpensive changes can lift a room’s look without a major budget.
Here’s the current to-do list for the bathroom:
paint the walls so they have some contrastreplace the boob lightpaint the cream trim whitehang some bathroom-friendly art- sell the current toilet and replace it with a classic white one
- add a privacy treatment for the window
- remove the door and shave the bottom so it clears a rug or bathmat (and add a door stopper)
- replace the border tile around the room (maybe in Phase 2)
- reposition the blue pendant so it hangs centered in front of the window
- replace the floor tile eventually to break up the expanse of tile
So that’s where we are with this affordable bathroom refresh. Have you been painting trim, hanging art, or adding big canvases to small rooms to bring in color? What small, budget-friendly upgrades have you done that made a noticeable difference?
Psst—if you’re following along with the project from the start, check the earlier planning, painting, and light-swap posts on our site to see how the room evolved.