I know I’ve told you this before, but after designing Jhett’s nursery, I caught the interior design bug. So naturally, I was eagerly ready to tackle another room in our house! Even before putting Jhett’s room together, I was eyeing our guest bathroom, thinking of all the things I could do to give it a modern, western makeover.

The house we live in is from 1998. It’s not old, but it definitely has some dated features, such as countertops accented with green tile, mismatched fixtures, and natural cabinets with a high-gloss finish. Pair all of that with a teeny tiny space, like our guest bathroom, and it looks like a squirrel was running the design process. 

Finally, I’d had enough, so I decided we should enter the world of cosmetic bathroom renovations. I say “cosmetic” because we didn’t tear out any walls, move any toilets or vanities; we simply just put lipstick on a pig. I am not a DIYer, whatsoever—so if I can do this, anyone can. Trust me.  

Vanity Countertop

When it came to a countertop makeover, I knew I wanted something that would lend itself to the western bathroom I envisioned. This was probably the biggest transformation in the room. What was a green and purple counter with green tile backsplash, now looks like a fancy slab of marble—all thanks to a little paint. I bought a Giani Marble Countertop Kit to redo our bathroom. I was terrified because as mentioned above, I am not a DIY’er, whatsoever. However, I figured it really couldn’t get worse than what we were already working with. It took a long weekend to complete (mainly due to drying times for each layer), and just like that, it looks like we laid an entirely new countertop! My biggest advice is to watch a YouTube video on the kit before starting your project. I also recommend reading the directions closely, and follow all of the recommended dry times. 

As far as upkeep and cleaning, I have definitely been impressed! I wipe our countertops down with Clorox wipes when needed. Everything comes right off without discoloring the countertop. The morning I was going to take photos of our newly finished bathroom, I discovered Jhett had knocked over the bathroom’s soap dispenser, spilling red-colored soap onto the counter overnight. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to get it out, but I wiped it off in a single swipe! PRAISE THE LORD!!! Can you imagine pink marble countertops? That might have been worse than the original!

The only complaint I have is that any areas of friction, like underneath our soap dispenser, have flaked a bit. I do know that Giani came out with a tougher topcoat after I did my own countertops, so I wonder if that’s the issue. Otherwise, we’re currently 10 months into this countertop and it’s still looking good! 

Vanity Cabinets & Mirror

Our original vanity cabinets are the same cabinets we have throughout our house (kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room). They’re a really well-built pine cabinet, so it’s hard to justify tearing them out and replacing them. Unfortunately, they’ve got a natural, high-gloss finish, so they’re really yellow looking, which isn’t very attractive. I first attacked these by sanding off the gloss, and using Valspar’s Antiquing Wax; however, it didn’t take to the wood. After scraping that idea, I moved on to Minwax stain. Unfortunately, each of the stains I used ended up bringing out all the yellow hues, and didn’t do the woodgrain justice. Honestly, I’m not a fan of how our vanity cabinets ended up; but it was a definite improvement from the original.

The original mirror in our guest bathroom was flat glass, without any frame, and it was glued to the wall. Knowing the difficulty of removing a mirror that’s glued, I wanted to make things easy. I envisioned a “picture frame” of sorts, that we could hang directly over the mirror….and that’s exactly what we built! All it took were 2 D-rings, and 4 L-shaped corner braces, and voila–a frame to hang on top of the mirror! We loved this project so much we went ahead and made another one for our Master Bathroom, where we had the same mirror issue. 

Decor

Since this is such a small space, I knew it needed a minimal amount of decor pieces. Since the shower curtain was going to take up most of the space, I knew I wanted the rest of the decor to fit around that. It honestly took me about 2-3 months to find a curtain that I liked. I was on the hunt for something that had enough of a western/southwestern vibe, without being too overwhelming. Once I had that piece in place, the rest of it came together rather quickly. The curtain I picked was from Urban Outfitters, and they have a ton of boho/western-inspired home pieces that are perfect for any bathroom makeover.

As for the other decor pieces:

-The Pendleton Round-UP rodeo poster was an Etsy find. The frame is a custom frame from Art to Frames.

-The Oregon Trail Map is a piece that I scored off Walmart’s website.

-The rug and box above the toilet came from a store called DownEast Home. There is a store about an hour from us and I always find a little something when I stop by. Neither of those products are sold online, but I did find a similar rug, and wooden box.

-I accented the vanity with a vase of pheasant feathers, which is actually one of my favorite ways to add a little something extra to a naked space. 

Flooring

Three years before we renovated our bathroom, we redid the bathroom flooring as part of a larger cosmetic project that covered half the house. At the time, one half of our house had 4 different types of flooring, so we tore everything up and laid down one flooring throughout. This bathroom had the original green diamond linoleum that so many homes are “blessed” with. The flooring we have now is a vinyl plank from Lumber Liquidators. The brand is called Tranquility, and the color is Copper Ridge Oak. Each of the planks clicks together, which makes the install really simple. We’ve had it for three years and haven’t had any issues with it, in any room, so I highly recommend it!

All in all, I am so ecstatic about how this western bathroom makeover turned out. Who knew a little space could be transformed so easily? I’m already hunting down the next home project—likely my office and our laundry room (which believe it or not might be even smaller than this bathroom)!