By Maggie Burch, Southern Living
Install New Lighting
To make sure this remains an easy DIY project, stick with the same type of light fixture as your existing one—and plan to keep it in the same place on the wall or ceiling. Lighting trends fluctuate a good amount, so it’s likely your current fixture is dating your bathroom more than anything else. Replacing an old light fixture will not only immediately update the style of the bathroom, but it will also give you the opportunity to adjust the amount of light the room receives, whether the current fixture is too bright or too dim.
Paint the Vanity
Painting cabinets can be tricky, but if your bathroom has a smaller vanity that’s less than 5 feet long, this is a paint job you can certainly handle on your own in a couple days. Like kitchens, many dated bathrooms suffer from unattractive, builder-grade wood cabinets that are just begging for a fresh coat of paint. Finish them off with some new hardware and your bathroom will instantly look 100 times better than it did.
Switch Out the Mirror
For something that can often go unnoticed, mirrors can have a surprisingly big impact on the aesthetic appearance of your space. If your bathroom has a large, frameless mirror above the vanity, you could consider swapping it out for a framed one in an interesting shape. Need more storage? Consider installing a medicine cabinet. Even something as small as buying a new mirror that’s a better fit proportionally for your vanity can make a big impact.
Change the Wall Color
This may seem like an obvious one, but even if the wall color in your bathroom isn’t “bad,” changing it up and giving the room a fresh coat of paint will breathe new life into the room. If you’re interested in adding some pattern to an otherwise monochromatic space, small bathrooms are a great place to use wallpaper. We love a bright, bold wallpaper pattern in a bathroom, and it makes for a great option above wainscoting. Looking for a really low-budget upgrade? Paint your own wallpaper, either freehand or with a stencil. You likely won’t need much more than a sample can.
