One of the appeals of our home is that it’s relatively new (built less than 20 years ago), so it’s pretty low maintenance. There was nothing we had to have done prior to moving in, which was a big plus when moving with a toddler and another baby on the way. Even though the style in some areas wasn’t my taste, redecorating wasn’t a priority several years ago when we were just getting settled. But little by little, I’ve been making cosmetic changes to lighten and brighten the space and make it feel more like US!

The first change we made was renovating our half bath. This is the bathroom on the main floor of our house and it gets the most use throughout the day, and it’s also the bathroom guests use when visiting. While perfectly functional, I HATED the original style. From the dark pink paint color of the walls to the ornate wood vanity, it was so not my taste. And the all-wood vanity countertop (can’t figure out why they would make such a thing for a bathroom) was not kid friendly at all. It started to warp very quickly with the kids constantly splashing water everywhere and playing with the sink. Needless to say, the half bath was first on my list to update when we decided to start making changes.

Fortunately, the changes we made were cosmetic so we didn’t have to modify any of the plumbing setup or layout of the bathroom, which would have been a much bigger, more expensive undertaking. We just repainted the walls and swapped out the vanity, light fixture, and some of the hardware (and by “we” I mean the handyman and painters we hired). 

For paint color, I knew I wanted something in the white family and eventually settled on Benjamin Moore “Swiss Coffee” (OC-45) after looking at what felt like 8,000 shades of white. I had no idea there are so many! The choice of paint color was especially hard because I knew I wanted to eventually paint the rest of the downstairs the same color, and I didn’t want to pick something I’d come to regret. I liked Swiss Coffee because it has a high LRV (light reflective value) – something I learned in my paint research process – which means it is a bright white but not too stark/sterile. Swiss Coffee is considered a warm white, with yellowish undertones, as opposed to a cool white, that has more blue/grey undertones. It can look quite different depending on the lighting, but all in all I love it.   

For the vanity, I also wanted something light (are you seeing a pattern here?), with a coastal vibe. Our half bathroom is small, so that limited our options. I found the perfect white vanity from Home Depot that checked all the boxes. To complement the vanity, I bought a satin nickel vanity light and hardware set, also from Home Depot. Lastly, I added a few decorative touches to complete the beachy vibe: wicker storage baskets for the bottom shelf (from TJ Maxx and no longer available), a rattan wastebasket, and a colorful beach print, and a taupe bath rug. I may eventually update the window shade but decided to leave it for now. 

With these relatively minor changes, the bathroom is totally transformed! It’s still a bathroom and not a place I want to spend a ton of time in, but the space makes me happy now. What do you think of the updates? I’d love to know your thoughts!

BATHROOM BEFORE

BATHROOM AFTER