Easy Ideas for Bathroom With Tape and Paint
Budget small bathroom makeover ideas
This DIY tutorial will show you how to create an amazing herringbone design. Our DIY small bathroom makeover started with a simple beige bathroom and over the years involved into a more modern space. Here is our bathroom accent wall idea (plus a few other cheap bathroom remodel ideas).
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The "Before" Small Bathroom
This is a great example of why dark walls don't really work in small spaces that do not get natural light. Yes, there are exceptions to this rule but our bathroom was not one of them.
Our First Bathroom Makeover
We had done a simple bathroom remodel when we first moved in. The previous owners even had carpet in the bathroom and the cabinets were the construction-grade oak cabinets from the '90s.
Cheap bathroom remodel ideas
- Removed carpet and laid neutral tile (this was ten years ago so that is why we went with beige)
- Painted the walls a natural lighter color
- Used gel stain on the honey oak cabinets to update the vanity
- Added a new light fixture
- Added a newer shower curtain
- Removed glass doors but kept the original tub
Can you use gel stain on oak Merillat cabinets?
Yes, and it was pretty easy. Not only did we remodel this bathroom vanity, but also the one in our primary bathroom. We used this Minwax gel stain but have also heard great things about this popular gel stain color from other DIY bloggers.
In the above picture, you can see the in-progress gel staining of the cabinets. Don't worry that carpet got removed as well!
The gel stain was easy to use and still gave us that warm wood feel without the honey oak color. A few years later, we painted bathroom cabinets to remodel the construction-grade oak cabinets in two more bathrooms in our home.
Want to see another gel stain project?
If you want to learn more about gel stain, here is a midcentury modern dresser that was redone with gel stain. Even after the gel staining of the bathroom cabinets, I still never got around to fully making this hallway bathroom feel fresh.
Bathroom accent wall idea
After the initial small bathroom makeover, our bathroom still felt pretty blah. It was better than the dark dungeon from the previous owners, but we knew we still needed to add a little something special with paint.
Why did we choose to paint?
Honestly, at the time, a painted accent wall was the cheapest solution for us. I could also do this when our newest baby was napping and that is a win in our book.
Do you need help deciding what color of paint to use?
We recently just tried Samplize and it totally beats having to buy individual paint samples. These 9″ x 14.75″ samples will get shipped directly to you and save the hassle of clean-up (we loved that). Check out the brands you can get here. You can also check out our post, see our review and hopefully get the answers to those frequently asked Samplize questions.
We love painted geometric accent walls and knew a chevron or herringbone pattern in a nice gray color would work out well.
How to paint a bathroom accent wall
Buying Paint Tips!
Here is a tip about Sherwin Williams or most other places you will buy your paint. I had an old gallon of paint in my basement that I bought during one of their 40% off sales. I never had it tinted. Once I decide on "Polished Concrete" I was able to take my old gallon to the store and they tinted it for free! It is always great to use what you have and really helped me stay on budget for this project! We discuss more gray paint ideas in this post.
If you want to have a different color than the current wall for your tape lines, you will need to paint that. After you have your base coat, you are going to tape out your herringbone design.
How to create a painted herringbone accent wall
1. Decide on how far apart you would like your designs. Our lines in my herringbone design come together at the point every 7″ down and 12″ apart.
2. Measure 12″ across your wall. Mark in 3 places. Line frog tape up in order to get straight lines vertically. Keep the tape straight and pull it tightly when mapping out your herringbone design. This will help you get clean and crisp lines.
2. For each line, measure 7″ down and tape diagonally from one to the other. So your first diagonal line starts at the ceiling and goes down to the 7″ mark on the next line.
3. Keep repeating to make the herringbone pattern. REALLY PRESS THE TAPE! Use your fingernail to really make the tape stick and I also suggest that you take the foam roller (without paint) and run it over the tape. I have also used an old credit card before to push the tape on nice and flat.
4. Once the herringbone design is completely tape, use a small roller to paint the whole surface. You may need two or three coats.
5. Once rolling and trimming are done, it is time for the FUN! I like to peel the tape when the paint is dry, but I do not let it dry too long. Some painters will want you to wait a day, but I am just too impatient for that!
6. Carefully peel off the tape. I find that pulling straight with design can help. If there are any bleeds, you can always touch up the design with the base coat. I did have to touch up a few spots, especially along the ceiling.
7. Clean-up (My least favorite part) and ENJOY your new bathroom accent wall!
8. Have a blast decorating your new bathroom or space that you chose to TRANSFORM with a painted accent wall.
Add Modern Bathroom Shelves
Here we made these industrial shelves with a bit of help by buying these industrial pipe flanges from Amazon. I love how they look against our DIY herringbone accent wall. It ends up being much easier to have everything we needed for the pipes for the industrial look to be sent to us.
I had priced out the pipe fittings at the local big box store and looked at a lot of industrial pipe tutorials. However, instead of searching for the parts, we thought it would save us time if we just had the parts sent to us.
Read more: 40+ DIY Shelving Ideas For Any Home Decor Style
We did have to buy and stain our own wood with our favorite wood stain color. This red mahogany stain matches pretty well with the red elm gel-stained bathroom cabinets.
These bathroom shelves turned out way nicer than anything we could have bought. We also were able to make two towel racks out of the same $25 piece of wood bought at the local lumber supply.
We even used these industrial flanges to make a corner shelf for under our TV in our living room. Once you find a product you love, you keep using it!
A little elbow grease and you can make any room a special place in your home!
Other budget bathroom makeover ideas
- Upcycle all jars to use for storage
- Create your own drying hooks
- Create your own bathroom shelves (here are thicker industrial ones)
- Redo your old vanity
- Paint a small bathroom accent wall
Cheap bathroom shelf decor ideas
Originally I had planned on only talking about how to paint this gray herringbone wall. Then I realized that we also have other budget-friendly decor ideas that others might want to know.
Upcycle old jars and items for shelving decor or organization
Here we used old ghee butter jars to help store q-tips and other bathroom essentials our guests might use. The jars were the perfect size to even store hotel samples if someone needs something super quickly.
Create your own drying hooks for towels & hand towels
Instead of purchasing a hook unit, we decided to make matching hooks for our guests to hang their towels. Using the leftover wood from the shelf, you can stain it that same color and add hooks.
You can find a variety of hooks or hardware at places. I found these hooks in the clearance aisle of HomeGoods, but I do love the selection at places like World Market (like using these knobs instead of hooks) or even like these hooks on Amazon.
Instead of a classic towel holder, we used a square wood piece to add a hook for hand towels next to the sink. Consider using supplies you already have. This will keep your bathroom DIY projects completely budget-friendly.
Follow us on Pinterest, Youtube or Facebook for more DIY inspiration!
We love our painted accent wall in our small bathroom (as well as all the other bathroom DIY projects)!
Source: https://thediynuts.com/herringbone-accent-wall/
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