How to Fix your Outdated Bathroom Vanity

Half Bathroom and Mudroom Renovation

Our first "flip" house has been undergoing some serious interior renovations since we moved in last December. We've been doing little things here in there, but we've finally completed our first full room(s). The half bathroom and the mudroom are officially finished, well sort of. If you own a fixer upper, sometimes the job is never quite done! We still have to get our flooring put in and buy new doors for the entrance into the mudroom, but my part is done!

Before I go any further, here's some "before" photos of the bathroom:

Half Bathroom before

Half Bathroom before

Half Bathroom before

Bathroom vanity before

 So my first step here was to paint all the white walls a really nice light grey color that we picked for the rest of the house as well (I like a classic single color throughout the house that's easy to match any decor with). Our paint color was from Valspar and called "Sleek Grey." I also re-painted all of the baseboard and trim because it was scuffed up quite a bit throughout the years. 
Once the painting was finished, I re-did the vanity. This is a super simple, though time-consuming project you can do at home to get rid of that redwood generic look that most house's cabinetry has. I just stained it a darker color after sanding the entire thing down! For DIY help on how to do this project at home, check out my more informative post 

The next step was to figure out what to do with all the ugly gold/silver fixtures in the bathroom. Here's another awesome DIY you can do in your house (EVERYWHERE). Instead of buying all new fixtures, you can spray paint (yes, spray paint) your existing ones. I can't tell you guys how much money this has saved me AND how much fun it is!! (I may have gone a bit crazy with this throughout the house). 

Here's what they looked like before:

 And after:

I'm telling you guys, this stuff SAVED my life! Not only did I do all the drawer handles, knobs, toilet paper holder, towel bars, etc. I also did the light fixture and the faucet! Having black fixtures just gives everything a more "farmhouse" or modern feel instead of that ugly gold metal look! You can use this project on ANY metal in your entire house! I've used it on ceiling fans, dresser handles, shower pieces, etc. I've even used it on vent hoods (but we'll get to that later).

The half bathroom was pretty small, so wall decor was a challenge in this room, especially because the light fixture and mirror couldn't be centered (whoever built this place put the fixture off-centered on the wall and there was a 2x4 right next to it so we couldn't move it easily). So I decided to build my own industrial pipe shelving. This is another cool DIY project, though I must admit, it can be a bit pricey. 

I stained the shelving in the laundry closet the same way, but I didn't use piping, instead I just used regular, cheap shelf brackets (that I also spray painted with the Rustoleum).

SO. Now that I've explained the entire bathroom, here's some after photos:

Half Bath after

Half bath after

Vanity after

Half bath after

Half bath after

Half bath after

my DIY industrial pipe shelving

So, as you can see, I went with a pretty classic, simple, minimalistic design here. I decided to go almost all black and white, because I just like the simplicity of it. The only (major) purchase here was the new mirror, which I got on Amazon. There are plenty of DIY ways to wood frame your own, existing mirror, but ours was in bad shape, so I just decided to buy a new one. If you're interested in where I got some of the decor, scroll down to the bottom of the post!

Now- onto the mudroom. So, again, I painted it all the same color I did in the half bathroom. I didn't have to do much in the mudroom at all besides paint. The laundry closet was what really needed help.

Here's some "before" photos:

Mudroom/Laundry closet before

Laundry closet before

So, what I did here was, again, new shelving. I hate that cheap, generic, wire shelving and I wanted to make this look a lot nicer since it is only a closet and, sadly, this house does not have a separate laundry room. So, again, I decided to do some nice wood shelving. I couldn't do the pipe shelving in here because it would have been too expensive (the piping products are quite pricey), so instead I just used regular shelf brackets. So I cut my wood (1 ft. deep from the wall) the same exact length that the separate shelves were already in the before photo, except for the one on the left because it curved, so instead I just added a shelf on the left side of the wall. I painted the entire closet the same grey, again, and then hung the shelves (after I spray painted my brackets black).

Getting rid of the wire shelving meant that we no longer had a way to hang hangers here. So I decided to attach a towel bar to the bottom of the left-most shelf! In the after photos, this is not shown because I hung it after I did the photos, but I'll take another and update this post. 

Now, we ended up running into quite an issue with this reno. Our dryer vent and vent hood from the oven (which is directly behind this wall) were both visible because instead of running out the bottom of the wall, they ran up through the ceiling and out of the house that way. This caused an issue for me because I don't like visible piping/venting at all (I think that silver aluminum is so ugly). Most people end up building some sort of cabinetry to hide this stuff, but the way it was located on the wall, I couldn't figure out the best way to do it ascetically. Plus it would have cost us much more money and a lot more time. We racked out brains for days trying to figure out what the hell to do with this ugly silver piping until finally I found this amazing product, and guess what, it's Rustoleum again!!! (I wasn't joking when I said I went crazy with this stuff).

It's a Rustoleum spray paint that's called High Heat, used on metals and heat resistant. I don't know if anyone else has ever thought to do this before to their dryer vents, but if you can't easily find a way to hide your venting, this is the way to go. Yes it still sticks out, but now it looks like some cool industrial pipe that you MEANT to show off, sort of. It's definitely a quick fix and if this was a client's home, I would've probably just re-vented the whole thing to completely hide it. 

So, here's the after photos of both the laundry closet and the mudroom:

Laundry closet after

Laundry Closet after

Laundry Closet after

Mudroom after

Mudroom after

Mudroom after

Mudroom after

Mudroom after

Mudroom after

Mudroom after

The only two DIY projects I did in the mudroom were super quick, cheap, and easy. I bought a boot tray from Walmart and filled it with black rocks I got at the dollar store. Yep. It made it look a little bit more elegant. I also took an old coat hook wall rack and took off the hooks and spray painted them (with Rustoleum again) black. 

So, that's basically it! I know this post is super lengthy, but I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope it gives some people some inspiration to do some little DIY projects of their own around there home!

Stay tuned for my next renovation on our fixer upper!

Until next time, 

Yogi Renovator 

Decor Items Shown in "after" photos:

Photo 9:

-the colorful hanging wall baskets were actually given to me by my mother, but I think she found them at Goodwill.

Photo 11:

-Black and white striped bath rug: Walmart

Photo 12/13:

-Mirror: Yosemite Home Decor, found on Amazon

-Black and white tribal print hand towel: Walmart

-White soap dispenser: Dollar Tree

-Small green wreath: Basket warehouse

-Gold candle: Homegoods

Photo 15:

- Black vase houses: Magnolia Hearth & Hand collection

-White and black hand towels: Walmart

-White pillar candles: Walmart

Photo 18/19:

-Lilac storage basin: Big lots

-Grey Knit throw blanket: Walmart

-Black nesting houses: Magnolia Hearth & Hand collection

-White storage bins: Walmart

-Blue sign & blue candle holder: I actually bought these years ago in a small local boutique in Chincoteauge, VA (Sadly, I don't remember the name).

-Blue/purple storage bin: This was actually from Homegoods, I bought some patterned kitchen bowls awhile ago and they came in this container.

-Glass dispenser: Homegoods (I put our laundry detergent in here)

Photo 21:

-Grey "Welcome" Sign: Lowes

-Wall hooks: these were left behind, and I painted the hooks black

-Green jacket: Target

Photo 22/23/24:

-Antique Wooden bench: Black Swan Antiques

-Wood storage bin: Found at Goodwill

-Lilac pillow: Walmart

-Printed hand towel: Homegoods

-Lilac pot: Big Lots

-Purple pot: Basket Warehouse

Photo 25:

-"The best is yet to come" sign: Lowes

Photo 25:

-Lilac Wreath: Basket Warehouse

Photo 26:

-White plant stand: Crossroads Antique

-Burlap Lilac: Basket Warehouse