Help me redo my Guest Bathroom

[katydid1971]

So this is my down stairs guest bathroom. As you can see its pretty ugly. I am going to repaint it this summer but I'm not sure what to do with the vanity. The existing vanity has quite a bit of water damage from when my kids wash their hands it the water drips down the front of the vanity. I also want to get rid of the monster huge mirror (who wants to be able to see their bottom as they're sitting down to the potty?) and the weird counter the goes over the toilet. I also want to get rid of the college apartment grade vinyl flooring. Here are the things I am considering:

1. Paint the vanity a white-ish get a new granite top new flooring paint the walls.

2. Get a new vanity with granite top, new flooring, paint the walls.

A remodel of our bathroom would not do much for the value of our house so I really don't want to put a bunch of money into it. I'm also afraid that if I put in a new vanity that my kids will just ruin it in another couple of years and I will be back where I started. Replacing the counters on the old vanity isn't cheap either so is it a waste to put new counters on the old vanity. I also really like the amount of storage there is in this vanity and so far I haven't found another with as much storage. Any advice, suggest, input of any kind would be so appreciated.
Thanks so much.

[ThreeofUs]

Hmmm... I agree that painting the vanity would probably go far toward helping in the bathroom. The top looks to be in good condition, though, so why replace it?

I think I would paint the vanity something high-gloss (probably white), and change the door hardware to match the sink, and then take a look at the bathroom. That might be all it needs.

[DietCokeLover]

I would sand the cabinets and then stain them a darkish stain. Lay some new flooring and paint the walls.

[bubbaray]

If the vanity tiles and sink/facet are in good condition, I'd paint the vanity cabinets white. I'd change the floor to coordinate with whatever color you want to put on the walls. I wouldn't go dark with the vanity cabinet as I think it would clash with the door trim and baseboards (which from the last photo, look to run through the house).

[katydid1971]

Originally Posted by bubbaray

If the vanity tiles and sink/facet are in good condition, I'd paint the vanity cabinets white. I'd change the floor to coordinate with whatever color you want to put on the walls. I wouldn't go dark with the vanity cabinet as I think it would clash with the door trim and baseboards (which from the last photo, look to run through the house).

Yes the oak trim runs throughout the house. I like the look of dark cabinets but the bathroom has no natural light and always feels very dark inside which is why I painted the very bright blue before. If I paint I'll go with white-ish (maybe antiqued, maybe cream).

You guys think the white tile counters aren't super ugly? Even the wood trim edge and the weird jog that goes over the toilet? I hate the super huge mirror and really want it gone. Its very weird seeing your full self as you step out of that tub etc. Our guests use this as their bathroom when they visit.

Thanks for the input so far and I would love to hear what others think, I'm not really good at this stuff.

Funny note, when I just came in to check what people have responded DH walked by and wow that looks a lot like our bathroom.

[ohiomom1121]

We had a horrible, small bathroom in our last house (and it was the main one!). We put down peel and stick tile that were gray and tans...kind of a stone look (didn't want to put money into real tile since we were selling and already losing money). Painted the cabinet black, and put a really light tan on the walls (Kilim Beige). We painted the medicine cabinet black too and it looked great against the light walls. If you guys are handy you could build a frame around the mirror to make it look more modern, unless you want to just get rid of it when you paint and put up a framed mirror. I got a nice white shower curtain and it was like a whole new bathroom. The black gave it a modern look. Oh and we put up big bar silver pulls. Those make a huge difference as well for little money. If you paint it white and keep the white tile and white sink there won't be much contrast. But if you go with granite and the white it would be very pretty. I would definitely get rid of that part over the toilet if you redo the top though! Good luck!

Framing a mirror:
http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how...ror/index.html

http://www.billiemonster.com/blog/ar...h-wood-molding

Kind of what I'm talking about...found in the Ikea link. Our walls were lighter though.
http://www.discountbathroomvanity.ne...oom-vanity.jpg

[BabyMine]

Check out these ideas from Ikea.
http://www.google.com/search?q=ikea+...w=1272&bih=653

[bubbaray]

Not sure if this link will work, but from that Ikea page, check out this one:

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-xzv7BN8XLI/SneK49AreXI/AAAAAAAAGM0/6KGDDq0Rnuo/s400/ss_tradbath_ss5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://asborgir.blogspot.com/2009/08/traditional-bathroom-ideas-traditional.html&usg=__AR2pyecYj7TehSeE76qBR42XU80 =&h=300&w=300&sz=14&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=NBT zrU10X7rUdM:&tbnh=161&tbnw=134&ei=-F_1TY_CC8nFgAfNh4mhDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dikea%2Bbathroom%2Bideas%26hl%3Den%26c lient%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26biw%3D1147%26bih%3D757%26output%3Dim ages_json%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=r c&dur=312&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:0&tx=75 &ty=131

Wow, holy huge link batman.

Anyway, I would go with a neutral wall, the lights are already similar. White vanity, keep the white countertop, sink, toilet, bath. Lighter, neutral floors and neutral & white accents. I like the smaller mirrors (round or semi-round like in that photo) with an accent frame.

If you want to spend the money for a new vanity, its worth it to just gut the bathroom entirely. If I were to do that, I would skip the tub, put in an awesome tiled walk-in shower and possibly reconfigure the space entirely.

[jent]

I agree that repainting would give a nice update but keep costs down. I'd vote though instead of painting the vanity white (which runs the risk of being a little too much white, IMO, though I did like Melissa's link), I'd try a darker color- either very dark, like black or espresso, or a more medium color, like taupe or gray (I mean like in this link-- see the after picture-- even though it's a kitchen instead of a bathroom, see how the gray on bottom works with the white on top? http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chic...gn-blog-148697)

I thought of framing the mirror too, if you don't want to DIY it, there's a new ready-made frame you can buy: http://www.mirrormate.com/

I get that the mirror is annoyingly large (what were they thinking?) but if you took it out & didn't change the counter, it might look strange to have that lip of counter over the toilet. I would just balance out how long you'll have to live with it versus how expensive changing the countertop would be. Maybe you can get a deal on a vanity top?

[Indianamom2]

I've been eyeing this product from Rustoleum for redoing our perfectly good (but boring oak) vanities:

http://cabinets.rustoleumtransformations.com/

There are light and dark finishes and it looks more professional than just painting over the wood. (Well, if it works like it's supposed to, anyhow!)

I do think I'd get rid of the little portion of the counter over the toilet, but if that is going to cause you to have to change the counter, then maybe not. I like the idea of a mirror with a frame (would like to do this in our bathrooms too), and maybe just choose an updated vinyl tile.

Good luck. It all seems so easy...until you actually have to make the decisions and do it!