Here I am, back with another home renovation update to summarise last year’s major project: my bathroom! It’s a tiny skinny space so it’s quite a challenge to make it feel as spacious as possible while having enough storage space for all the things a bathroom needs to hold. As you can see, the old bathroom was very dull with only grey counters and floors to break up all the white.

The bathroom project started with two very expensive, important but hardly glamorous tasks. I needed to get ventilation put in to stop mould growing in the shower area and (along with other rooms in the house) I replaced the sash windows with double glazing.

I spent quite some time planning things out, starting with the shower area. I hadn’t originally planned to replace the bath and tiles but a wee mistake led to a big crack which meant I had no choice. In the end, I think it was a blessing because now I get to have my beautiful green tiles. I was sticking to the grey stone-like floor tiles and really wanted green in the bathroom so I decided to have a colour palette inspired by nature. Though it did take me a long time, many samples and pals’ opinions to decide on which green.

I got a contractor to replace my bath and have no idea how he was able to get the old one out of this tiny space and a new one in. Then my Dad and I prepared to start tiling. Upon taking the old tiles off we realised the walls behind needed patching and priming, so between that and putting up many small tiles, things took longer than planned and we rushed a bit before my Dad had to leave for work. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to take a looooot of the tiles back down and start again. This caused me to have a breakdown with many tears but I’m really grateful for the friends that helped me through it 😥 After accepting this reality, I got my trusty builders back to finish the tiling and install my gorgeous new shower.

Getting this shower area together was a challenge and really put me through it but in the end… she is beautiful and I feel like I’m in a spa every day when I shower. (That said, I will never try to do tiling myself again.)

After a bit of a rest and enjoying a functional bathroom for a bit, it was onto the rest of the room. I decided to take the mirrored cabinet off the wall to open up more space which made a huge difference and we added some plasterboard to the weirdly low section of roof so that everything was a bit smoother. I then got onto prepping and painting the ceilings and walls. We added an extra cabinet to the end of the unit which meant a new countertop had to go in, and I love how much the wood tone warms up the room. I put tongue-in-groove cladding along the walls and replaced my wee radiator with a big towel rail one.

And voila, she’s done and I’m really happy with how it all turned out. It’s really great when my friends come over and get as excited over it as I do, cause they heard all about my woes as I worked on it last year.

And now for a shout out to some of my favourite details! I think the thinner wood-tone cabinet pulls make a big difference and make the B&Q cupboards look a lot nicer. I love my giant mirror and the green tile splashback. I am obsessed with my vintage-style green glass pendant light. And for the bath I am thrilled about my stuffed olive bath mat and the wireless lamps I got so I could have a bubble bath without the big light on – it’s so cosy!

A bathroom renovation is such a journey but I’m glad to be at the end of it. Many thanks as always to my totally brilliant Dad who somehow knows how to do everything and who I couldn’t have done any of this without. And thank you to my friends who helped to scrape grout, dry my tears and do wee bits of painting – it’s very much appreciated. I’ve been taking a wee DIY break after this but look forward to jumping back in soon for my bedroom…

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Here’s a bonus look at some new kitchen decor that’s adding some warmth and personality to my wee monochrome room. The room itself isn’t getting changed much beyond a fresh coat of paint and some fun new bits on the wall. I love looking at this shelf everyday when I get in the front door because it is so cute and sentimental.