Help make this bathroom palatable

10 months ago

Help us make this palatable, folks. We affectionately refer to it as our "Barbie Dreamhouse bathroom". 😄
We've purchased a condo and are essentially stuck with this pink bathroom until we can afford to remodel it in several years. Looking for ideas on how to decorate it tolerably in the meantime. Some things to note...
*For now, we cannot remove the wallpaper, tile, vanity, or flooring.
*I see our biggest challenge as the mismatch of pinks in the wallpaper and tile.
*The flooring has brown in it.
I'm guessing we'll be stuck with some sort of
pink and brown color scheme. I could paint the vanity but we'd still be stuck with the beige counter so that would probably look odd.
Would love to hear your decorating ideas on this. We don't have to love it (or even like it, if I'm honest) but we''d rather not hate it like we do now.

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Comments (9)

shirlpp
10 months ago
Why can't you remove the wallpaper?

That is the first thing that needs to go. Then paint the pink tiles - white. Replace the shower curtain, medicine cabinet and lighting.
lharpie
10 months ago
I actually don’t mind the pink tiles, but the wallpaper has to go. removing wallpaper and painting can be a diy job…
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April Pitz
Original Author
10 months ago
Again, we can't remove the wallpaper. We know it needs to go but removing it now is absolutely not an option (financially) because there is likely asbestos in the adhesive and removing it will be costly.
lmckuin
10 months ago
What about painting over the wallpaper? If it’s over asbestos, then I’m guessing the eventual effort to remove it is complex enough that a layer of paint over it won’t make it any harder than it will already be (I’m no expert so someone else might weigh in with more info). Also new vanities really aren’t expensive at all. So paint walls, new (inexpensive) vanity, new light, plain white shower curtain and a fluffy white mat.
shirlpp
10 months ago
https://www.homedepot.com/c/ah/how-to-paint-tiles/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90142305776
Rho Dodendron
10 months ago
Usually I say do NOT paint over wallpaper because the walls will be ruined. If you think there is asbestos under it you will need to remove some of the wall anyhow. SO

knock your socks off, spend $65.00 and repaint over the paper.
kazzh
10 months ago
I’ve read of paper being painted over, usually being found in the renovation to update! So it has been done and sounds like a solution for the moment. Would suggest giving the tile grout a good clean before painting to see if it helps the tile look better, it might reduce the need to consider painting tile.
Wall colour - have you thought about a grey? Thinking to tie the shower surface into the room. White is the obvious choice, but grey might work better with the pink.
PRO
Ward 5 Design
10 months ago
Hi April! We've been down this road a million times, and I have several suggestions for what you can do to make this more tolerable until you can afford to renovate. The key to making this bathroom look a little less mismatched is to really lean into the style that's already there. You simply cannot fight the style in here, the pink tile on the walls and brown tile on the floors are way too different to make them look good together. I think you need to roll with the eclectic look that you have in here, and just go full blown Barbie Dream House Bathroom. This bathroom gives me funky 70's vibes, so the first thing you need to do is find the most ridiculously fun gold faucet and vanity light that you can find. The key is to do 1-for-1 replacements of things that can be removed, so the lighting, the mirror, the hardware (knobs, towel rod, hand towel ring, etc.) should all be super over the top in either gold, brass, or chrome. Then, you need to find some small wall art that incorporates more of the brown from the floor. You can leave the vanity as is to have that hint of brown, but I would paint it another shade of pink (so the pinks look intentionally mismatched) and put on some fun handles. Lastly, incorporate gold or something 70's into the shower curtain. This room will be over the top, but I think thats the only way!

Whenever you do consider renovating, I recommend you outsource your interior designs, to help you decide the look you want, without needing to hire a designer. Our new brand, The Spec Binder, has bathroom designs that are contractor-ready, with all the specifications and materials already pre-selected to achieve a certain look.

www.thespecbinder.com

Wishing you the best on your renovation!
palimpsest
10 months ago
This is one of those situations where the previous owner updated by pretending the old finishes weren't there and just chose whatever they felt like for the new shower effectively ruining how either half of the bathroom looks and still leaving you with an entire bathroom to remodel anyway, because you are never going to match those shower finishes if you tried to renovate the Other half by itself. (And the two shower tiles look just as bad with each other as they do with the pink)

This is why I almost always advise against doing "updates" or "refreshes" to "bring my dated bathroom into the 21st century" when people just want to change a couple things. This gets me the reputation of being a purist a___ who wants everyone to live in a museum. But this is a perfect example of why I advise against it.

If they weren't going to do the whole thing they could have tried to source pink tile or just used plain white everything. The pink, except for the wallpaper actually would have been less offensive than the new stuff they forced on it.

In any case I think you are stuck at this point painting over everything a white that matches the new tile. It will be a shame to lose the interesting original floor when you do the full remodel, but it would be difficult to find modern finishes to work with it

Help make this bathroom palatable

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shirlpp

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Help make this bathroom palatable

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