10 Easy Ways to Update Your Bathroom Without Renovating

There are many inexpensive and easy ways to update your bathroom without taking on a lengthy or costly renovation.

It doesn’t take big bucks and weeks of waiting to transform your bathroom into a sanctuary. With a few accessories and natural elements, you can create the bathroom of your dreams. A sophisticated mix of materials, textures, and good lighting can help you create a swoon-worthy space.

Use these easy bathroom updates to refresh your space over the weekend. You don’t need a complete overhaul, only a little creativity and budget-friendly know-how. Add style and function with these 10 bathroom upgrade ideas that are trending this year.

Add Natural Touches

1. Use Organic Products

Bath accessories, cosmetic bottles and toothbrushes are displayed on a wooden bathroom shelf.

Always dreamt of having a zero-waste personal care routine? Switch to sustainable bathroom products. Conventional products contain many harmful ingredients. Start buying eco-friendly towels, bath mats, soap, and toiletry sets. Eco-friendly products are good for you and the planet. They improve your health while taking care of the environment.

If your bathroom is feeling a bit lackluster and you can’t afford to renovate it, get beautiful, eco-friendly towels to steal the focus of your space. Some bathroom towels come in vibrant colors and have striking patterns. Moroccan-inspired towels can infuse some much-needed vitality and character into your bathroom.

2. Get Bathroom Plants

Two potted plants are placed in front of a bathroom window, with the sunshine peeping through the curtains.

We fill our living rooms and bedrooms with plants, so why not add some leafy accessories to your bathroom? Plants will add a little style to your space, purify the air, and help relieve stress and anxiety.

Spruce up your boring bathroom instantly with plants. Add beautiful pops of color and lift wilted spirits. But take time to choose plants that love humidity and warmth.

If you don’t have a green thumb, you can try low-maintenance plants like the spider plant, aspidistra, and mother-in-law's tongue. Place a small plant on the bathroom vanity, hang a cascading plant, or put a floor plant in the corner of the room.

Get Organized

3. Declutter

A female is organizing toiletries in an open bathroom vanity drawer, under the sink.

Bathrooms are usually the smallest rooms in homes, and they are also the messiest. Products can easily pile up under the sink or inside cabinets. Get rid of all the extra stuff you don’t use and create a functional and calming space. Give your bathroom a spa-like feel, make it the perfect place to pamper yourself.

Here are some things you can do to create a spa-like bathroom:

1
Declutter the medicine cabinet
2
Store towels, washcloths, extra toilet paper, and tissues in the bathroom closet
3
Add a cubby or a shelf to the shower area for shampoo bottles and soaps
4
Add tray organizers to bathroom cabinets
5
Only keep a few items on the countertop and store the rest

An organized bathroom isn’t just aesthetically pleasing. It’s also easier to use and perfect for relaxation. Think function first when decluttering.

Illuminate and Color Your World

4. Upgrade the Lighting

The wall-mounted sconce isn’t your only option when it comes to bathroom lighting. If you still have sconces from the 80s mounted on top of your bathroom mirror, get rid of them. You may have beautiful wallpaper, gorgeous fixtures, but without great lighting, your bathroom will fall flat.

Use lighting in unexpected ways to add a little luxury and drama to your mundane bathroom. If the room has a high ceiling, hang a single pendant over the mirror (you need a 9-foot ceiling to hang a pendant).

Install a small chandelier off-center if you have a large bathroom vanity. A small lighting fixture adds visual interest without overtaking the space. If the ceiling is too low for a chandelier or pendant, it’s okay to go the sconce route, just keep things interesting. Add sleek sconces in matte brass or a modern material such as chrome. Think light and airy instead of dark and heavy.

5. Choose the Right Paint Color

A clean, white bathroom and white vanity is on display in a bathroom.

White never goes out of style. White hues create a crisp, clean look, while off-whites warm up dark spaces. If you want a more modern look, you can mix white with a dark accent color like black, navy blue, or hunter green. You can also let the Pantone color of the year, Very Peri, dictate your color choice.

When choosing a paint color, consider the style of your space. The streamlined look of a modern bathroom pairs well with pretty pastels, crisp whites, and bold hues. Light colors reflect light and are a great choice for small or windowless bathrooms.

Traditional bathrooms look great in almost any color. You can use soft shades to create a calming environment or brighter ones to make a statement. But consider how the ceiling and the moldings will play into your color scheme.

Pedal to the Metal

6. Refresh Cabinets

Wood cabinets are being painted a white color.

If you’d like to give your outdated bathroom cabinets a fresh new look, add new hardware or repaint them. Your bathroom doesn’t have to be all white, repaint the cabinets and rewrite the room’s color story. Choose a lively hue like slate blue to give your old cabinets new life and draw attention from less-than-trendy door styles. Bolder colors add instant personality to white bathrooms.

Swap out old knobs and pulls to quickly update your bathroom cabinets. It's amazing what new hardware can do to aging cabinets. For a modern-yet-traditional look, add brass or gold drawer pulls with clean lines. Hardware with the same metallic finish creates a unified modern theme. Your bathroom cabinets may be old, but they can still evoke character and charm.

7. Add a Bold Metal-Rimmed Mirror

A thick-rimmed. metal mirror displays a renovated shower and bathroom in the image.

A bathroom mirror has space-expanding abilities and can add style and texture. It’s often the focal point of the space and doesn’t just enhance functionality. It adds shape and flair, visually expanding the room and giving it a hotel vibe.

A mirror gives you the opportunity to add something unexpected to your bathroom. Get one with a metal rim–made of brass or chrome–and glam up your neutral bathroom. A bold mirror will make your space feel a little more luxe.

When choosing a location for the mirror, consider what it will reflect. If you want abundant light in your bathroom, install it near the window. You can also use a mirror to highlight artwork. create a cohesive space, or accentuate bathroom decor. Consider the sink’s size, the wall space, and your own height when choosing a bathroom mirror.

8. Replace Bathroom Fixtures

A top-down view of brushed bronze fixtures inside a tub.

Your pedestal sink may still be in good shape after decades of use, but the leaky faucet may need replacing. New bathroom fixtures can transform your space in an instant. If you can afford it, replace the faucets, sink, toilet, showerhead, and bathtub.

A handheld sprayer can make taking a bath and maintaining the tub a lot easier. You’ll find it easy to rinse your hair and clean the tub. To update your bathroom in minutes without spending a lot of money, simply replace the showerhead with a newer model.

When choosing bathroom fixtures, stick to neutral options. Bathroom trends can fade quickly, and large fixtures can be expensive to replace if you decide you no longer like them. You can add some bold design flair with smaller accessories and fixtures that are easier to replace when it's time for an upgrade.

Wood is Good

A contemporary cabin bathroom featuring a freestanding vanity and wooden linen closet.

9. Add Wainscoting to Your Walls

A bathroom with wainscotted walls going halfway up the ceiling is shown throughout the bathroom.

Wainscoting was a very popular mid-century modern style. Back then, it was used to cover the entire wall surface, which isn’t the practice nowadays. If you’re not too fond of tiles or simply want to break up the monotony of bathroom walls, wainscoting is the right solution. It creates a trendy, warm, and rustic ambiance.

Wainscoting can protect your bathroom walls from being damaged by water and moisture and add a design element to the room. If you’d like to cover up the blemishes of your bathroom walls, wainscoting will do a great job. It will make your bathroom look stylish and elegant.

Try Bath Fitter—Your DIY Partner

A woman stands before her unrenovated bathtub while playing around with new bathroom designs on her iPad.

Your bathroom is the most private area of your home. It's where you perform your self-care routine, so it should be a space you enjoy spending time in. If the room is due for a makeover but you can't commit to a full renovation, call Bath Fitter. Get quality that’s guaranteed for life. Choose the look and we’ll do the rest. Want a bathroom update without a full renovation? Bath Fitter has all the solutions. Thanks to our unique tub-over-tub process, bathtub replacement is no longer necessary. Choose from hundreds of custom designs and find one that fits your style. In as little as one day, you’ll have a brand new bathroom.

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