bathroom decorating help

[ktgrok]

Background - we are selling ASAP - so this is for resale in a working class neighborhood, not our own use.

So, we FINALLY got a shower surround in, after a decade of not using that shower due to tile issues. We have a new tub as well. Turns out, tub is not quite the same bright white the shower surround is. Fine. We were sort of warned by the bathfitters people that the white they have is REALLY white.

So, shower surround is white. Tub is not quite white - not full on almond or whatever but less white? Same with toilet, and countertop on new vanity. So those three things match, and shower surround will be bright white like baseboards, door. Fine. 

But...I need to put in a small cabinet over the toilet I think, or at least a shelf or something, as I think we are taking out the old mirrored medicine cabinet. It's a bit beat up and ancient and dated, etc. We used to have one giant mirror that spanned the whole wall behind both the vanity and the toilet. It was beat up, and we took it down. Plan is to NOT put up another big one like that, as it seems the males who have used that bathroom all commented on the "d*ck mirror" - they didn't appreciate watching themselves pee while standing facing it, lol. We've been here 10 yrs and I just found this out, by the way. As a woman, that never occurred to me. Anyway, thinking we will put a smaller mirror just over the vanity/sink, and then shelves or cabinet over the toilet. but...what color? Is white going to look terrible with the not as white toilet? The vanity base is oak or something, it's a natural wood look. 

So...what do I do??? Introducing another color seems dumb to me...it's a small bathroom. I'm thinking maybe just shelves - I've seen some that are chrome or what not, like this. Basically avoiding the question of color.  But if we do that, with no medicine cabinet, is that enough storage space? Would that be off putting? Or keep the old mirrored medicine cabinet? Or get an actual cabinet over the toilet, take out the medicine cabinet, and don't worry if all the whites and almost whites match? Or get one another color entirely? Or????

We also need a towel bar on the wall opposite the toilet, and wanted to go with hooks instead of a bar, just because it is easier to keep towels separate that way. If we do a white cabinet, I'll do white for that too, like this. If we do the metal shelves, I'll do metal, like this. 

Or leave medicine cabinet, and just do nothing over the toilet and let new owners figure it out?

Photos show bathroom as it currently is - still remodeling obviously. DH was just sanding drywall in there last night, and I took these before cleaning up the dry wall dust this morning.  He's about to hang that light fixture that is on top of the toilet in the photo, lol. We still need to paint and put in flooring. 

Oh- we have leftover tile from when we did the kitchen, for the floor, but I'm worried that big 18 inch tiles are too big and will be weird in that little bathroom. If we don't use those we will get LVT or something easy to put in there. 

[mommyoffive]

I vote for no d... mirror.    

Nothing over the toilet.  As the new owner I would probably want to put in a toilet shelf storage situation since that bathroom is small.  

I vote no medicine cabinet.  We haven't ever had one in our house.  It seems like they wouldn't really hold much.  I vote just a mirror and that light fixture.  

I would also probably not really want a towel rack or hooks for our family.  Nobody really uses the rack right and I don't like damp towels on a hook against a wall.  

[ktgrok]

4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I vote for no d... mirror.    

Nothing over the toilet.  As the new owner I would probably want to put in a toilet shelf storage situation since that bathroom is small.  

I vote no medicine cabinet.  We haven't ever had one in our house.  It seems like they wouldn't really hold much.  I vote just a mirror and that light fixture.  

I would also probably not really want a towel rack or hooks for our family.  Nobody really uses the rack right and I don't like damp towels on a hook against a wall.  

Ok, well, that simplifies things, lol. But...where do people hang their towel?I agree no one uses the rack properly, and with 4 kids using that bathroom, they can't hang all their towels anyway on one. So...what do you do? All ears, lol

[bibiche]

I wouldn’t put any more money than absolutely necessary into it. I would put a small mirror over the sink and a small framed print or something over the toilet. I’d probably take out the medicine cabinet as its position bothers me. Don’t add more furniture or shelves in there because it’ll make it look smaller. New owners will probably replace the vanity anyway. 
 

eta there you go! Medicine cabinet stays! 😂 Next owners’ worry. 😉 

Edited May 6, 2021 by bibiche

[ktgrok]

And...DH says no, he is not taking out the medicine cabinet because he has enough drywall to patch in this house already, thank you very much. 

So...guess that is staying. So at least that makes the decision to not put a cabinet over the toilet easier!

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, ktgrok said:

Ok, well, that simplifies things, lol. But...where do people hang their towel?I agree no one uses the rack properly, and with 4 kids using that bathroom, they can't hang all their towels anyway on one. So...what do you do? All ears, lol

We hang them in closets on hangers.  That way everyone has them responsibility for their own and we don't have 10 towels in the bathroom but nobody claiming any of them.  And then the towels all dry.  Our closets all have vents.  

As the homeowner I would probably put one hook in there to hang the towel of the person in the shower.   But wet towels against a wall leads to mold or mildew. 

[ktgrok]

Just now, bibiche said:

I wouldn’t put any more money than absolutely necessary into it. I would put a small mirror over the sink and a small framed print or something over the toilet. I’d probably take out the medicine cabinet as its position bothers me. Don’t add more furniture or shelves in there because it’ll make it look smaller. New owners will probably replace the vanity anyway. 

Yeah, that vanity is brand new, but we went with not too expensive knowing people may want to put something different in. 

[ktgrok]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

We hang them in closets on hangers.  That way everyone has them responsibility for their own and we don't have 10 towels in the bathroom but nobody claiming any of them.  And then the towels all dry.  Our closets all have vents.  

As the homeowner I would probably put one hook in there to hang the towel of the person in the shower.   But wet towels against a wall leads to mold or mildew. 

Ah! Yeah, our closets do not have any vents or anything, so would be a dark, enclosed space for a moist towel. Versus that bathroom that becomes an oven every afternoon from 4-7pm. (sun hits that wall of the house HARD). 

[ktgrok]

And  also dislike that medicine cabinet, but I guess DH dislikes doing drywall more, lol. Oh well. 

[Jenny in Florida]

Honestly, unless you are going to do a full-on remodel (which, no), I wouldn't bother putting one more hour or dollar into this than necessary. If the bathroom isn't up to their standards, the new owners will probably just rip out whatever is there and do their own thing. (I'm speaking here as a person who just bought a house.) 

Just patch what needs patching, paint, flooring and call it good.

[ktgrok]

And what do you all think about flooring? 18 inch tile too big/weird? Or don't worry about it?

[Carrie12345]

7 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

And what do you all think about flooring? 18 inch tile too big/weird? Or don't worry about it?

People are snatching up houses with nothing but sub flooring.  Don’t worry about it!

[prairiewindmomma]

Here, the market is so hot that they are recommending that you make sure everything is in good repair, but don't bother with remodels. People are buying and then putting in what they want.  So, clean everything else, make sure it is in good condition, but don't pump more money into it.

If you were to put in a new mirror, I would have recommended that you put in a half oval one, and change out the toilet handle to match it, and upgrading your lighting, but......I think you are in the prime real estate window for a summer move. Get everything done and get it listed. 🙂

[Sneezyone]

Affordable, starter homes are flying off the market. Heck, ramshackle homes in wealthy neighborhoods are selling in days too. I wouldn’t sink another dime into upgrades. ☺️

Edited May 6, 2021 by Sneezyone

[WildflowerMom]

Some suggestions...

change out the toilet handle to a white one. 
put clear round light bulbs in the fixture to replace the frosted ones.  
Is that window frosted?  If not, buy a can of the frosted window spray and use it there instead of putting something over it.  
put a (ideally framed) large rectangle or oval mirror above the sink.   
I would do 4 (brushed chrome) hooks on the wall across opposite the toilet. 

as for flooring... what is the square footage of the visible floor?   Will 18 inch tiles all have to be chopped up? 

[Garga]

31 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

And what do you all think about flooring? 18 inch tile too big/weird? Or don't worry about it?

I have 18-inch tile in my bathroom that seems to be the same size as yours. Here are pictures so you can see what you think.

Also, I have a mirror/medicine cabinet above the sink and pictures above the toilet. I wouldn’t put a cabinet above the toilet. I have a cabinet on the floor opposite the toilet and it’s nice, but if I was you, I wouldn’t put that in. Let the next owners figure out if they want/need more cabinets. I like the cabinet I have in there, but my MIL hates it. Some people like more open spaces and some like more storage. Leave it as open space for now so it seems bigger. People like to think they’re buying a bigger house. They can add storage if they like.

There used to be a towel rack above the toilet, but I didn’t like it there, so removed it.

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Garga

[matrips]

I’d put a mirror over the sink and a generic picture over the toilet. You could always buy a distressed frame or a metal one that is the color of the faucets/knobs.

[Jenny in Florida]

23 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

Affordable, starter homes are flying off the market. Heck, ramshackle homes in wealthy neighborhoods are selling in days too. I wouldn’t sink another dime into upgrades. ☺️

We looked at one house, first day on the market, and were aghast at what terrible condition it was in. Like, bad enough that we were all trying to figure out what had been done to the place. My guess was that it had been rented out to a bunch of unrelated young people and essentially used as a party house. We had a whole conversation with the realtor about how the sellers were going to have to either do a lot of clean-up or settle for a reduced price.

I checked later and discovered they had received an above-asking offer later the same day.

[Jenny in Florida]

38 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

And what do you all think about flooring? 18 inch tile too big/weird? Or don't worry about it?

Seriously, whatever is cheap and simple to do.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Jenny in Florida said:

We looked at one house, first day on the market, and were aghast at what terrible condition it was in. Like, bad enough that we were all trying to figure out what had been done to the place. My guess was that it had been rented out to a bunch of unrelated young people and essentially used as a party house. We had a whole conversation with the realtor about how the sellers were going to have to either do a lot of clean-up or settle for a reduced price.

I checked later and discovered they had received an above-asking offer later the same day.

wow! (our house when we bought it was like that - it was rented out to migrant workers - as in a dozen or more at once - people in and out)

 

57 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

Vinyl. In this market you will probably get bidding wars so why spend on tile ?

Well, the tile is free, we already have it - it is left over from when we redid the kitchen after a flood.  But more work, I assume, than vinyl. So I guess I'll leave it up to DH. 

[ktgrok]

I should explain, we remodeled because we had water damage - we started before we ever decided to sell. Right now the floor is bare concrete, stained and such. So we are not redoing as much as finishing up after already tearing stuff out, lol. 

[prairiewindmomma]

If you have the tile and he knows how to lay it--presumably you have all of the tools and grout and stuff, I'd just use it.  Acquiring vinyl and laying it sounds like it's going to take as much time as it will for the three days to let the tile set and then be grouted.  With 18x18 tile, you aren't making that many tile cuts; especially in a roughly rectangular space.

[ktgrok]

So, I did buy a 4 hook satin nickle finish towel hook thing, just because my kids need somewhere to put their towels for now, lol. But it is VERY simpl and unobtrusive. 

[ktgrok]

So, DH watched a video on how to install LVT and now is all on board for that - will cost about $100 total for both bathrooms, but save him a ton of heavy work mixing up mortar, etc etc. His time is very valuable given his two jobs, conference/non profit he runs, etc etc so that is good. 

[KungFuPanda]

I’d do nothing. A neighbor put a lot of work into their house because they wanted to sell quickly. They had 12 showings and 6 offers the first DAY on the market. They could have done nothing and got the same price. They’re feeling like they wasted a lot of money and effort following standards that don’t really apply right now.