Colour Rescue has become a popular series here on my channel and in this weeks episode, we’re talking about three bathrooms. The theme is, can we keep the tile floors?
As I’ve said many times before, if you don’t know what changes to make in your dated bathrooms, you start thinking brand new is probably better.
I’m here to tell you that decorating can go a LONG way to saving your bathroom from a major renovation.
And if you don’t manage all the details that make a brand new bathroom timeless and beautiful, it often doesn’t look much better than the dated one already in your house.
Here are some bathrooms submitted by lovely readers that are at loss for what to do with their bathrooms with dated floors.
This episode is all about creative ideas to work with what you have. As well as a hot tip for moving your bathroom forward even if it’s not time to renovate yet.
Help! I hate my bathroom floors!
If you can relate, here are some bathroom styling hacks you don’t want to miss.
Watch it here!
If you have a bathroom you’re wondering how to update without a full renovation I’d love to help! Check out my Bathroom Refresh eDesign package.
Related Posts
What Everyone Should Know about Pink Beige
80s Cream Bathroom Refresh; Before & After
Complex Creams and Why You Need to Understand Them
Hi Maria,
This was an excellent episode with so many wonderful tips! I feel that so many people can relate to the bathrooms you showed. I also love how you showed the last reader different “levels” of changes she could do, starting with styling, then at the end, how to do a proper reno that would go with the rest of the house.
Great job, thank you!
Sylvie
Pro tips! So helpful when renovating isn’t an option or one just wants to avoid the hassle 👍🏻
Do you have an opinion on stick-on floor tiles? Just wondering if you would ever recommend those as part of a ‘non-Reno update’. Thx for all you do! 🌟
These are SOOO good – I will eat them up forever! Your previous bathrooms video gave me hope for my tired-to-the-point-of-exhaustion 70s powder bath and I am currently 75% done with a no-demo reno that is cheap and cheerful and colorful 🙂
Putting hardware on these older vanities will update them a lot. I saw a knob on the moodboards for one of these, but I dont’ think it was mentioned for the first bathroom. The raised panels with no knobs or pulls are very 90s style for sure, and knobs help a ton (whether the vanity gets painted or not).
Re bathroom #2 — I’d remove that dated shower surround and add a beautiful fabric shower curtain. Being able to see into the shower, with its smaller scale tile and pattern, is distracting to my eye. Plus, trying to keep the glass doors clean is a never-ending task.
As someone who is searching for a two bedroom condo I wish the ‘bad flippers’ would subscribe to you! Some of the weirdest flips we’ve seen are fully renovated baths and or kitchens but the old crappy looking tile floors are still in place. Often with the original dirt mucking up the grout:( Usually the floor colour is completely unrelated to the cabinets/paint color/ fixtures. We’ve passed by many a good unit because no thought had gone into the reno. Paint colour is an easy change but tiles, counters and cabinet replacements are pricey. It’s at the point that we look at units with a reno budget in our back pocket so that brings our purchase budget down. Often I wish the flippers would just butt out, clean it paint it and sell it..yeah and scrub/ steam those tile floors.
Great post!
I hear you! Some flippers have excellent taste. Other flippers don’t, but are convinced they do. 😉
I wish more people would realize when they’re really bad at something and get help.
I once rented a “luxury” townhouse as the owner advertised it. The owner and his wife had made all the design choices and he told me his wife was so proud of how the bathroom was designed. It was nothing to write home about. Even worse, it wasn’t very functional. It was merely large.
I couldn’t imagine why they thought they had aced it – they clearly were unaware of good design.
I love the Wm Morris-style wallpaper, so glad to see it’s “back”
OMG I LOVED the black and gray tile. And I’m surprised! Yea it’s ‘80s and dated, but it has such Art Deco drama. A big bold painting or artwork is a great idea. The only thing I didn’t love was putting down a rug diagonally since it fights all the horizontal lines. But wow. What a bathroom. Beautiful. Jealous!
Great case studies! I especially love how Maria created so many lovely options for that last bathroom.
Don’t forget about shower curtains as a source of decorating. In my old house I renovated the small downstairs bathroom years ago. It was pre-Maria, and even pre-internet. It was only through dumb luck that I ended up choosing white subway tile for the tub surround. But I found the flooring I chose – Marmoleum in the Vivace Rembrandt colorway (multi-colored marbelized ,overall kind of rust/brick-red toned) – more difficult to decorate around than I anticipated. I still like the color, but it’s more limiting than i realized it would be. For years I never felt quite right about the bathroom . I was constantly thinking about what it needed and unsuccessfully trying things to complete the look. During the pandemic I somehow stumbled upon the 100s (or 1000s?) of shower curtain options at the Society6 website, picked out a few, and have have enjoyed the bathroom much more ever since. It’s like having fun wallpaper without the hassle or commitment of wallpapering. I have no relationship to Society6. I just mention it because I now finally love my bathroom and finally have a plan for how to paint the walls (F&B Tallow) and treat the window (non-patterned Roman shade).