I’m ready to share my beachy coastal bathroom makeover and hope you’ll find a little inspiration with my coastal bathroom decorating ideas. Our half bath sits off our multifunctional third bedroom / office/ guest room. My coastal and nautical decorating is subdued throughout the house. But in this area, I’ve given myself complete permission to have some fun and take my coastal decorating up a notch.
Take a look and I hope you find a few beachy coastal bathroom decorating ideas that work for you too. Click on any highlighted link to go to the tutorial on how to make that item.
You’ll appreciate how different my beachy coastal bathroom looks today once you’ve seen the dreadful before picture. Our home was a mechanical shop and a residence for a single fellow for many years. Below you can see what it looked like when we moved in. Yuck!
I had my work cut out for me didn’t I?
Once I picked out the tile, the rest of the room just came together. I’ve always loved sea glass and these sheets of pencil cut glass reminded me of sea glass that I used to find on the beach as a kid up on Long Beach Island. We had to re-tile the walls. Removing the old tiles marred the walls badly and replacing all the walls was too expensive.
Our walls are made out of something like cement plaster board. Whatever they used in 1951 was pretty tough stuff. It’s so hard that using a hammer alone just bends the nail. It won’t go into the wall. When I hang pictures, I need a drill to make a hole in the wall. Crazy, huh?
This is my wall and floor tile. Like that tan tile floor in the picture? That was pretty much my floor in the entire house when we moved in.
Fast forward now onto my completed beachy coastal bathroom. finishing this coastal bathroom was easy. It was a daring move for me (who usually goes with safe neutrals) to choose this vibrant blue for the walls. I wanted fun and happy and this fabulous blue shouts fun and happy 🙂 I love how it plays off of the blue frosted glass in the wall.
Accessorizing with coastal and beach themed items was the super fun part. I’ve made just about everything in this room. You may even recognize a project or two. A few of my very first posts were this Rope Edged Mirror, and DIY Copper Painted Light Fixture. You’ll see the light in the last photo below. The projects are great…but, I cringe when I see the photos and read the posts… this was almost a year ago so please just look beyond the beginner (still learning) quality of these posts, OK?
A few recent projects are my Nautical Towel Holder and Copper Toilet Paper Holder.
Taking good pictures in a smaller than 3 x 5 room is a challenge. Here’s a peek around the corner. I used matchstick blinds and added a few succulents for color and contrast on the windowsill. Love those 1950’s windows? We haven’t replaced any of the windows yet, that’s a project for a later date 🙂
I made my Beach Art a few weeks ago knowing this is where I was going to put it. It fits perfect in here and I love the colors. It was the catalyst for me finishing the bathroom!
House guests use this bath when they stay and I needed a place for their bath and beach towels. I found these pretty and functional seahorse towel hooks and spray painted them a hammered silver. They look great on our original 1950’s door.
One big difference in decorating a small space is that every item has to have a purpose AND look good. The fabric basket holds rolled up clean hand towels and extra rolls of toilet paper are discreetly tucked in the bottom. I’ve always had a thing for paper hand towels and when I found this driftwood towel holder at the Container Store I had to have it. I bought packs and packs of the happy striped paper guest towels at Ikea in the kitchen department. It has all the colors in the room. My waste basket started out plain from Walmart and I gave it a little rope treatment when I built the rope mirror.
Initially, my plan was not have beachy themes in my decorating. I’m now glad I changed my mind. I love this little beachy coastal bathroom. It’s fun. It’s small enough that my use of big color isn’t overpowering. Guests love the theme…they all kind of expect it when they come to visit anyway.
Now that I’ve shared my first completed room, I’m already looking forward to the next big project to share. We might just have something big brewing around here soon:)
What do you love most about beachy coastal bathrooms?
Love coastal and bath renovations? You may enjoy my contemporary master bath renovation and our family bath makeover.
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Shirley Wood says
I’m in love with your beach art! This entire project must have been so much fun. The transformation is gorgeous! I’m sharing this post on my FB wall Monday morning. We always enjoy your creativity at Merry Monday.
Kristy says
Hi! I love the bathroom! I am currently renovating my downstairs family room and bathroom into a coastal/nautical theme and love the towel holder! Can you tell me what size rope you used? Would it be sturdy enough for bath towels too?! Thank you so much and again amazing job!
Wendi says
Hi Kristy, Thank you for the super sweet compliment! I’m using my foggy memory here since it’s been a while but I want to say it was 5/8 inch sisal rope. I believe one of the other project posts from that bathroom has a picture of the sisal rope package I used. It should be strong enough to hold a normal bath towel easily. You could alsways look at the different rope sizes at Home Depot too. The sell them on a big spool by the foot. Have fun with your project & please post a picture on my blog’s Facebook page when your’e done!
Louise says
Beautiful! I love the pencil glass border and the cheerful color.
Wendi says
Thank you Louise! I’m usually the neutral color gal and this time I decided to just go with it and be bold. I appreciate you stopping by and thanks for leaving a nice note too!
Mary says
You have a great sense of color, design, and whimsy! I’m crazy about the pencil glass. I love the pop of color on your windowsill as well as what others have mentioned.
Question: I didn’t read how to make your towel bar yet, but I wondered if it’s a problem when towels or washcloths are wet , do they stain the rope?
Thanks, Mary
Wendi says
What a nice comment Mary! Thank you so very much…you made my day. To answer your question, I haven’t had any issues with the rope staining my towels wet or dry towels. That’s a very good point. My rope was natural color so I assume there is no dye in it. Just to be on the safe side, I’d test new rope on a sample towel first. Thank you so much for your visit and super nice comment!
Celeste D says
Hi Wendi
Your bathroom make over is absolutely fabulous. I’ve been searching and searching for tile to use for my bathroom make over and fell in LOVE with your selection. Can you tell me the manufacturer name of the glass/tile mosaic you chose for your boarder. Thank you so much.
Wendi says
Hi Celeste, Thanks so much! I love my tile too! I don’t know who the manufacturer was, but… I found it at Floor and Decor in Clearwater. They are a national chain & if they aren’t located near you they might ship product. The border is pencil tile glass and stone in sheets, and the top thin pencil bar is natural stone and so are the walls. I used enhancing sealer on the stone and it brought out a lot of the natural browns and neutrals. Thanks so much for stopping by!
April says
That bathroom makes me happy just looking at it on my phone. I’m gonna pull it up on the laptop when I get home. 🙂
Wendi says
Thank you April. It almost doesn’t look like the same room from the before picture! It makes us happy too… especially now that I’m done with one tiny room in the house. Thanks for your visit and please come back again 🙂
Marie @ The Interior Frugalista says
There’s that cute Beach Sign again! Love your bathroom makeover and all the little beachy details like the rope around the mirror and the rope towel bar. Lov’n the colors and the tiles you choose. What a difference!
Wendi says
Thanks Marie! It makes such a difference in how I feel just to have 1 room in this project house complete! I love the little beachy sign too, it’s kitschy fun 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by!
Tami @ Curb Alert! says
Wendi,
What an adorable bathroom. You made some great choices with colors and little details. I’m sure you will enjoy it for many years to come.
Tami Michel
Wendi says
Tami, So very nice of you to stop over and leave me a super comment:) It’s so appreciated! I’m happy with the way it turned out. I usually don’t go for bold colors and whimsical..but in a small room it was fun. Thanks again for your visit!
Lauren @ The Thinking Closet says
Wow, Wendi! It’s simply stunning! I love all the details you were able to work into such a small space…and it packs a bunch, too. That tile on your walls? Gorgeous! I think I would have no qualms hanging out in your bathroom all day if I came to visit. It’s just that serene. Pinned!
Wendi says
Lauren, You come on over and hang out in my beachy bathroom all you want! But, we’d probably have more fun down at the beach:) This was one fun project to complete…and I’m much happier these days with the finished bath! Thank you kindly for the awesome comment!