Bathroom Decorating Ideas

In general, many homeowners don't take enough risks with their bathroom decorating. Bathrooms are about cleanliness, sure, but, from a decorating point of view, they're about creating mood. You may think of white as being sterile, but color is going to be one of the key components in creating a relaxing atmosphere. The smaller room of a bathroom allows you to make bold decorating choices with less risk of an overwhelming effect. Of course, there's always going overboard and making the room so busy that it becomes distracting, but most homeowners aren't even close to taking their bathroom decorating this far.

Create a Budget
Your budget doesn't necessarily need to have an exact dollar amount right away, but it's better to decide on a relatively specific range and then narrow down what you can do within your budget and what's most important to you. It's no fun to get your heart set on something only to realize you can't afford it. Everybody would like to have a spa-like retreat if we didn't have to worry about our budgetary concerns.

Bathroom Decorating Ideas
Doing something exciting with your walls is one of the cheapest, but also one or the more dramatic things you can do for your bathroom. Paint is relatively inexpensive, and new walls will help you generate other bathroom decorating ideas for your cabinets and shower curtains. More than just a fresh color, these walls and your bathroom fixtures can be greatly enhanced by contemporary lighting.

Lighting is one of the most underappreciated elements of decorating. Changing your lighting design is more expensive than you might first imagine—it's about more than just changing your light bulbs—but it's often a lot cheaper than overhauling your bathtub.

Repair and Resurface What You Can
Bathtubs, sinks, cabinets and tile can fall into disrepair beyond what can be fixed with a cleaning product and elbow grease, but that doesn't mean it needs to be entirely replaced. Fiberglass inlays can patch most cracks or chips, resurfacing techniques can make even the oldest bathtubs look brand new. Cabinets, too, are often great candidates for resurfacing. You may not like the size or placement of your cabinets, but otherwise, resurfacing can dramatically improve the effect your cabinets have on bathroom decorating. Repair and resurfacing what you can will allow you to focus the rest of your bathroom decorating budget and other things.

Hire a Professional and DIY
With bathroom decorating, the project can be a collaborative effect between you and a professional contractor. You may be able to resurface your cabinets yourself, allowing you to hire an electrician to come in and install new lighting fixtures. If you can salvage your walls with re-grouting and re-caulking, you may be able to hire a bathtub repair contractor to overhaul your old tub. Recognizing what you can do on your own will enable you to spend your money on specialized projects. Together you can often extend your budget into what amounts to close to a full bathroom remodel.