Let me start by saying that I genuinely love old homes and believe in preserving their historic charm whenever possible. That said, I also believe that our homes should feel personal and reflect who we are today. With this no demo bathroom remodel, my goal was to preserve the charm and character that makes it special, but give it a look that felt more ‘us’… and without a full bathroom renovation.
Old homes tell many stories, and I never want to erase that. This home will continue to tell its story, just with a chapter that reflects our time in it. If you’re looking for a creative way to update your outdated bathroom, I hope this bathroom makeover inspires you!
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No Demo Bathroom Remodel YouTube
If you’re a more visual person, or want more views of this vintage tile bathroom makeover, I have a YouTube video series too! In the description, you’ll find links to all the other videos!
Planning the Design
This was the starting point! We lived with this retro bathroom as is for a year before we decided to make any changes. After considering all sorts of creative ideas, like this concretta method, I decided paint would be one of the easiest ways to transform this small space. After all, I really do love the the style of vintage bathroom tiles!
The hardest part of the planning process was choosing a color to paint the tiles. I went back and forth between doing colorful tiles (I love color, but the green and purple combination wasn’t for me) or something neutral. These were the two mood boards I came up with:
I went with the first mood board, although I did make changes in regards to the bathroom walls and decided not to use wallpaper. (More on that below!)
For hardware, we swapped almost everything out for polished nickel which gave a really luxurious look! We replaced the shower head, faucet, and P-trap. I really wanted to do a sink skirt for the pedestal sink, but this is such a tiny bathroom (22 square feet!) that it just wouldn’t work. It would make this small space feel even smaller.
Adding wood tones brings in a lot of warmth so that was also important to me! I did this by getting a new toilet seat (which I love) and making a wood frame for our medicine cabinet.
Other than those changes, this entire no demo bathroom remodel was done using just paint 🙂
Painting the Tile
The brunt of the work for this bathroom makeover was definitely painting the tile! It was really important to me to do this in the best way possible so that it lasts for years to come.
Floors
Our bathroom floor actually isn’t original tile — after taking off the transition piece, we noticed that the hexagon tile was layered on top of the original basketweave tile!
Either way, the plain white tile wasn’t doing it for me. All the floor tiles in the rest of the house are white with black accents, so I wanted to keep that look consistent. To do this, I used black floor paint on just the square tiles! It was definitely tedious, since I had to avoid the grout lines, but man did it give these old tiles new life. Did it take a long time? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I love how it turned out. It’s just a more classic style!
Full tutorial: How to Paint Floor Tile
Wall and Shower Tile
Wait, can you paint shower tile? The answer is yes! But you’re not going to want to take the easy way out with this one. No skipping steps. The prep work and products are crucial if you want the best results.
Most of our old bathroom tiles were in pretty good shape, but some definitely needed repairs. Now they look like brand new tiles. You can get all the details on repairing and painting ceramic tiles in my blog post below! Spoiler alert: I didn’t use tile paint 🙂
Full Tutorial: How to Paint Shower Tile
Radiator
Our radiator was in really rough shape. It was by far the worst looking radiator in our house so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Until I got started, that is. This job was messy and tiring. But again, worth it. A fresh coat of paint made a huge difference.
Full tutorial: How to Paint a Radiator
DIY Wallpaper
For the bathroom wall, I’d originally planned to use a peel and stick wallpaper, but I ended up pivoting and hand painted my own wallpaper! We only have a really tiny window and no exhaust fan, so I was worried about mold.
Honestly, I’m glad it worked out this way. When you paint your own wallpaper, you choose the patterns and the color schemes!! It does take a lot of time to do, but small spaces like a powder room would be a great place to try this method. I decided to do a floral wallpaper with a cottage look which added to the vintage vibe in here!
Full tutorial: Hand Painted Cottage Style Wallpaper
Medicine Cabinet Frame
Most older homes have medicine cabinets in the bathrooms. For us, it was our only form of storage so I really didn’t want to get rid of it. Not to mention, this is a no demo bathroom remodel 😉
But, a great way to elevate your medicine cabinet is to make a frame for it! You can go any direction you want with this, but I decided to make an ornate wood frame to keep up with the vintage feel. I stained it mahogany to tie in with the wood toilet seat and the maroon tile color I used! This made the biggest difference and become a focal point in our bathroom.
Full tutorial: Medicine Cabinet Makeover
Vintage Tile Bathroom Makeover- Before + Afters
I debated whether or not to add any window treatments in here since they weren’t really necessary and there’s already such minimal natural light, but I went for it anyway! These sheer cafe curtains are perfect in here and just create a more inviting atmosphere.
Wanting more decorative accents in here, I hung up some art but then quickly took it down. I’m just loving the simple design of my DIY wallpaper and want to let it shine… for now anyway 😉 Technically, I’m not fully finished with this bathroom because I still have to add a towel hook and a toilet paper holder. I’ll be sure to update this post when I do!
I’m glad I kept the light fixtures in here! They’re so charming and definitely align perfectly with the cottage-style bathroom I was going for. However, I did give them a new look by painting them the same color as the radiator!
I have to say, this is my favorite no demo reno yet! It just feels like en entirely new bathroom now and we didn’t have to deal with any major renovations.
Sources
Wall Sconces (Original)
I hope this no demo bathroom remodel inspired you! Please let me know if you have any questions and as always, thank you for being here!
Elisha
