A $150 Project that Immediately Upgraded Our Bathroom

If you haven’t picked up on it by now, you should know that I’m a very “work with what ya got” kind of person. You could call me scrappy…but I pride myself on my final products never looking scrappy. So while we are in the middle of paying down vet bills and saving up for larger-scope home projects we have on our wishlist, I got “scrappy” in giving a little love to our upstairs bathroom (that, as it turns out, has gone a long way). Scroll through and read on to see the $150 project that immediately upgraded our bathroom!

I should start out by saying that we only have one full bathroom (at least currently….we plan on adding one at some point) in the house and it is on the main level while our bedroom is upstairs. We do, however, have a generously sized powder room right next to our bedroom, which includes the same lovely wood floors that are throughout the home, a large window with nice natural light, and a simple sink, toilet, and medicine cabinet. It is very no frills, but has a nice amount of elbow room and offers a nice blank slate to personalize.

While I have a few more plans to fully refresh this space, one impactful project I knew I wanted to tackle was adding a shelf. Since this is where I do my makeup and hair and get ready in the mornings, that sink top just was not cutting it in the practicality department. And so I thought to myself, let’s add a custom ledge/shelf that goes all the way across. And behold!

Shelf details

So here is where I got scrappy…

I went to our local stone yard and asked to look at their remnant pieces (I did this for a few fixtures in my old shop and this is honestly a great tip: these pieces are heavily discounted and great for smaller applications like this). Remnant pieces are pieces of stone left over from projects (usually kitchen countertops) that are too small to create a whole new countertop with but can range in sizes. I pre-measured the length and depth I wanted and knew I wanted a warmer-based marble and as luck would have it, they had a few great options! I ended up going with a “Bianca Rhino” marble quartzite and asked them to cut it to the exact dimensions I needed (56.75″ long x 4.5″ deep) and also requested they hone the finish to take off the shine. They did this for $140 (only took 2 days) and this is the result! I AM BEAMING WITH PRIDE.

Pro tip: stone yards usually have a remnants section that you can shop from. They will custom cut to the size/application you need from that remnant at a discounted price. You’re reducing waste and creating something beautiful at a great price all at once!

It’s the perfect depth for a candle, hand soap, skin care bottles, and to rest my curling iron/hair straightener on. But its also just PRETTY.

The nitty gritty install details:

From there, I added 4 support brackets underneath using (this will be plenty of support, plus it is resting on the “chair rail” ledge for a bit of added support), painted over the brackets to camouflage them, then did a kitchen/bathroom caulk line all the way around. Truly such an easy, quick project that has added such a beautiful, useful, custom touch. I’m smitten with the final product!

For full effect, let me show you the before. Here is the listing photo from before we moved in:

We’ve since painted the entire space in Benjamin Moore’s “Dove White” (including all the trim): these two changes alone have made a huge difference. BUT! Of course I have more plans.

What I’m planning next

• A vintage rug to ground the space.
• Sconces to go on both sides of the medicine cabinet / over sink mirror (we’ll remove the ones on top and patch it over) for moodier ambiance and more eye candy
• Replacing the wooden blinds with a roman shade
• Painting the vintage cabinet (I’m undecided on the color and am open to any and all suggestions friends!)
• A smaller art piece for over the new shelf (used something I had laying around for now)
• Premium outlet / light switch covers (since I’m keeping things pretty minimal around the house, upgrading the switches slowly over time makes such a HUGE difference. I used this one from Buster + Punch in our bedroom and plan to upgrade with either the same or these from Forbes and Lomax over time).

I’ll make sure to share the updates as they happen! xo.

Shop the Post