Small bathrooms come with big potential for these DIY designers. From modest makeovers to complete remodels, these “before” and “after” small bathroom transformations are totally stunning—and totally inspiration-worthy.
Whether you’re considering a bathroom makeover yourself or just love looking at impressive DIY designs, here are 17 small bathrooms that went from blah to spa with a big dose of creativity (and plenty of hard work).
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Before: Dark and Cramped
Design Fixation
Faith Towers Provencher of Design Fixation started with a small bathroom that had lots of natural light but still managed to look overly dark and enclosed.
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After: Bright and Open
Design Fixation
By lightening up the room with paint, fixtures, and tile (subway-style for the walls, marble geometrics for the floor), Faith was able to add more brightness—and the illusion of more space.
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Before: Basic and Boring
Organized*Ish
Lela Burris, an organizing pro and the founder of Organized*ish, had three words to describe her original bathroom: “Boring. Boring. Boring.”
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After: Bold and Modern
Organized*Ish
Lela went bold with her redesign, opting for black walls and unique geometric accents. She also removed the bulky storage cabinet in favor of some simple, streamlined shelving, which ended up being a useful tradeoff for opening up the space.
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Before: Builder-Grade
A Home For Design
For Katja Kromann of A Home For Design, there wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with her small upstairs bathroom, but there wasn’t anything special about it either.
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After: Designer-Made
A Home For Design
This quick makeover didn’t require too much—just a new counter top, some new paint, and a couple new pieces of decor. But as you can tell from the "after" picture, a little bit certainly went a long way.
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Before: Plain and Muted
Live Pretty On a Penny
Erin Marshall of Live Pretty On a Penny is no stranger to quick, budget-friendly makeovers. And that’s good news, since that's just what her powder room needed.
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After: Fresh and Welcoming
Live Pretty On a Penny
Erin took on the “One Room Challenge” and the results speak for themselves. In addition to painting the vanity and adding vertical shiplap to the walls, she also put up textured wallpaper and a focus-grabbing circular mirror. Her advice for doing it yourself: “Start small, but start.”
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Before: Too Teeny Tiny
Boxwood Avenue
Chloe MacKintosh, city-to-country transplant and founder of the Boxwood Avenue blog, felt there was a lot left to be desired in her small and dark bathroom.
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After: Modern Beauty
Boxwood Avenue
In addition to swapping in bright and contemporary details, Chloe moved the bathroom itself, taking up part of the hallway to reposition the space in a way that flowed better with the rest of her home.
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Before: Straight Out of the ‘80s
In My Own Style
For In My Own Style founder Diane Henkler, color is a good thing—but not when it’s pink wallpaper reminiscent of decades past.
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After: All Up To Date
In My Own Style
Color still reigns supreme in this bathroom, but this time it’s a bright and timeless blue that takes the space right into the 21st century.
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Before: Humdrum Neutrals
Pillow Thought
There wasn’t much to see in Lindsey Marlor’s original first floor bathroom. Marlor, the founder of lifestyle blog Pillow Thought, knew it needed a new approach—and some cozier vibes.
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After: Blissful and Relaxing
Pillow Thought
Who wouldn’t want to take a soak in this spa-like space? Lindsey installed new wall tile and brought it up to the ceiling for added height. She also added in new flooring and contemporary décor for a completely updated look.
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Before: Stoic and Simple
Domestic Blonde
Like a lot of DIYers on this list, Kelly Lynn of Domestic Blonde didn’t have anything outwardly wrong with her small bathroom, but she was still eager for a change.
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After: Updated and Inviting
Domestic Blonde
With a fresh coat of paint and an eye for cozy details, Kelly was able to transform this small space into a room her family actually wants to use.
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Before: Black Tile
Mademoiselle
Jamie-Lee Burns of the blog Mademoiselle wasn’t a huge fan of her bathroom’s design, or the fact that it wasn’t watertight.
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After: Marble Elegance
Mademoiselle
A contractor was brought in for this project, since water issues required it be torn down to its studs. That gave Jamie-Lee the chance to go all out with her makeover, which included a modern vanity and new marble tile.
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Before: Simple But Suitable
The DIY Playbook
Casey Finn of The DIY Playbook felt her guest bathroom could use some work to bring it up to her speed and style.
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After: Chic and Current
The DIY Playbook
There’s a lot that Casey did in her small bathroom transformation, but our favorite part is the new shower, which included ditching the tub and opting for a standup space with floor-to-ceiling subway tiles.
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Before: Drab and Dated
Pink Little Notebook
For this small primary bathroom, Sabrina Scrivo of the blog Pink Little Notebook required some major creativity to make up for her limited budget.
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After: Clean Dream
Pink Little Notebook
Your first thought looking at this amazing reveal probably isn’t “budget-friendly,” but Sabrina managed to get this look by purchasing just a few pieces and using what she already had for the rest. Her work-arounds included white paint she had leftover from another project, plus $6 worth of wood trim around the existing mirror.
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Before: Blank Slate
The Sweetest Dig
The Sweetest Digs founder Gemma Bonham-Carter wasn’t originally planning to update this basic bathroom, but a larger house renovation left lots of damage and a slant in the ceiling—plus some inspiration to do something a bit more exciting in the space.
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After: Eye-Catching Details
The Sweetest Digs
The first pick for the bathroom transformation was the pretty patterned tile, which Gemma then paired with updated, clean lines and a thrift store mirror that she painted herself.
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Before: Brown on Brown
The Zhush
When you look at this “before” image of Sue De Chiara’s bathroom (founder of The Zhush), you’re hit with a muted palette of brown, brown, and more brown.
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After: Cheery Changes
The Zhush
Goodbye brown, hello blue! This bathroom upgrade brings in new pops of color and totally new vibes, with custom wallpaper and a spruced up vanity, among other bright and shiny details.
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Before: Falling Apart
House Becoming Home
The crumbling vanity was the least of the worries of Angie Wilson, founder of House Becoming Home, when it came to her kids’ shared bathroom.
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After: All Coming Together
House Becoming Home
Angie DIY-ed nearly every detail in this impressive re-do, which included adding subway tile to the walls, painting the tub, and replacing the previously drab flooring.
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Before: Stained and Outdated
Thrift Diving
Serena Appiah, the founder of Thrift Diving, felt anything but relaxed in her not-so-spa-like primary bathroom.
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After: A Private Oasis
Thrift Diving
Three and a half months and a lot of DIY-ing later, Serena created for herself a serene space with romantic details and calming lavender and pink accents.
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Before: Bland and Impractical
Noting Grace
Jen Fancher of Noting Grace had $1,000 to totally revamp this narrow space, which was no longer suiting her family (especially her son, who at 6’6” was struggling with the too-low vanity counter.
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After: Perfectly Proportioned
Noting Grace
Yep, this gorgeous space clocked in at just $1,000! Jen fixed the counter problem by removing the top completely and raising the cabinet base (plus adding in some trim to hide the addition). She also painted the walls, added in new hardware, and put up some textured wallpaper to bring variation to the space.
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Before: Frozen in Time
This Hiatus
Ask Lindsey Elliott of the This Hiatus lifestyle blog how she felt about her original guest bathroom and she’ll tell you it was dark, crammed, and a little bit scary.
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After: Calm and Classic
This Hiatus
Aside from the window, Lindsey and her husband Tommy ripped out and replaced every detail of this small bathroom, bringing in new stunners like a homemade cedar vanity and contemporary hexagonal tiling.