Jenna Sue Design Blog

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Riverside Retreat Main Bathroom Reveal

Riverside Retreat, Room Reveals

This post is part of a paid collaboration with Lowe’s Home Improvement. All opinions are my own.

Oh happy day, one more room at the Riverside Retreat is officially in the bag!

This project has been over two months in the making—starting with a few setbacks and stalled progress, and ending with a mad dash to the finish line over the past few weeks.  Make sure to go back and check out the Design Plan/demo kickoff post along with my DIY Board and Batten tutorial to see the progression if you haven’t yet.

Meet the “50 Shades of White” Before…

Seriously. Every inch was some shade of mismatched white.

The room was a decent size but we had to reconfigure it and take away space to add a second bathroom, as this house only had one (not gonna cut it with 10 guests in a vacation rental!)

We added two walls to create a master bathroom, as you can see in the new floor plan below (labeled Main Bathroom):

Demo promptly began, and (no surprise) there were quite a bit of plumbing and foundation issues to fix.

We ended up bringing in a second contractor a few weeks ago  to get things moving quicker. Finally, some progress!

And we’ve put in long hours over the last couple weeks installing DIY board and batten, painting, and adding the finishing touches. Finally, our earthy + classic budget bathroom is ready for its debut!

The real MVP here is the gorgeous green, Valspar’s Wilderness.

I love going bold in smaller spaces—making a statement is what design is all about!

My second favorite player is this charming vintage style floor tile. It’s just the right amount of pattern to balance the bold walls and fits in well with our 1940’s home (our installer used a generic white for both the floor and shower tile grout).

There was a big debate on Instagram around what color to paint the new Jeld-Wen door. I couldn’t decide between green or white, and at the last minute I opted to make it same color as all the other doors in the house (SW Loggia). I think it was the right move because it breaks up the green/white and ties in with the other neutral warm accents in the room.

We’re also swapping out all the original door handles with these gorgeous Schlage glass knobs:

But this view? This has to be my favorite.

I scored this schoolhouse vanity light on sale for $76 (it’s still a killer deal even at full price) and the mirror was a $30 secondhand Facebook Marketplace find (it actually came from a Disneyworld hotel).

The Delta Venetian Bronze faucet was another budget-friendly find with great ratings and a simple, classic style.

Recognize this vanity? It’s the same one I used in our Heights House Guest Bathroom but in the 36″ size.

I love this vanity because there’s lots of drawer storage, and you can choose from several colors/sizes/stone tops (I went with the Carrara engineered marble top). FYI—it’s now $100 less than when I purchased it! If you’ve been considering this vanity (or any new vanity), now’s the time to jump on it.

The only modification I made was painting the chrome handles gold (I used black spray paint and gold Rub ‘N Buff to give it an aged patina).

For the shower, I used one of Delta’s most affordable faucets in a matching Venetian Bronze finish (only $130 but it’s low in stock!) and replaced the one-piece tub with a budget-friendly model.

And how lovely is the shower tile? It has a slight color variation and is porous/textured to look like brick. Difficult to capture in photos, but it looks amazing in person and I think it fits in nicely with the earthy/classic style of the room.

One neat addition are these vintage photos of our city.

I Googled local archives of old photos and found our county library website with a huge collection of free downloadable images.

Then a little photoshop manipulation to make them sepia toned, add my own text, and print them out (these are 12×16″ prints in 16×20″ Ikea frames). I think these will be a fun touch for out-of-towners to see a little history of the area.

And the $5 gold hooks that have become a staple in almost every room these days! Can’t beat the price and style.

The only thing we kept from the original bathroom was the toilet (nothing wrong with it) and window, which I painted black. I hung a ready-made bamboo shade and simple 96″ waffle weave shower curtain (new favorite long shower curtain, by the way!)

On the day of the shoot I realized I forgot to order a toilet paper & hand towel holder—oops! Those will be added next 🙂

And that wraps up the Earthy + Classic Budget Bathroom Tour! I’m happy to say that this one turned out pretty much exactly as I had imagined/hoped.

I hope our guests love it just as much as we do!

Sources + Budget Breakdown

Paint: Valspar Wilderness (satin), SW Pure White (eggshell), SW Loggia (semi-gloss)

Floor tile / $288

Shower tile / $730

Tub / $150

Shower faucet / $130

Vanity / $500

Vanity faucet / $160

Vanity light / $76

Mirror / $30

30″ Jeld-Wen door / $130

Door handle / $65

Towel hooks / $23

Picture frames / $85

Window shade / $45

Shower curtain / $27

Curtain rod / $23

Molding & trim / $250

Paint / $40

Total: $2729

Of course this doesn’t take into account any labor costs or labor materials (those numbers unfortunately got convoluted between two different contractors). But if you aren’t doing a complete gut remodel down to the foundation or hiring out the labor, you can easily recreate this bathroom for under $3k with some DIYing and a trip to Lowe’s.

The best part is, you don’t have to compromise on quality—and I’d say the end result is comparable to any $10k+ bathroom I’ve seen!

What do you think about the deep green? It’s probably the boldest wall color I’ve ever used, but this is a vacation rental so I’m not trying to play it safe! Every room will have its own unique vibe—just wait until you see what we have planned for some of the other spaces 😉

Next up: a vlog update, kitchen rug fashion show and the nursery reveal… hopefully all before baby arrives!

 

 

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  3. Simply gorgeous with a touch of luxury !!!
    I’ve never thought about painting a wall panel in green but now I know how beautiful and still bright it looks! I copy your board & batten idea for my kitchen reno but I’ll paint them in classy white…
    Please tell me which green tone did you use?

  4. Gosh it’s so good!! Bathroom of my dreams! I love how the color is bold but still allows the bathroom to look timeless and classic! Great job!

  5. It really turned out beautiful! I think I would love to be able to design a vacation rental (though I’m no designer like you are!) for just the reasons you said—you can just be more playful and bold when you’re not living with it every day, ha ha. Can’t wait to see more!

  8. I love the green! Green is my favorite color. We did the wainscoting in our rec room in Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog. I’m so glad you painted the door Loggia. When you gave us the choice I opted for green because white seemed too stark. I’m so excited to see that you decided on this color, it’s the perfect compliment to the space.

  11. Stunning!! I love how the floor tile stands out when it was really lost with lighter walls. It’s so pretty, you’d think it was original! Asking the blandest question ever, what color white is the upper part of the wall?

  12. You never cease to amaze me. I’ve been following you forever and love watching your style evolve. You and Lucas make an amazing design team !

  14. Gorgeous bathroom! Very simple and classy. I love the green.
    AND you finished it before the baby arrived!!! Happy, exciting times. <3

  16. Love your budget-friendly mindset. I have to go looking for vintage photos.

    One question, do you need a floor stop to keep the door from banging into one of the hooks on the wall , or does the door clear them?

    Thank you for taking us on a journey with you!

  18. Yes! I do like the dark green! I think it makes all the difference that you used semigloss.

  20. Hi Jenna!
    It’s sooo amazing that I’m going out today to buy SW Wilderness for the currently white wainscoting in my powder room =)
    Two questions: What color is the ceiling and are the threads of the blind you have as yellow as they appear when I click through to what’s shown on Amazon?

    Thank you for ALL the inspiration,
    Anita

    • Yay for green, I hope you love it! All of the white paint is SW Pure White, and I didn’t notice the threads being too bright at all. They are small and blend in just fine so I wouldn’t worry about it.

  21. Wilderness forever!

    Don’t overdo things Jenna, as much as I am crazy about seeing what you do, I can’t help but worry that you’ll be exhausted before your little one even arrives.
    I must say, the overall look of this rental is so classy!

  22. I’ve read your blog beginning to present and have really enjoyed it! I love all your designs. You and Lucas should be on HGTV! 🙂 Best wishes!

  25. Beautiful! This is inspiring as we just made an offer on a vacation condo in Arizona. Interested in your recommendation on bedroom wall colors. Currently this condo has sea foam green on bedroom walls with a tan colored carpet. I think walls need fresh coat and neutral maybe like SW Pure White or BM Simply White. What is your method in selecting the right wall color? I like the gold hooks from Lowe’s any suggestions on how to install on Sheetrock when the studs are not easily found?

      • I want to follow up on the question. We have plaster walls and I’m trying to avoid a demo but I want walls like that. Do those drywall anchors like the work in plaster? I haven’t had good luck in plaster with any of the anchors I’ve tried for hanging things. Plaster walls everywhere!!

  26. I love everything about it! Really admire your talent and drive. Amazing! Wish you the best with all your project and with the new baby!

  28. Such a beautiful room! I wish we could do some board and batten, but as we are in Germany bathrooms used to be tiled all around up to the ceiling and since we are living in a rental we are not allowed to drill wholes in the walls. Always such a pleasure to see your design plans come true.

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Hi, I’m Jenna and I’ve been designing and DIY’ing my way through homes since 2008. Join me as I learn, share my experience, and hopefully encourage/inspire you along the way!

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