Help wanted: fix my bathroom

So our home's main bathroom isn't so bad it'd earn me a spot on a house makeover show, but it still needs some help.

We just celebrated our 1-year anniversary here, and as I've mentioned before, there's still a lot left to do. Bathrooms obviously are more expensive to fix than, say, closets, so totally revamping this one won't happen for a long time.

But what can I do in the short term to make it better? I'm looking for some instant gratification. Maybe not instant. Some soon gratification. How's that?

There are actually people who like this bathroom. They come to my house, go tinkle, and come out and say "nice bathroom." To me, though, it looks like the previous owners went to Home Depot one weekend and bought whatever was on sale. Brown marble tile. Country-ish wainscoting. Circa 1994 lighting fixtures. And a huge vessel sink that juts out into the middle of the room. Vessel sinks, by the way, are horrible, especially when you're dealing with a shorter-than-average preschooler who is potty training. I admit that occasionally, when she forgets to wash her hands, I conveniently forget to remind her.

One day, I'd like to move the plumbing to the corner and replace the sink with a concrete trough sink. The wainscoting and the fixtures have got to go. But beyond that, I'm stuck. Any ideas to make it look more modern without spending mucho dinero?

(I don't mean to gripe about a perfectly fine bathroom, but I've been spending a lot of time in there lately (see potty training above) so it's starting to consume my thoughts.)

Comments

[johnny]

I would paint the waincoting the same color as the walls and buy a light fixture at Home Depot or a second hand store.

[Megan]

Is this the same Johnny with expertise in kitchen remodels? ;)
So paint the wainscoting, don't rip it out? What about the window frame? Should I paint that white, too? The walls are white, by the way, not yellow like they look here. BM Navajo white.

[Tine]

Either paint, or.... go to IKEA and buy a sink cabinet and a new sink. You should be able to get that for app $200-250. Maybe that's a bit much, but having a 3-year old myself, I can only imagine the troubles that sink can cause!

[Johnny]

Yep, it's the same guy, but now with expertise in popcorn ceiling removal and basement remodeling.
Ideally I would remove the wainscoting, but then you would need to involve dry wallers, so the cost would go up. I would paint the window frame too, so the nice marble floor would pop.

[Megan]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Tine--what I would give to live close to an IKEA. It might be worth a drive over the mountains in this case, though.

Johnny--is this Mrs. Johnny or Mr. Johnny writing? I didn't know Mrs. Johnny used words like "pop." What are you doing to your basement?

[Tine]

Ohhh.... See living in Denmark, I'm not used to have to deal with long distances ;-)

If your IKEA is anything like ours, it's well worth it to make sure they have everything you need before leaving home ;-)

[Ryan]

Hey just thought I would leave a link to our site. We can make you a custom trough sink that will look wonderful. Just let me know its you if you order and Ill give ya a contractors discount on the sink. Good luck with the remodel.