5 easy steps to a luxury guest bathroom on a budget + a giveaway!

Thanks to Homewerks for sponsoring this post!

My little guest bath has come a long way from its days as a ballerina-bordered, pepto-bismol-colored “statement.”

After we moved in and fixed it up, it had its hey day as a rarely used guest bathroom, complete with carefully placed soaps and new, fresh white hand towels… you know, the kinds of things that vanish the moment you pop out a kid. Like, the instant the child emerges from you, they are gone. It’s wild.

Nowadays, it’s home to bath toys and Toy Story-branded toothpaste, but we still like to freshen it up when we have company coming, and this week we made the snazziest of updates. (Wait til you see!) Let’s talk about how to make a bathroom feel like a retreat for guests!
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1. Use soothing colors
We went with a soft greige on the wall and a silvery-blue shower curtain to keep things calm and restful for our visitors, especially handy now that visiting guests are typically fielding requests from three-year-olds to play Hi Ho Cherry O, or getting walked-in-on by curious little ones who don’t know the concept of bathroom privacy.

I guess what I’m saying is: maybe lose the Pepto Bismol paint in a guest bathroom?

And make sure you have good locks.

And maybe teach your kids about bathroom privacy.

2. Opt for a curved shower curtain rod
I used to have a job that required me to travel ALL THE DAYS, and I always enjoyed the extra space and openness you get in hotel showers with curved shower curtain rods. It’s like your tiny bathtub becomes Narnia: you open the shower curtain and it feels like a whole new world in there, with supernatural amounts of space!

3. Keep extra toilet paper RIGHT IN YOUR FACE.
Okay, tell me I’m not alone in this. You go to a friend’s house and use their restroom, but notice too late that there are about 3.5 squares of toilet paper left on the roll. IS THERE ANY GREATER LEVEL OF PANIC IN THIS LIFE?

There is NOT. You don’t want to be rifling through their cabinet, increasingly panicked, hoping to find an extra roll there.

I like to keep extra toilet paper visible, so no one has to wonder if they should cut things off prematurely for lack of extra necessities. I like a nice pile of ’em in a basket.

And along those lines, I like to keep the fluffiest of toilet paper in my guest bathrooms. Even if you go with budget brands for the rest of the house, it’s nice to have something that feels super luxe for guests.

Was that enough potty talk? No? No such thing? I like the way you think.

4. Invest in good towels.
This is another way I like to take a cue from fancy hotels.

I’m all about keepin’ it within the budget, but I have learned that I never regret investing in thick, ginormous towels. And by “investing,” I mean — I still find them for a great price at somewhere like Ross, Marshalls or TJ Maxx for around $7 each. But you use them every single day, and who can argue that a fluffy towel the size of a bed sheet isn’t a fantastic way to start your day? No one can, that’s who.

I like to keep some rolled up within easy reach.

If I could do it again, I’d go with all white towels. I think they’re just easier to keep clean and you don’t have to worry about matching the towels to the bathroom.

5. Blow ’em away with the best bathroom technology
This is what I was so excited to tell you about! See this guy? Looks just like a bathroom fan, right? Nothing special?

THINK AGAIN. That’s a Homewerks Bluetooth Bath fan, which – get this – is a fan that doubles as a speaker to play music wirelessly via Bluetooth. So as you’re doing your makeup or taking a shower, you can be rockin’ out to music from your smartphone, tablet or laptop from up to 30 feet away.

Or, in our case, you can be singing the Rubber Ducky song to your very own rubber ducky while making bathtime lots of fun.

My kids love that they now get to listen to music in the tub!

I like the concept better than a smartphone speaker dock, because in bathrooms like mine, there’s just not enough counter space for an extra gadget, and this way we don’t have to worry about getting the speaker wet and electrocuting ourselves.

If you’ve ever installed a regular bath fan, installation is virtually the same. We had to cut a slightly larger hole in our ceiling to fit it, then inserted the new box from above and placed the new cover over it from inside the bathroom. The box has easy-to-follow instructions included if you’ve never done it before.

Tell me: what are your favorite tips for making your bathroom feel luxurious on a budget? Do you make any changes when company’s coming over?

This post was sponsored by Homewerks
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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