This $500 Bathroom Makeover Uses One of 2025’s Trendiest Paint Colors

Sarah Everett
·4 min read
Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover

ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER

HOME TYPE: House

PROJECT TYPE: Bathroom

STYLE: Parisian

SKILL LEVEL: DIY

RENTAL FRIENDLY: No

Paint experts predict that shades of brown are going to be big this year. In fact, Dunn Edwards, Pantone, and Benjamin Moore all picked shades close to the brown family as their 2025 colors of the year. DIYer Amber Ingram’s (@westonwillow_) bathroom makeover is a gorgeous example of how head-to-toe-brown paint looks in a room. “Brown is the moment,” Amber writes on Instagram — and not only is her bathroom totally trendy, but it’s also timelessly functional.

Amber’s bathroom renovation advice is sixfold: Start with a plan, prioritize function, embrace customization, have patience, work with what you already have, and have fun, she says. Her bathroom makeover embodies all of these tenets.

Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover

Molding and paint add character to the walls.

“This was a no-demo bathroom makeover,” Amber says. Instead, she relied on paint and molding to completely change the look of the bathroom, and she says the latter made the biggest difference.

“While the bold paint color [Behr’s Swiss Brown] was a statement, any color would have complemented the molding beautifully,” she says. Cutting and adding the molding to the walls required lots of trial and error — especially around the between-the-studs cabinet.

Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover

The homeowner snuck in storage where she could.

Speaking of the between-the-studs cabinet, Amber added one to this bathroom on the same wall as the towel rack. “With the right tools and a little creativity, you can make big changes without needing heavy-duty demolition or advanced skills,” she says. “When I needed to check inside my walls for plumbing and electrical before building my between-the-studs cabinet, I used my phone to record a video instead of investing in a pricey snake camera.”

She also added a medicine cabinet from Amazon and gave it a more custom look by swapping out its original glass with plexiglass and a fluted peel-and-stick window cling “for a stylish, textured finish,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to modify thrifted or off-the-shelf items to suit your needs.”

Gray bathroom with white tile floor and accents before makeover
Brown bathroom with brass and white accents after makeover

A new mirror completes the space.

Where the medicine cabinet mirror once was, Amber added a new gold-framed mirror, and she also added a couple of gold hooks and a hand towel rod to the revamped bathroom. “If a full demo isn’t in the cards, focus on smaller, impactful changes like paint, molding, or upgraded hardware,” Amber says. “These can completely transform a space without a major overhaul.”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.

Further Reading

I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered

See How a Stager Used Paint to Transform a 1950s Living Room

We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here’s What They Said

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