Making Base Housing Feel Like Home: Small Bathroom Decor Ideas

Anyone who lives in military base housing knows all too well how challenging it is to create a space that feels like home when painting or major DIY renovation projects aren't always an option. Even the smallest changes or DIY project is done with the knowledge that time in base housing is temporary and any change made will have to be changed back when we move out! This usually results in living with things we don't necessarily like about our house.

When we moved into our home on base, I knew the small downstairs powder room was going to be a challenging space to brighten up because of its size and shape. The room is narrow and deep in a hallway with little natural light; so it is usually dark. Like the rest of our house, the walls are bright white and textured so any DIY bathroom decor ideas needed to include color to brighten the space. We knew we would be moving and because it's on-base housing any bathroom vanity makeover needed to be temporary, removable, and inexpensive. For just a bit more than $100 and without paint, the small powder room was transformed using materials that could move with us to our next home.

Here is the bathroom when we moved into the house. The room felt cold, sterile, and dark despite the bright white walls.

Because so many details bothered me, including the face-height towel bar nowhere near the sink, it was hard to decide where to begin. The 3-bulb vanity light was not very pretty and the sink itself had no storage or way to conceal the plumbing attachments. My main goal was to prevent that from being the first thing people would see looking into the room!

A serendipitous online clearance sale on rolls of blue vinyl stripes that perfectly fit the bathroom vanity wall width made the decision to create a striped accent wall an easy one. I love a red, white, and blue combination for a nautical-looking room; especially in a small one like a powder room.

I purchased two rolls of 10 pre-cut navy blue vinyl stripes for $28 for the accent wall.  I ended up using eleven stripes for the accent wall and although I was worried that it might be difficult for the vinyl stripes to adhere to a heavily textured wall, they stayed in place perfectly.

I found a wood look mirror at Homegoods for $32 and knew it would fill the area over the sink much better than the flat, boring mirror that was there and hold up to splashes or cleaning. We hung the new mirror right over the top of the old one so we didn't even have to worry about re-hanging it when we move. When I found a clearance three light vanity light with metal shades for $40 at Home Depot, the vanity area came together exactly how I wanted it to!

I shopped the rest of my house for the accessories we used. The blue whale was sitting in our toy closet.

By itself, it seemed out of place on the white wall but after adding metal hooks, rope, and a burlap ribbon, it fits perfectly next to the wood toned mirror over the sink.

After hanging the whale, the red lobster towel hook and red metal octopus joined in and basically turned the blue and white bathroom makeover into a red, white, and blue color scheme with a nautical/ocean theme I hadn't really planned but went with anyway.

I added one of our red gas station number signs and moved the toilet paper holder back into the nook where the toilet is because it made better sense to have it there (base housing) and so it wasn't one of the first things you see looking into the room.

The red octopus looked strange to me on its own, like the whale did before adding rope and ribbon to it, so I used an old reclaimed wood frame to give it more of a space of its own.

The last things I added to the bathroom makeover were two $18 Ikea shelves that matched the same wood color of the vanity mirror and with metal brackets similar in look to the metal vanity light. The two shelves sit over the toilet and help break up the tall, plain, bright white wall.

I added a tall vase soon after installing the shelves and took away the happy sign which made even more of a difference in how stark and bland the wall looked back there in the little cave-like area where the toilet is.

For just over $100, our small base housing bathroom was transformed with a vinyl stripes accent wall, new mirror, new vanity light, and two floating shelves. Colorful wall hangings that we had on hand finished brightening up the stark, all-white bathroom. Even though it's not usually possible to make permanent or expensive changes to military base housing, try small changes like these to make your base housing feel like home!

Red, Black & White Kids' Bathroom

  

When we bought our house there were a few things that were on my "must change" list. The kids' bathroom was near the top of that list. I wanted to change the paint color from the too- close- to- margarine shade of yellow, replace the worn vinyl floor, add board and batten trim, upgrade the oak vanity and top, and change the fixtures. Keeping in mind that we are a military family and whatever I did, another family would end up enjoying (or hating), I compromised a bit to keep the cost from skyrocketing.

It's a tiny space so I wanted to make it bright, fun, and try something that might not work in a larger room. I knew I wanted the walls to be red and loved the look of black and white tiles for the floor. We found black and white vinyl sheet flooring in a diagonal pattern that looks as sharp as tile, cost much less, and requires little more than a damp mop to keep squeaky clean. I'm not sure how I could ever put grouted tile in a kids' bathroom after having it! The wall color is Ralph Lauren Stadium Red. In some light it looks almost maroon and at other times, a bright fire engine red.

  

I searched for months to find the cross handle faucets that I was after but seemed to cost way too much everywhere I looked. I also shopped around quite a bit before choosing the three light schoolhouse vanity fixture. 

 

A key factor in the DIY process around here is that whatever I dream up, my husband finds a way to create. He used a large sheet of mdf cut into four inch wide pieces and created what I think is an amazing board and batten look and painted it Acadia White by Benjamin Moore. He refinished the oak builder grade vanity in the same smooth white and framed the existing mirror to tie in with the rest of the trim. I can't say enough good things about Acadia White for trim.  It's just a beautiful white that reminds me of cream.

The above photo of the bathroom under construction doesn't come close to showing how unattractive the shade of yellow on the walls was before they were red. It was a stubborn, horrible yellow that didn't want to be covered- even by a dark red paint. Notice in the photo below how the yellow shows through!

The before shot of the oak vanity was taken with my cell phone when we were looking at the house. My hand was probably shaking because the yellow paint was causing me stress. Changing the vanity top and sink out with a black granite top made for such a great contrast with all of the creamy white. We haven't added any hardware to the drawers mainly because I can't make up my mind about bin pulls. I like the sleek look of it the way it is.

I thought about adding some photos of the baby splashing in the tub but since we knew we were going to be showing the house in the near future, I didn't want to hang too many personal photos and instead went with bold black accents on the wall.

Overall, I'm so happy with the way the remodel turned out. It's a unique look and makes a huge impact in such a tiny space. I will miss this little room when we have to leave. Sigh.