If there’s one thing that makes me feel like I’m living in a hotel, it’s a blank bathroom wall. Crisp and sterile, bare walls scream temporary to me. I noticed this when I moved into my current apartment two years ago.
The walls were bone-white subway tile with lovely big windows, good lighting, and a flattering mirror. But other than that? Nothing.
No paintings, no towels, not even a lone hook. The issue was that I was renting.
I loved my landlord but digging holes in the wall on move-in day wasn’t really an option.
So I improvised. And the truth is: some of my favourite bathroom hacks have come from living in rental bathrooms. You can make a bathroom feel like it belongs to you without making any permanent changes.
Enter: removable wallpaper. I’d been saving an AD botanical wallpaper for months – lovely lush green leaves on cream background. But every time I looked at it online I talked myself out of buying it.
It was too permanent; what if I hated it up? What if it bubbled? I chickened out until I found myself in the store buying one roll (£25-ish) and sticking it behind my toilet.
Life-changing. Suddenly my boring bathroom had some serious personality. People started complimenting my “nice bathroom” instead of taking stink-free showers and bouncing.
The only thing to keep in mind with peel-and-stick wallpaper is that you need to prep the wall properly. Learn from my mistake and give it a wipe down with sugar soap first, let dry, then apply slowly, smoothing out air bubbles as you go. I buy a plastic wallpaper smoothing tool but trust me when I say that a credit card works great too.
When I moved out last year it peeled off the wall clean as a whistle – no sticky residue or damage. Wallpaper isn’t everyone’s style though. When I showed my friend Sarah mine she scoffed and said that she couldn’t deal with that much busyness in her tiny powder room.
Point taken. Instead she hung a gallery wall in her bathroom, securing prints and photos to the wall with Command hangings strips – you know, the 3M ones that promise to hold up your frames without damaging your walls when you take them down. I was sceptical until I saw her handiwork.
She framed vintage botanical prints from Etsy that she downloaded on her computer and printed at home for less than £10 total, interspersed with small mirrors in all shapes and sizes. Round, hexagonal, one sunburst frame she found at the thrift store for £3. Not only do the mirrors bounce light around the small room making it feel larger, but they break up the busyness of the prints.
Total cost for her whole shebang? Less than £40 and she finished it all in one afternoon. The only tip I have for gallery walls in bathrooms is to think about moisture.
When I first moved into this apartment I made the mistake of framing normal paper prints and hanging them without any protection. Within months they started to curl at the edges from the steam each time someone showered. No good.
Now I either laminate everything myself or buy prints that are professionally printed on photo paper. It costs a bit more upfront but will look nice 10 years from now. Ok, let’s talk floating shelves.
They’ve been my jam in every bathroom I’ve lived in. I have three tucked up next to my window, secured to the wall with heavy duty Command strips (7.5kg weight limit each!). I keep scads of little plants on them – pothos, snake plant, zz plants that seem to love the humidity better than anything.
My current stash lives in tiny plastic pots from the craft store. The green brightens up all the white paint and porcelain and makes the whole room feel fresher. Bonus tip: laying those shelves out and styling them can take some trial and error.
When I first hung mine I went way too heavy. Big ceramic pots with orchids; oversized glass bowls. One morning at 6AM on a Tuesday my shelf came crashing down waking me up from a deep sleep and breaking my favourite soy candle.
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Trust me, you don’t want that panic. Lesson learned. I now recommend only using lightweight materials for hanging decor in your bathroom: think plastic pots or cache pots, rolled towels, reed diffusers.
For my landlords with truly paranoid landlords, might I suggest tension rods? I have one stretched between two walls in the shower area dangling a beautiful eucalyptus wreath. Fake eucalyptus.
I learned my lesson with trying to shower with a fragile bunch of real greens in that shower. It adds a hotel-esque vibe without putting a single hole in the wall. A tension rod hack?
Hang lightweight art with them! I strung a thin piece of wire across two points and hung wee prints and photos from it like a little gallery. It looks curated and artsy rather than like you’re too scared to drill holes.
Ok last tip: mirrors. Another obsession of mine. Nothing updates a bathroom like a trio of colourful frames (Command strip-hanging, obvi).
Instead of one big mirror I hung three different-sized round mirrors in an asymmetrical line along one wall. The varying sizes and frames mix better than three matching mirrors ever would. Two I got from IKEA (£12), another was from a car boot sale (£2) but I also have one that I love and that was more pricey online (£35).
But notice how the gold/yellow frame of that expensive one ties the other two’s frames together? Having all three from the same store didn’t work nearly as well as this mish mash. Pro tip: looking high and low for art can yield the best (and most affordable!) results.
Illumination! Bathrooms are usually lit with terrible overhead lighting and that’s no good for making your walls look good. I hung battery-powered LED strip lights behind my shelves so that whatever decor I put there would glow.
It worked like a charm. The strips were about £20 and have lasted me months on one set of batteries. I replace them when I remember – which isn’t as often as I like to admit!
Paint colours, I’ve learned, can be a lot bolder in bathrooms than you’d think. Mine are currently painted (with full fight from and eventual surrender from my landlord, bless his heart) a dusty pink colour. Sounds weird right?
But with all the white toilets sinks it actually looks luxe. And it warms up the whole space. If you can’t paint, large swatches of fabric work too!
I once hung an enormous scrap of vintage fabric from my collection using tiny Command hooks across the top of it. It added tons of colour and pattern without any commitment. Bonus: I took it with me when I moved.
My biggest takeaway from customising bland bathroom walls?
Don’t be precious about it. Sure, you want it to look nice but remember that this is a room that gets full of humidity, sprayed on with soap and toothpaste, steamed with daily showers.
Pick materials and hanging methods that can stand up to life. Leave the delicate watercolour paintings for the bedroom. In your bathroom, go for sliced-in-half photos, laminated art prints, mirrors that don’t mind getting water spots.
Psst… don’t overthink it. Allow yourself to hang things you like little by little. I didn’t go out and re-wallpaper my whole bathroom after seeing that first roll behind the toilet.
The wallpaper led to hanging plants on shelves, which led to a gallery wall of mirrors. Which led to better lighting. You’ll find bits and bobs that speak to you.
Walk by enough cool home stores and you’ll find it.
