Our 1970s Bathroom Makeover – Before & After: The Big Reveal

As far as bathroom makeovers go, our guest bathroom, formerly our daughter’s teenage bathroom, was stuck somewhere between very chic 1970s style and the quirkier aesthetics best to be left in the past.

Inspired by vintage-style black and white hexagon tile, we have taken this once sad-looking bathroom dominated by dingy stained carpet and transformed it into this bright classicly beautiful bathroom.

Our 1970s bathroom makeover project is finally complete!

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Thank you to the organizers of this challenge, and their media partner Apartment Therapy for encouraging so many DIYers to tackle and complete one room at a time. 

1970s-style bathrooms – you either love them or hate them. As for me, I am somewhere in the middle.

Homeowners in the 1970s had fun with their bathroom decor.  They also made a few decor decisions not worth repeating today. Does carpet come to mind for you too?

The colors of the bathroom fixtures of the 1970s were: Avocado Green, Harvest Yellow, Burnt Orange, and Brown. However, by late 1970, the colors had shifted to include Antique White, Deep Black, Maritime Blue, Aztec Gold, Pink, and Lavender.  All fun and colorful with matching fuzzy toilet seat covers and carpeted wrap-around rugs to match.

Since my house was built in 1978-1979, I am the proud owner of two bathrooms with the Maritime Blue and one with the deep black. My previous home had a small half bath in lavender tile, a sink and toilet. It was pretty in a cool retro sort of way. We never did remodel it.  I left that task to the next owners.

My black bathroom even includes the popular shower pod where you are enclosed in fiberglass all around in a private cubicle.  At least mine includes a built-in seat.

A complete overhaul was not in our budget but we still wanted an impressive guest bathroom.

We decided to change what we could on a budget and challenged ourselves to finish it in just 8 weeks for the One Room Challenge®. 

Embracing the black fixtures was the starting point for a Vintage style black and white bathroom design that I love.

Let’s revisit where we began.

It all began with a strong desire to remove the old and stained carpet a previous owner had left behind in this bathroom. Now that my daughter has a home of her own, I couldn’t stand to look at the sad state of this bathroom any longer.

Armed with a budget design plan, I persuaded my husband to join me in another renovation project.

Here are the before photos.

Not able to stop at just installing a new floor tile, I signed up for the One Room Challenge® again and made a list of all the things I wanted to improve in this room.  As you can see, I was able to cross out everything on my dream list. 

Spring 2024 One Room Challenge Task List

• New vintage style black and white hexagon tile flooring
• New light fixtures at the vanity
• New lighted mirror to replace old medicine cabinet
• Remove the popcorn ceiling
• Replace the old-style exhaust fan and light fixture in the ceiling
• Remove the old wooden bench 
• Repair and paint the walls in a gray color
• Paint all black trim in white
• Paint closet doors in white
• New towel bars and hooks
• Repair and paint the vanity cabinet
• Vinyl wrap on the current black laminate top
• New sink faucet
• New art and accessories in a vintage style
• New upholstered bench along the long wall
• Repair the shower door so it stays closed
• And create a fun accent in the closet – (added after we started)

The flooring was the biggest ticket item in the budget.

The bulk of the budget was spent on the focal point in this bathroom, which is the flooring. 

As an interior designer, I have specified black and white floor tile many times and loved the timeless modern look a simple pattern can provide. Installing a classic tile pattern in black and white hexagons, quickly gave this dated bathroom a more timeless and modern style. 

Accented with a fresh coat of paint on the walls in a cool gray, the new flooring takes center stage. In addition, fresh white paint transformed the trim and closet doors. 

Giving a dated bath vanity a new style.

For week seven of the challenge, I shared the full magically transforming makeover of the old bath vanity cabinet. 

The original cabinet received a makeover in black paint, and a faux vinyl marble countertop application, and was finished off with new hardware.  Sticking with a plan to keep the original fixtures, the black sink was reused but a new faucet gives it a whole new look.  No longer needing a medicine cabinet in this bathroom, it was replaced with a sleek new mirror enhanced on each side with a more updated vanity light. 

Removing the popcorn ceiling in this room was a messy task, but it was worth it to be able to update the outdated exhaust fan and light combo to what I can say is now one of my favorite light fixtures.  The new modern LED ceiling light and exhaust fan combo fixture include a fun Bluetooth feature to listen to music or your favorite podcast.

Adding in a fun geometric wallpaper for a wow factor!

For the final week of the challenge, I finished the closet makeover that included the wow factor. Repeating the hexagon pattern, a feature wall of fun, geometrical hexagon wallpaper was installed on the back wall of the double-door closet.

Purchased online from Amazon, this peel-and-stick wallpaper can be removed if so desired at a later time.

As difficult as it was to line up every little geometric shape in the pattern, I think this surprise feature was a good idea and one of my favorite things in the new bathroom.  Competing for that title is also the ultra modern navy cushioned bench from the Christopher Knight collection at Target.  

Don’t know who Christopher Knight is?  You may know him more from his role as Peter in the 1970s sitcom The Brady Brunch®.  His products are available on Amazon and Target. 

The entire project is finished with some new relaxing art in various shades of blue and navy accents.  As time goes on, I’m sure I will add more art and decor to this room. 

Why Blue instead of Yellow or Orange?

Yellow was my first choice in the fabric choice for the new bench with orange being a close contender.  Either one of those colors blended with a black-and-white background makes for a gorgeous bathroom design.  

But blue is my color. 

There isn’t a room in my house that doesn’t have some shade of blue, with dark navy being the most favored.  For example, the beautiful deep navy pocket doors in my retro-inspired entryway for a previous One Room Challenge®.

Combining navy and other blues in this project, this beautiful bathroom will blend well with the rest of my home and the adjoining bedroom when it is finally given a makeover. 

Finally complete!

The long wait to finally get this project done has been well worth it.  I love this beautiful bathroom and how most mornings the natural light from the frosted window floods through the entire space and bounces off that amazing vintage-style tile. 

Investment in a bathroom makeover is worth the time and effort.

Bathroom makeovers are one of those DIY projects that can significantly increase the resale value of your home while also giving you a gorgeous bathroom to enjoy. 

And if you are starting with what you consider a very ugly 1970s design, a few budget-friendly projects can turn it around. 

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Thanks for visiting,

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Other posts in this One Room Challenge Series:

Adding Vintage Charm to our 1970s Black and White Bathroom

Best Choice For Vintage Style Bathroom Tile

Struggling with Bathroom Ceiling Ideas After Removing the Popcorn Texture

Checklist Update for our 1970s Vintage Bath Remodel

New Lighting and Mirror in our Vintage Bath Remodel

Easy DIY Bath Vanity Makeover