23 Genius Ways to Cheer Up Your Bathroom

Consider painting your walls… "It'll work wonders on a tired space," says HGTV star Sabrina Soto. Her pro tip: Always use an eggshell finish—it's the best at repelling water. "I prefer spa-like colors," she says. "I want that space to make me feel om." Her picks, clockwise from top left: Van Courtland Blue HC-145, Sherwood Green HC-118, and Excalibur Gray 2118-50, all by Benjamin Moore.

… your tiles… Hating your tile color doesn't mean you need to take a sledgehammer to your bathroom. "It's easy to paint over them," says Ashley McLeod of the blog Domestic Imperfection. She swears by Rust-Oleum's Specialty Tub and Tile Refinishing Kit ($25.97). Follow the directions on the box and use a foam roller (fuzzy ones can leave lint behind). The end result will be gleaming and durable. "My shower is going on a year, and not a chip in sight," says McLeod.

… and even your vanity. For those with laminate cabinets, Jennifer Jones from iheartorganizing.blogspot.com shares her trick: Take the doors off and cover everything with a coat of oil-based primer. Once dry, sand, gently clean, and paint. "You'll need something heavy-duty like exterior paint that will stand up to the moisture," says Jones.

Sabrina Soto's picks, clockwise from top left: Van Courtland Blue HC-145, Sherwood Green HC-118, and Excalibur Gray 2118-50, all by Benjamin Moore.

Make your medicine cabinet part of the room. Line it with coordinating contact paper and you'll smile every time you reach for the toothpaste. Khandjian explains how: Cut a piece of contact paper that's bigger than the cabinet. Remove the shelves and stick the paper on the back of the cabinet, slowly working from the middle to the corners. Finish by trimming the excess with an X-Acto knife.

Set a new mood…with your shower curtain and towels. Un-matching them lets you get creative.

Go wild with wallpaper. Since bathrooms are small, you don't have to buy as much paper. Also, you won't be in there 24/7, so you can get a little kooky with your pattern. If you paper a room that gets steamy, add extra paste at the seams, and always run your fan while showering. Or try vinyl decals—they'll hold up to moisture, and you can just peel them off when you want a new look.

Fake a major mirror. Even one of those super-simple bathroom mirrors that's affixed to a wall can look great. "All it takes is a bit of glue and molding," says Soto. Look for molding that's at least two inches wide, and ask someone at the hardware store to cut it to fit your existing mirror, with angled edges to form the corners of your frame. Paint it and assemble the pieces with an adhesive like Liquid Nails. Once that's dry, brush more glue on the back of the molding and press it onto the wall, holding the frame for a few minutes until it sticks.

Ditch your shower doors. If you've got one of those showers from the '60s with ugly sliding glass doors, you don't need a contractor to get rid of them, says Sarah Khandjian of SarahHearts.com. Use a razor blade to remove the caulking from the metal track. Next, unscrew the track. "It should pop right off," she says. Then fill in the screw holes in the tile with caulk—it comes in lots of colors. Put up a tension rod and hang a gorgeous curtain.

Change your showerhead, change your life. "The first thing I did in my rental bathroom was install a rain-style fixture," says interior designer Grant K. Gibson. "You just screw it on, and for $25 it's like a new shower!"

Don't forget to decorate the walls. Though a steam-filled room isn't the place for precious, one-of-a-kind artwork, "you can go to a flea market, Etsy, or 20x200.com to find something cheap but beautiful," says Gibson. "Or install inexpensive Ikea shelves to display collections of jars or vases." Decorate Fearlessly!author Susanna Salk embellished her powder-room wall with a collection of decoupage plates: "They give so much personality and can get a little wet." For less than $15, Khandjian made her own art. "I typed up DO SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE and spent 50 cents at Office Depot printing it out on heavy stock. Then I put it in a frame from Michaels," she says. "Anyone can do the same in Microsoft Word—the hardest part was choosing the font."

Cheat bronze hardware. Bronze is the "in" finish for things like faucets and fixtures, and you can get its rich, burnished look in your bathroom for pennies. Jones transformed brushed-nickel pulls from Target with a gold Sharpie. "Color them one stroke at a time, let the ink dry, and repeat with a second coat." We tried it, and it works.

Give it a living-room feel. Thanks to a vintage rug, ornate mirrors, and an orange settee with a madras pillow, you almost have to do a double take to notice the sink and toilet in this bathroom. All of our experts encourage you to add details that don't traditionally belong in a bath—just make sure whatever it is can be easily cleaned (and that you won't be bereft if years of steam ruin it).

Improve your lighting and look years younger. Yay! New York City lighting designer Bill Schwinghammer shares three tips that will make you actually want to face the mirror in the morning:

1. For crisp, balanced light, use incandescent or halogen 60-watt bulbs. Definitely stay away from fluorescent bulbs, he says.

2. Swap out any metal lamp shades or sconces with frosted glass ones—they cast a softer, more flattering glow.

3. No sconces? Keep overhead fixtures in the center of the room, not above your makeup mirror. It cuts down on unflattering shadows.

How about a shipshape mirror? Top rope mirror, $219; landofnod.com.

A cotton rug dries quickly and is easy to clean. Alemannic Flatweave 2x3-foot rug, $98; anthropologie.com.

Coat hooks easily handle towels. From left: Petunia coatrack, $79.99; Clarabell and Taurus coat hooks, $14.95 each; all cb2.com.

A beaker that's not just for chem lab. Pyrex 600 ml glass beaker, $6.75; amazon.com.