An interesting consequence of doing your own remodel is that you know EVERYTHING. You know all the details – both good and bad. You know how much effort went into smoothing out the walls prior to painting them and all the fun little stories behind the furniture & lighting purchases. I think that’s the kind of stuff that helps you appreciate the place more than if you had just moved into a turn-key apartment, because you’ve got more of a personal connection to the place.

You also know the things that caused you trouble: like the hole you gouged in the wall while installing the mirror or the fact that the vanity was the bane of our existence for MONTHS. A 60” vanity that needed to fit into a 59.5” space between walls…can you say YIKES. But gosh, she looks pretty now (before & after pics down below). And if I hadn’t just told you that, you would have had no idea!

But a question I get often is: how did you know what to pick?! With a hundred little decisions in each room, how do you actually make the decisions, and know what style you want? My short answer: there’s a point at which you stop the second-guessing & just pick something.  Gosh, picking carpet was a nightmare, but I just had to bite the bullet and pick one that seemed like it would work, without having 100% confidence that it was the perfect option. But for a more detailed answer, here are some things I did that made the decisions easier:

1. I browsed through Pinterest. I would type in things like “master bathroom design”, “backsplash pattern”, or “vanity style” and scroll through and just start pinning things that caught my eye. After a while, I went back into my “home” Pinterest board and looked to see if I noticed any themes. Right away I noticed that most of my pins were bright white bathrooms – with a white vanity and neutral wood-panel flooring. So right there, my design choices were already narrowed down!
2. I noticed style choices I liked in friend’s/family’s homes. If I was visiting someone’s house and saw something I liked (a style, a type of furniture, a color scheme), I would take pictures or mental notes of what I liked in their home.
3. I screenshotted or saved Instagram posts/stories when I saw something I liked. This could be something in the background of someone’s Instagram story that I saw in passing, or a picture on someone’s feed that I saved to a “home inspo” folder. With Instagram, you also have the option to reach out to the person via direct message if you want to know where they purchased something, or what paint color they used – this is something you can’t really do with Pinterest!
4. I figured out what I DIDN’T like. This really helped narrow down the possibilities as well! I knew I did not gravitate towards dark colors or wood accents, so that helped me hone in on what I DID like.
5. I thought about function. Since I am the only one using the Master Bathroom, I knew I only needed a single vanity sink – not a double. That way I have more counter space too! And if I sell the place, its not like I ruined the value of the place just because there’s only 1 sink. Another example: the tiny human I nanny comes over to my house sometimes, so I decided to purchase cordless blinds for the living room for safety reasons.
6. I thought about where I wanted to splurge and took that into account when making price-conscious decisions. I love hosting people, so I put a little more thought & money into the areas where people would be if they came over. If you work from home, a nice home office is probably pretty important to you and would take a larger portion of your budget. Or let’s say you’re really into watching movies, you might splurge on a sound system & huge tv and be more budget-conscious in other areas of the house. 

 So here are the before & afters of the master bathroom: