Hand Painting My Guest Bathroom

Pinterest-fueled thoughts lead to this fun weekend project

Sep 20, 2026

Hello, and welcome to another addition of home improvement projects by a non-expert. Today’s subject? The hall/guest bathroom. When I first bought the house, everything was a very sad blue-gray with light butter yellow trim. They called it “move-in ready paint.” Absolutely not for this girl.

Before move-in, I had the entire house professionally painted (and skimmed, because hi: 1920s plaster problems.) In the process, I took the bedrooms and bathrooms to my favorite slightly warm white Snowbound, which was already a vast improvement. I knew I’d eventually want to do something else, but back to a basic off-white was a great baseline to live with for a while.

In this room, I had an ill-fitting medicine cabinet removed and drywalled up. I left the Home Depot vanity for now, but it will be replaced at some point. Here’s what she looked like after professional intervention and initial decorating:

I originally wanted to wallpaper this room, but with a shower, multitude of odd cuts, and the small space, decided against it for installation cost, maintenance and potential mold-trapping-related reasons. I have a roll of vine motif and and cream wallpaper intended for my short-lived home in Columbus, and decided to just go for a freehand version of it.

Some Pinterest inspiration (follow me!):

As for materials, a professional house painter once told me Sherwin Williams is the best quality in the biz, so I pretty much always go for their brand when choosing paint. Plus, I just love their little neighborhood stores. They know me! I do usually use Samplize for samples if I have the patience to think ahead and to wait around for them… Not the case for this project. I just dove in.

First came the base, which took two coats and a lot of precise little cuts… I pulled a muscle in my butt stepping up on the toilet. I’m very talented.

Then came the fun part. I used an acrylic paint pen to sketch out the vines and leaf positions, then went behind with small acrylic brushes and my Snowbound wall paint to add the actual design.

Bob Ross-ing my way through life. “Just a little happy leaf here. A meandering stem there…”

Mid-point break.

Paint colors! And the final result:

I’m so happy with how it turned out. It’s not perfect, but it’s personal.

As for the décor, I decided to go for polished nickel finishes in here because the plumbing fixtures already were something similar, and I think the look feels fresh and bright. When I swap out the vanity one day, I’ll keep that through-line with the new faucet, too. Here’s (almost) everything in this room: