Here you will find a step by step renovation story of transforming an old bath into a new one. These charming small farmhouse bathroom ideas have a minimalist touch and will inspire you to add details to your master suite.
This year my daughter became engaged. After, her fiance and she decided to live in an older house so we came up with some small farmhouse bathroom ideas.
Update: new content added towards the bottom.
I like to call this space the newlywed suite. Doesn't it fit since they are going to be newlyweds?
Okay, this post is a work in progress so check back each week to see what has happened in the newlywed suite.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I receive a commission if you purchase using the links below at no extra cost to you. All opinions are all my own.
Small Farmhouse Bathroom Ideas
As I stated in the intro, this is a step by step renovation that will lead to loads of small farmhouse bathroom ideas. In fact, before it is over, I will bring you some farmhouse bedroom ideas along with minimalist touches.
Design Plan
With all interior design projects, it is good to have a plan ahead of time. A great place to start planning for any room is Pinterest. It was a treasure trove of modern farmhouse bathroom ideas. You're sure to find a great example or, more likely many great examples, of modern farmhouse style bathrooms. I like to recommend going through Pinterest and start pinning ideas. Have fun, and don't think about what others will think.
I also recommend looking at ideas in the bathroom category on our menu. Try white farmhouse bathrooms or small bathroom ideas.
Once you have many ideas pinned look at all of them for common elements. For example, are you gravitating to white, bright colors, dark, or light? What about the style, farmhouse, rustic, minimalist? And if there are details you love, then make sure to remember them. For example, white subway tile, and stained wood shelves.
After you have many ideas, you can create a mood board or design board like the one above. You will need to tweak it over and over until you get all the items on your design board that you plan to use.
For example, we started with gold fixtures and later changed them to oil-rubbed bronze because of cost.
Another idea when planning is to collect samples and place them together. I recommend sitting those pieces together that will be touching. For example, the subway tile and the penny tile will touch.
It is also good to step back from the sample when making decisions. Look at how it looks from a distance. I was looking at the grout samples with this subway tile, and I thought a really light grey would be nice, but when I step away from it, I realized a white would be better.
Material Selections
It is time to start selecting materials. I like to make an outline. It helps me stay on target with making selections, and it makes life easier for the person doing the work.
Here is a short example of a small farmhouse bathroom materials list, or you can peek at our official materials list for the newlywed's suite.
- Floors: tile large rectangle white and grey marble
- Walls: paint white Behr
- Trim: paint white Behr
- Ceiling: paint white Behr
- Shower: tile walls, floor, and shampoo niche white subway and penny tile white
- Shower: faucet oil rubbed bronze
- Shower: heavy glass doors
- Shelf niche: wood shelves stained and tile
- Vanity: white double sink
- Vanity: hardware Emtek antique gold
- Vanity: faucet oil rubbed bronze
- Vanity: light antique gold Linea Lighting
- Mirror
Now that you have all your materials picked out, it is time to begin demolition.
Shop tile and shower door:
Here are the faucets and lights. The light we used was a gold color.
Demolition of the Bathroom
Not everyone has the talent to demo a room and start from scratch but my daughter's future father-in-law is very handy with tools.
He decided this space needed to go back to the studs, so the tile, sheetrock, and all came down.
Moving Plumbing, Electrical & More
Once you have cleared out all the sheetrock, tile, and such, this is a great time to move any plumbing, electrical, walls, and just about anything that goes on behind the walls or ceiling.
In our case, we decided on a two-sink vanity, so we added more plumbing and need a little more plumbing in the shower.
Because we went with a beautiful single light from Linea Lighting, we didn't need to move the vanity light.
But we did add a light/exhaust fan over the shower and a recessed light over the niche.
Sheetrock
Now that the plumbing, electrical, lighting, and all are in place, it is time for sheetrock.
Okay, this is where it gets real. You know, like when you first see a bump on a mommy's belly, and everyone starts to see that there really is a baby growing inside.
When the sheetrock goes up, the room takes shape.
Look how amazing the bathroom is coming along! You can see where the vanity goes because there are two plumbing ports for the double sinks.
And the shower is taking shape.
Now it is time to mud and sand.
Next on the agenda is the primer.
Primer
After the sheetrock is installed, mudded, and sanded it is time for the primer.
See how amazing this is starting to look! The room is taking shape.
Our first coat of paint is a primer by Behr paint. Behr is sold at Home Depot, and it is a good quality paint. This primer went on very nicely. I cannot wait to show you the paint.
Paint and Floor Tile
After the primer is the paint. We wanted to select a white paint and think we made a great choice. We used Behr Marquee's color white and finish matte on the walls, trim, and ceiling.
You are probably wondering why the trim and walls are the same finish. Well, if you want our walls and trim to be the exact same white, then you have to stay with the same finish otherwise, a different finish will make the color of white appear different.
So for this bathroom, everything was one finish and color.
Floor Tile
Now let's talk about the floor tile. For the floor, we went with a marble style rectangle tile. We already had some of this tile on hand. This tile was also purchased at Home Depot.
For this tile, we staggered the tiles and did a knife-edge grout line. A thin grout line is much easier to take care of and gives a more streamlined vibe.
For the grout, we decided on white which gives the flooring a crisper clean feel.
Now that the floor tile is finished, it is time for the bathroom vanity.
Bathroom Vanity
When you get to this stage in a project, you start to feel excited. This Allen and Roth Presnell 61″ two-sink vanity came from Lowes. A few features of the vanity that make it a great fit for any bathroom.
First, it has a shelf on the bottom, which allows for more storage. Second, it comes with drawers which also make for great storage. Extra storage space is always a great idea.
And last this vanity came with a countertop, sinks, and hardware and the price was great.
Many stores have vanities that come with countertops and sinks. This is a great way to cut corners on your cabinetry.
Sink Faucet
After the vanity went in, the sink faucets were installed. Your faucet is a great place to build on your style. These modern oil rubbed bronze faucets hint on the farmhouse side but the modern feel brings them up to date.
Bathroom Vanity Light
Another great place to build on your design style is the vanity lighting. Linea lighting has really come through with this brass modern light fixture. The glass globes have not been installed, but I wanted you to see the finish.
What brings the faucet and the vanity light together is the antique finish on this brass vanity light. The darker tones join forces with the almost black of the oil rubbed bronze.
One thing to know when shopping online is the challenge of selecting the same finish from different vendors. So when in doubt, look at the finish of one piece and accent that in the other piece.
Bathroom Shower Tile
The fun gets exciting when you start installing the shower tile.
Not only did we install tile in the shower, but we decided to wrap it around and into the niche where the shelves will go. Touches like this make a space. We went with lovely white tiles for the walls and white penny tile for the niche.
Another detail that can make a shower is adding a different tile to the shampoo niche. Here we chose a penny tile for the niche. It's the perfect place to add a contrasting shape.
We also decided on white grout since the bride-to-be loves the color white. If you are wanting a minimalist style, then white on white is the perfect touch.
Bathroom Shower Faucets
For the master bathroom, we choose a matching rain head faucet with a separate handheld wand. The future married couple has an old dog named Ellie, and this setup is going to make bathing her much easier. It's a good idea to take such things into consideration when planning your space.
Bathroom Floating Shelves
Have you ever heard me say that good designs are in the details? Well, look at these gorgeous shelves.
Eddie, the father of the groom, is a jack of all trades, and he really made the small space with these cedar floating shelves.
They add so much character to the bathroom. If you are designing an all-white bathroom, think about adding some wood to the room. Natural materials will bring some warmth and accessories, which we will discuss later. And they are the perfect place to add farmhouse decorations.
Bathroom Shower Door
Next on the agenda is the shower doors. For this modern farmhouse look, we decided on heavy glass clean lines. It really makes space feel more open.
Do you recall earlier when I showed you the light from Linea Lighting? Well, here is the light with the glass shades. Beautiful lighting can make a space. Now, all we need are beautiful bulbs.
These bulbs are fabulous for function. If you are going for a style, I would recommend an Edison bulb but if you need a well lite long-lasting bulb, then go for a led bulb.
Master Bathroom Accessories
We are really getting to the fun part. While visiting Atlanta, we did some shopping at Ikea for some accessories. They have a lot of great options for farmhouse bathroom decor.
Honestly, we could have spent hours there and planned to return. We got so many great ideas.
Our first area to focus on was the open shelving. Keeping with the minimalist vibe, Savanna wanted some artificial plants, white towels, candles, and a basket on the bottom for dirty clothes.
One nice thing about Ikea is how inexpensive all their accessories are. All the plants came from Ikea. Natural elements, or natural looking in this case, bring color and life to the open shelves. They were a love complement to our white farmhouse bathroom ideas.
And towels and candles were wedding gifts, but the basket on the floor came from Ikea too.
Bathroom Art
Our second thing to focus on when accessorizing is the walls, and Smallwood Home had the perfect piece.
We fell in love with this charming word art! So Fresh and So Clean exactly describes the newlywed bathroom. It's a fantastic focal point.
This is our first time working with Smallwood Home, and we were very impressed with the quality. The font they used for their design really makes the whole space.
Now that we are almost finished with accessorizing, let's switch gears back to the cabinet.
Brushed Brass Cabinet Hardware
Now the room only needs one thing to pull it all together: the cabinet hardware. Changing out cabinet hardware can be the perfect way to bring a room together on a budget. Emtek came to the rescue with these beautiful brushed brass pulls.
I couldn't believe how closely they matched the lighting. The cabinet hardware was the finishing touch.
Emtek always delivers good quality finishes. These bar pulls are heavy and sold. They really added a higher-end look to the ready-made cabinet. Adding a good quality cabinet pull or knob will make a whole cabinet design. They are a great brand when considering your farmhouse bathroom design. It was so exciting to see our small farmhouse bathroom ideas come together. The farmhouse-style bathroom is almost complete.
Barn Door
Now that the bathroom is finished and the new carpet is down in the bedroom, all we needed was a little something special in the bedroom to set it apart, and barn doors did the trick. The sliding barn door makes the perfect entrance to a farmhouse style bathroom.
Again Emtek with their quality products and gorgeous designs helped us pull off a trending look with two barn doors.
Because the closet and bathroom were both on the same wall, we thought it would be fun to place the doors on one rail. The soft open and close feature makes them move smoothly. And the exposed spoke wheel gives character to the doors.
To finish off the doors, we used an appliance pull on one side in the same black to match the barn door hardware and faucets in the bathroom. I love adding a hint of what is to come inside a room with details like the black track and pull on the door.
This helps pull together the black and brushed gold that is in the bathroom. Just like the drawer pulls in the bathroom, this appliance pull for the door is heavy and quality. It feels nice to grab something that has a good feeling hand to it.
Conclusion
Well, for months now, we have been working on the newlywed suite, and I am happy to say it was finished and just in time for the wedding.
My daughter and new son-in-law are really enjoying their new bathroom and bedroom. We had a wonderful time coming up with small farmhouse bathroom ideas. Their wedding went great and was a joyous day of celebration for everyone.
Last, we want to say a big thank you to all the sponsors of this post. Each item made this room, not your average everyday bathroom but a charming, clean, fresh, and relaxing spa-like space.
Thank you!!!
Sponsor: Emtek / Smallwood Home / Behr Paint / Linea Lighting
Happy Decorating!
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Kim
Monday 9th of August 2021
Beautiful! Could you attach a link for the subway and penny tile?
Linda McDonald
Saturday 14th of August 2021
Hi Kim! Thank you for letting me know those items were not linked. They are linked now in the post in the supply list section. If you have any questions please let me know.
Nicholas
Wednesday 2nd of December 2020
Love this! Can you please tell me where the bathroom rug came from?
Linda McDonald
Thursday 3rd of December 2020
Yes, we found the rug at Target. It is less than a year old so they may still carry it.
SMALL BATHROOM IDEAS | LIFE ON SUMMERHILL
Tuesday 31st of March 2020
[…] SMALL FARMHOUSE BATHROOM IDEAS WITH A MINIMALIST TOUCH […]
Lois Koons
Saturday 22nd of February 2020
Linda, I just love this bathroom. You did a fabulous job with this. Love each and everything about the decor. Thank you for sharing this with us. Love your decorating!!!!!
Linda McDonald
Thursday 27th of February 2020
Thank you so much! I am glad you have enjoyed this bathroom remodel.