How to Update a Bathroom Without Major Renovation: 7 Ways

It's not necessary to do a full renovation to update your bathroom. Together with OBI experts, we share interesting and budget-friendly ideas.

Get rid of unnecessary items

Throw away old towels, review cosmetics on the shelves, replace laundry baskets.

If it's hard for you to part with things, use a life hack—place a small box for odds and ends in your bathroom. Put in there small accessories that still seem useful but don't look aesthetic.

Design: Simple Way

Update the grout on tiles

Old grout changes color, collects dirt, dust, and sometimes even mold. New grout will quickly transform the walls and floor of your bathroom.

Design: Anna Kovalchenko

How to choose grout?

OBI hypermarket experts recommend paying attention to several points.

1. Operating conditions: On the market, there are three types of grout: silicone, cement, and epoxy. Analyze how often you ventilate the bathroom and whether there are temperature fluctuations in the room—this affects the choice of the right material.

2. Base type: If tiles are laid on gypsum board or particle board, the grout should be elastic. This helps avoid cracks at joints.

3. Composition: New grout should have water-repellent properties, antifungal effect, be easy to clean, and resistant to scrubbing. Then it will last long.

Design: Flatforfox

Hang a new shower curtain

Did you know that a bathroom curtain should be changed every 3 months? But apart from hygiene rules, there is also an aesthetic side.

For example, Irina Petrova and Olga Vasilyeva chose a light curtain similar to a sheer for their project.

Design: Irina Petrova and Olga Vasilyeva

Designer Vera Tarlovskaya made a beautiful classic-style hook for the curtain. It turned out elegant and unconventional for a bathroom.

Design: Vera Tarlovskaya

Your choice:
Shower curtain Iddis Blue Horizon, OBI

Material is impregnated with a special water-repelling compound. Shower curtain Bacchetta Steli

Transparent curtain with bright lemon-colored inserts. Shower curtain Dasch Harmony

Textile curtain with antibacterial impregnation.

Choose new towels and mat

Update towels. Choose monochrome textiles that complement the interior design. For example, in this bathroom, Alena Chekalina chose green towels that match the tile wall art.

Design: Alena Chekalina

And replace the mat. Plaited and jute variants are trendy now. This is what designers from the 'Total Area' bureau chose—round woven mats perfectly complement a light bathroom.

Design: bureau 'Total Area'

Your choice:
Orthopedic bathroom mat, OBI

The microfiber surface quickly absorbs moisture and has an antibacterial effect.
Wess Rainbow mat, OBI

Dense pile and latex base to prevent slipping. BATH mat, OBI

Made from organic cotton, soft and pleasant to touch.

Organize proper storage

Purchase identical baskets and put all accessories in them: from toilet paper to shampoos. This way, the space will look neater.

If you have a regular mirror above the sink, replace it with a cabinet with mirrored doors—everything can be hidden there: accessories and cosmetics, and the mirror makes a small bathroom visually larger.

Design: Ksenia Konovalova

If you have a suspended toilet, follow Anna Bagrova’s example. The designer made several shelves above the installation and placed all necessary items there.

Design: Anna Bagrova

Reconsider your approach to open storage

"A careless attitude to details can cancel out all the designer's efforts to create a brutal loft or just a normal interior," says designer Dmitry Sivak. Therefore, hide bottles in closed cabinets or pour the contents into matching color and design dispensers.

Your choice:
Corner shelf Vanstore, OBI. Wall-mounted shelf for bathroom CMI Culebra, OBI. Corner shelf Vanstore Modern, OBI.

Don’t forget about decoration

It's not worth giving up on decoration—artificial flowers, posters and paintings, decorative storage systems.

For example, Elena Nikitina and Anna Pustovoytova decorated the shelves in the bathroom with posters and decorative candles.

Design: Elena Nikitina and Anna Pustovoytova

Your choice:
White hydrangea, OBI. Artificial lavender, OBI. Artificial flower, OBI.

On the cover: interior of a two-room apartment in Moscow.