Well, My Worst Room Is Now My Best Room
Inside the tiny powder room makeover I should have done years ago
Do you have a space in your home that you’ve just never been able to figure out? For me, it was our postage-stamp-sized powder room right off the kitchen. In a small home with only one full bathroom, a bonus half bath is genuinely a gift, but gratitude aside, ours felt kind of sad. Like an afterthought.
It’s a high-traffic little room: our guest bathroom for dinner parties, a daily necessity for a family of four, and yet it had been quietly depressing us (me) for years. A few years ago I tried adding a cool vintage light fixture, but the room is so tiny it ended up just bopping people on the head. Something had to change.
Jordan and I both grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and share a lot of the same cultural touchstones, so when I stumbled across this Bay Area-themed wallpaper, something clicked. The design is packed with hometown icons — Angela Davis, Alice Waters, the BART system, and even Children’s Fairyland, where we took our kids when they were small. It felt so specific and personal and just right that I ordered it basically on impulse.
In a happy twist of fate, the wallpaper was co-designed by Jordan’s childhood friend Jorma Taccone — yes, that Jorma of SNL and Lonely Island fame. The world is small and occasionally it wallpapers your bathroom.
It took a few weeks to arrive, but a professional installer had it up in under three hours and charged $500, which, for the amount of joy this room now brings our family daily, is the best money I’ve spent in years. I also bought a new ceramic light fixture for $5. Our house is otherwise pretty neutral and minimal, so this tiny room feels like a wink — a fun secret the house is keeping. Guests come out of the bathroom smiling now. It’s just the best.
If you have a space that’s been quietly bothering you, start small.
Try my just-one-thing method and commit to a bold wallpaper, a great light fixture, an unexpected paint color, one investment piece, or a single piece of art. You don’t need a full renovation, you just need one decision you’re actually excited about.
Tiny rooms are the perfect place to take a risk. The investment is lower, the installation is faster, and if you love it, you’ll smile every single time you walk in. (And if you don’t, it’s just one room.)
Reader Prompt: What's one tiny change that made a space in your home feel a whole lot better? Please share in the comments below.
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That wallpaper is so great!
I love that Too $hort made the wallpaper!! Amazing.