I love your idea about staining the wood cabinets darker. It will create a nice contrast to the eye against your beige.

A couple of options for the back wall behind the toilet:

install open floating shelves with the same wood stain finish as your cabinets. On the open floating shelves, you can place candles, art, pretty much anything.

If you want to go a little more extreme, you can wall paper just the wall behind the toilet, and still add the open floating shelves.

Whatever you do to the back wall of the toilet, you can pull similar colors and add a runner to the floor. You could try something like the picture below, simple geometric pattern with neutral colors. You could have a grey rug that compliments the lines in the wall paper. Throw some open floating shelves above the toilet, and add some cute decor. The floating shelve below has a dark stain color. You can match this dark color and the cabinets. It will create a beautiful contrast in my opinion!! Good luck!!

For a more professionally finished look- YES. Stain the inside shelves only- I do not think you need to stain everything inside, just the board that is laying horizontally. I love that you have one glass door.

The blinds are nice, but you can always install curtains that compliments whatever wallpaper and rug you have.

If you have the dark stained cabinets, wall paper, rug, and curtain that all compliment each other, you will see such a huge difference in this bathroom!!

I see that the darker square of your floor tile might be greige (mix of grey and beige), or a darker grey. Grey is really in right now and I hear it will be in for a long time... you could also paint the walls grey if you are wanting to step away from the tan. Don't get me wrong, tan is still in too. But you can totally mix grey and tan successfully.

You can get the floating shelves for a decent price from IKEA :-)

Good luck!

Maple is a very hard wood and can be difficult to stain evenly. I would suggest you do a lot of research before setting out to stain the cabinets. Consider changing the hardware to update the cabinets as well. Shelves over the toilet or a pretty piece of art are two options for dressing up the area. You could either do a roman shade in a beautiful print to bring some color into the bathroom or possibly a bamboo roman shade for texture.

thank you. i am wondering about a staining project. i have friends who have used gel stain and had good results. How would a painted surface with a glaze look? any specific ideas regarding shades and art that may go together?

My husband stained an entertainment unit with gel stain. He said it was a bit difficult to work with but the end result was successful. Since your bathroom is so neutral, you can go any direction you like with fabric and art. There's a great tutorial on YouTube on how to make a roman shade from an existing mini blind. It's a new sew project and would be an economical way to go. Your current mini blind doesn't seem quite the right size. It should either mount outside the casing and frame or inside. It would be inexpensive to purchase a new one and fabric to make your own roman shade. What accent colors are in your bedroom? What kind of art do you like-modern, abstract, landscape, impressionist?

What size is the window? I'll poke around for a roman shade and rug.

Thank you. The individual Windows measure 24x45. I m wanting to change the cabinets because of the staining. There is no gray on this bathroom

I kinda of like your flooring. It has the hint of "harlequin" design which might be something fun to pick up on. I think those cabinets need a chalk paint treatment. It takes some work, but I am seeing a nice soft "spa" blue green in this bathroom to make it feel more like a "retreat". It isn't a bad space. Let me look around a bit and see what "inspirations" I can find.

Since you don't want to do a full reno, go ahead and take a whirl at staining the cabinets, but have a backup... luckily the doors of the cabinets appear to be solid wood as well as the faceframes... the spots you will run into trouble will be the sides of the cabinets... if the cabinets are particle board sides then you can't stain the sides of the cabinets... hopefully it is a wood veneer. Maple does not stain well in darker stains so you will have a bit of work ahead of you - I don't know that gel stain would be the way to go for that - do some homework. The doors and frames need to be stripped of their factory finish and sanded....

The floating shelves everyone suggests will be great! You can put baskets and towels which will add more color and dimension...

For the window over the tub you could even get that film that you put on glass so the light comes in but people can't see in, then you can do some nice curtains....

There are many great rugs/runners designed for bathrooms so you don't have to worry about water...

Good luck and have fun!

I am not a fan of shelves over the commode, because it is too easy for items to fall off and "opps". Better to have a closed door cabinet unit. It should match whatever you do on the cabinets. I would pick the color for the cabinets first. It is easy to get a match or coordinating paint. I like the idea of painting the ceiling your spa color too. You could also try SW Quench Blue which is a blue green tone and has that "spa" feeling. These blue greens really have to be sample boarded to see what they do in your light.

Great! Glad to help and just be careful to do some white trim, because that is what sets off the blue ceiling. It can work with your beige tile, just will need a bit of relief. You might want to add some white crown molding if the budget allows. that bit of detail could make a huge positive difference.

thank you so much!