Barnwood Bathroom Ideas

If you’ve been around here for awhile, then you know that we are working on our downstairs space. And it’s been a very long time coming. We still aren’t anywhere near done, but we have made some major updates to the bathroom there. So I figured today I would share all about these barnwood bathroom ideas that we created and made the space into a perfect “man cave” bathroom.

We love the rustic charm the wood brings to the space. And since it is such a small bathroom, it makes it feel more cozy and welcoming. We are all about trying to turn a builder grade house into something more, and this is the perfect example!

You just need to take slow and simple steps to create something you love. No need to rush it! we moved into this house in 2018 and we are just now getting that bathroom done.

And like I said, the whole downstairs room isn’t done yet either. So it’s all about just taking your time and choosing what traditional looks you want to change in your home. now, keep on reading to see just what we did with our space and hopefully it will give you some DIY inspiration too! 

This post also contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off anything you purchase through here, at no additional cost to you. Please read my full privacy policy for more details.

Choosing What To Update

As I mentioned above, we had a very basic builder grade bathroom downstairs. Nothing fancy at all and nothing to draw attention to the eye. So, we decided what specifically we wanted to update about it.

And we came up with a basic idea list and went from there. Keeping in mind that we spent a lot of time researching rustic bathroom ideas on Pinterest because that was definitely the look we were going for. 

1. Mirror

An easy upgrade to the space was just replacing the mirror. We wanted something more like vintage mirrors in the space. I definitely don’t like builder grade basic mirrors.

There is just no vintage charm to them. So this is a super easy and budget friendly way to update your bathroom space. 

2. Lights

Some other great barnwood bathroom ideas is to simply just replace the lights you have in there. This particular bathroom doesn’t have a window in it, so there is no natural light coming in.

Which is totally fine, because our goal is to make our downstairs kind of like a vintage game room/man cave with a lot of rustic flair to it. So I love the dark color scheme going on in here.

It’s more of a small powder room, but it does also have a shower area. I love old-school light fixtures and that’s exactly what we added to the space. 

3. Shiplap Walls 

I think the main focal point when it comes to barnwood bathroom ideas, is to have shiplap walls obviously. And we used my favorite shiplap from Weaber Lumber for this space. I love the warm wood tones this specific brand of shiplap has. I’ll link the kind we used below:

It definitely fits in well with the whole rustic design of the bathroom. If you wanted all white walls, you could definitely just do white shiplap here instead as well and it would still fit into the farmhouse bathroom theme too.

But, I love the warm woods, so I think our shiplap we chose really works great on our bathroom walls here. If we had more room, we would also love to add in some barn doors to this bathroom space. But, since it’s such a small area, there was no way to do that unfortunately. 

4. Subway Tiles

We thought if we did the whole bathroom in shiplap, it would be way too dark. So we decided to add in white subway wall tiles to break up the space and add a bit of a nice contrast.

Exactly what we did for the DIY fireplace area we made downstairs too. It’s a great way to add a little brightness in the room, but maintaining that rustic feel to it as well.

You could also do a stone wall to tie in all the natural materials together and create a cohesive space. A stone accent wall would be absolutely beautiful and very rustic too!

5. Ceiling Tiles

You may remember our DIY Ceiling Tiles project we did awhile back in our downstairs area too. And it turned out that we had enough ceiling tiles leftover to do the bathroom space as well.

And I think these tiles compliment the wood walls perfectly. I love all the different styles of the materials together. Between the wood shiplap, white subway tile, and copper ceiling tiles, it creates the perfect modern bathroom full of rustic style.

Again, way better than just a builder grade bathroom! A wood ceiling would be another great barnwood bathroom idea as well! 

6. Rustic Bathroom Decor

Now, to add in all the finishing touches, you need a few pieces of rustic decor to go into the bathroom. I don’t have too much in here yet, and I am planning on adding a few more pieces here and there.

But, I think the star of the show here is my vintage dentist sign I found at a local antique store! In case you don’t know, I am actually a registered dental hygienist. So my day job is cleaning teeth, while my side hustle is blogging!

And once I saw the sign, I knew it was a perfect choice for the bathroom. And the frame of this cool sign is made from reclaimed wood so it definitely compliments all the natural wood finishes in the bathroom as well.

It also gives some visual appeal to the small space. And, if you’re looking for a unique sign like this, or any other antique fixtures, be sure to check out your local thrift store or flea markets too.

You never know what you’re going to find! I also want to find some old school medicine cabinets as well to go in the space. I think that would be super fun and compliment the dentist sign too.

Other than the decor, you also need the essentials like towels and shower curtains and all that. So to finish everything up, we made a quick trip to Target to grab what we needed. I’ll link everything we used below:

And, if you’re looking for more ideas on how to style a small bathroom, be sure to check out my post I shared a few years ago on that. Our master bathroom is pretty small too.

So trying to decorate it is a challenge. But, I was able to implement some of those ideas into this guest bathroom space as well!

​Enjoy Your Barnwood Bathroom

I hope you enjoyed all these barnwood bathroom ideas! And I hope it inspired you to create your own rustic, modern farmhouse bathroom!

I love all these rustic bathroom design ideas and I think all the natural elements look so well together. It’s the perfect way to upgrade your plain old builder grade bathroom! I am so happy with how everything turned out and now all these changes make the space feel so much more cozy.

It’s definitely a rustic oasis of a bathroom. Let me know what you think of how everything turned out too. I’d love to hear your thoughts below!