This all really started when they had a vanity that I fell in love with on sale at Lowe's (roughly 65% off). I couldn't pass it up. After some difficulty (the whole for the drain was in the bottom of the vanity, the actual drain went through the wall), we installed our vanity. Then I decided I would just peal the hard plastic off the wall. Simple, right? Unfortunately, I managed to get the plastic off, but the adhesive was so strong, some of the drywall came off with it. So my husband and I patched the spots and sanded and then painted with some leftover white paint. The wall ended up looking pretty rough. Then came the next part of the plan.
We had leftover paint from our light blue living room, and decided to save money on new paint, we would just paint the bathroom that color as well. Then, on another Lowe's visit, we found the solution to our rough walls. They sold a nice tongue and groove paneling for the wall. Slowly but surely, we cut all of the boards, painted them with leftover white ceiling paint, and put them up. To finish it off, we some left over gift cards from our wedding and my birthday, we got a new light fixture and a towel bars. To add a little pop of color, we added a picture that I took of our magnolia tree in a nice simple frame, and voila, a nice peaceful bathroom that we love.
Before:
After: