Sprucing up a drab, beige bathroom is no easy feat. I know from experience: My family and I moved into a four-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment provided by my husband’s employer in Cairo, Egypt. While not paying rent has its perks, being stuck with multiple dated bathrooms wasn’t ideal.

My initial thought was to paint all the cabinets and install peel-and-stick tile, but we would’ve had to paint the wood back to its original color and there aren’t many temporary tile options readily available here. Instead of giving myself a headache by completely trying to modernize the bathrooms, I decided to brighten up the outdated style with color and artwork wherever I could.

For a quick color fix, I got printed shower curtains that mimicked wallpaper and raised them all the way up to the ceiling with tension rods from IKEA to cover up the dingy tile and bathtub. Additionally, I replaced our plain bath mats with eye-catching, washable Ruggable rugs.

All in all, it was a step up from where the bathrooms were before, but I still needed something else to balance out the overwhelming amount of beige and white on the walls. Again, I wanted a DIY project with minimal effort that would make a huge difference. Enter: double-sided tape alongside Command picture hanging strips and hooks to create an eye-catching gallery wall.

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How I Created a Gallery Wall in My Bathroom

I had a stack of artwork of different parts of Cairo, in both dark and light frames, and small canvas paintings that my husband did, which all perfectly complemented the bathroom. My idea wasn’t to choose ultra-contemporary pieces that would clash with the cabinets and tile. I wanted to lean into the bathroom’s wood and light brown detailing.

First, I started with a roll of $10 double-sided tape that couldn’t be easier to use. For the lighter frames and my husband’s mini paintings, the tape was a quick and reliable way to get things hung up on a tile wall that you can’t exactly drill into. To ensure that they stuck, I cleaned the wall with rubbing alcohol and let it dry completely. Additionally, even though I haven’t tried this (as my art is still on the walls), the tape is apparently washable and reusable. It’s a helpful feature for those in rentals or others who are constantly moving, like us.

However, things started going wrong when I tried hanging up slightly heavier frames with the tape. In short, a few three- to seven-pound frames fell off the wall and shattered. For the broken frames, they ended up either being too heavy or the tape clung to flimsy backing that wasn’t firmly secured.

Despite having nightmares about everything crumbling down, I simply turned to Command strips and hooks to finish the job. Both are solid alternatives for more substantial pieces. The uniformity of the tile also acted as a natural level, making things easier to align, which isn’t always the case with Command items, since you apply them separately from the frames.

Overall, taping things up is an easier, stress-free way to jazz up any tile you have at home. A friend of ours even had some photos printed on light wooden boards that we ended up hanging to elevate our kitchen backsplash. If the tile in your home has been dragging you down, know that you don’t have to renovate and install new ones. Perhaps the frames you’ve yet to hang are what you needed all along.

Further Reading

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