Empty Bathroom Walls (Add Artwork Or Leave Them Blank?)

I continued working on our master bathroom this past weekend, and while I didn’t quite get the second vanity finished, I did make progress on it. The drawer boxes are finished and installed, and the drawer fronts are made. Now I just have to attach the drawer fronts and apply the finish to the vanity, and I’ll have all three of the cabinet/furniture components (I’m not quite sure what to call them since they’re not standard cabinets) of that 12.5-foot wall finished.

If you’ve missed the latest progress on our master bathroom remodel (we turned the former master bedroom into a large and accessible master bathroom), you can catch up on all of the latest here:

I can see the finish line, y’all! It’s coming closer into view with each passing day, and I’m getting more and more excited about seeing this bathroom finally finished.

But as I get closer to that finish line, I’m starting to think through all of the little finishing touches that I need and want to add, and that brings me the two largest blank wall areas in the main area of the bathroom — the wall just outside the shower, and the wall just outside the water closet.

Here you can see the wall just outside of the shower…

Of course, I still need to add the wainscoting to the bottom half of the wall. And just around the corner is the shower, which looks like this…

And the on the other side of the bathroom, there’s an equal amount of wall space outside of the water closet…

And just around the corner, the water closet looks like this…

So I can’t decide if those two wall spaces need to be left alone (as in, blank, to let the wall finish have the spotlight), or if I should add something of interest to those walls.

I’m not one of those people who thinks that every single blank wall needs to be filled. At the same time, my decorating style is not minimalist in any way. I’m not quite one of those people who would call myself a maximalist, but if there were a spectrum from minimalist to maximalist, I’d definitely fall somewhere between the mid point and the maximalist end.

With that said, the obvious main feature of the bathroom is the mural behind the bathtub…

I don’t want to add anything that will detract from the mural. So I’m just unsure about what to do with those walls.

I had always envisioned those walls staying blank, but for some reason, I’ve starting thinking that I need to add something to them. Coordinating artwork? Small shelves? I just don’t know. But once I put any nail or screw holes in those walls, there’s no going back. That Venetian plaster finish isn’t something that can be quickly or easily repaired like a regular painted wall, so I need to be sure of my decision before jumping right into putting things on those walls.

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.

I hope you’ll join me on my DIY and decorating journey! If you want to follow my projects and progress, you can subscribe below and have each new post delivered to your email inbox. That way you’ll never miss a thing!