21 Budget-Friendly Ways To Make Your Bathroom Feel Like A Calming Spa (For Under $50)

The bathroom is one of the most used rooms in the house, and while it's easy to dismiss it as a place of utility, it's easier than you think (and cheaper) to transform it into a sanctuary worthy of a hotel spa. And before you get worried about full renovations or large-scale remodels, reworking your bathroom to make it a spa-like getaway doesn't require a huge overhaul. Rather, just a few budget-friendly touches for under $50 can make the space look and feel like a Zen retreat.

From repainting the bathroom with calming colors to adding touches of live greenery in the space, design experts explain that elevating your bathroom so that it genuinely feels like a spa doesn't have take much effort — or dollars. Instead, it's about improving little touches and implementing certain rituals to maintain the room. Before you know it, your bathroom will look and feel more relaxing with these changes.

Adding texture to you bathroom gives the space an elevated spa-like atmosphere, given that natural stones and other tactile elements are featured design staples in professional spa spaces. It also adds some interesting visual depth to an otherwise utilitarian space as well. For a budget-friendly upgrade, consider wallpapering an accent wall with textured material like wooden slats or grass-cloth, or, for an even simpler upgrade, add a river-rock inspired non-slip mat inside the tub or shower, for a hot springs vibe. These are both simple upgrades that'll immediately boost the feel and aesthetics of your bathroom.

Nothing kills the spa vibe more effectively than a too-bright light in the bathroom, but if you swap your harsh overheads with a dimmable option, you can get the best of both worlds. Dim the light down to a soft glow for spa-time relaxation or boost it up to the highest levels when you're doing a bathroom activity that requires more precision, like makeup. You can easily find dimmable LED sconces for vanities under the $50 mark nowadays, like these dimmable milky white globe sconces on Amazon, making this a wallet-friendly swap that gives big design and vibes impact.

For less than $50, you can paint your entire bathroom or even just an accent wall to freshen up your space. Calm colors, like soft whites, taupes, earthy greens, and warm grays create a soothing and relaxing environment, enveloping you into a warm cocoon. However, according to Feng Shui, you should avoid the color blue in your bathrooms; too much of the water element in a space can cause your fortunes to drain away! A good reason to keep the blue to a minimum in the bath and embrace warmer earth tones.

The ambient glow of candles is the perfect, romantic yet relaxing element to make your bathrooms feel like a spa. And better yet candles can be so inexpensive and are unintrusive additions to a space that don't require much effort or expense. For cheap pillar candles, taper candles, hurricanes, or candlesticks raid your local Dollar Tree for loads of options. If you're looking for more stylized options (maybe even designer) and seasonal scents, try Michaels, TJ Maxx, or HomeGoods. Consider this your sign to purchase dozens of candles!

Nothing feels more decadently spa-like than an oversized rainfall shower, and it's less expensive than you think to install one. Retailers like Walmart and Amazon run deals which bring certain models under that $50 price point, like the NearMoon Filtered Rain Showerhead from the latter (it's self-adhesive too!). Keep an eye out during retail events on holiday weekends to snag a deal. An added bonus of a new showerhead is that it's likely your newer model will also help meter water better, meaning your new spa upgrade will actually save you money on your utilities in the long run.

Did you know you should be replacing your towels every two to five years? Depending on how often you use them and their quality, towels only have a limited shelf life before they become hotbeds for germs. This is the perfect (and necessary) excuse to replace your towels with ones that give off spa-like quality, like those dense, fluffy cotton towels you find in pricey hotels (which aren't as expensive as you might think). Investing in good quality, natural fibers helps prevent that unsavory scratchiness that towels eventually get and will help mimic that spa experience all the better.

Aromatic scent diffusers or reed diffusers are another small luxury that don't cost much but can boost the atmosphere significantly. Adding popular spa fragrances (which incidentally are also calming scents generally), like lavender or eucalyptus will immediately transform your home's bathroom to a spa getaway. Plug-in oil diffusers meter out the scents so that they last for long periods of time while simple reed diffusers are both inexpensive and yet highly aesthetic. With the latter, you can easily swap out the scents whenever you'd like to as well.

Matching refillable dispensers for your soap, lotion, shampoo, and conditioner craft that cohesive, signature look that spas have perfected to make for a relaxing environment. Sites like Etsy allow you to customize your containers for a personalized touch (for under that $50 price point, to boot) while retailers like World Market have beautiful dispensers that all fit within the same design world but aren't too matchy matchy (often for under $20 a piece as well). It's a simple, easy, but delightfully aesthetic.

Nothing imbues tropical, spa-like feels than adding some lush greenery to the bathroom. Plants do a stellar job at softening the otherwise stoic materials in a bathroom, while also adding a deep pop of color to the space. As an added bonus, many plant varieties thrive in the humid microclimate of bathrooms, acting as natural air purifiers. Research also shows that plants are proven to lower cortisol levels, decreasing stress and helping us relax. A plant, or six, are the perfect, inexpensive details to add your bathroom to make it feel like a spa.

Bathroom trays have the uncanny ability to instantly elevate your bathroom from simple to sanctuary. The tray, like this Realgulf Bamboo bathtub tray, can hold a glass of wine, a good book, or a candle while you can enjoy your bath, making your space experiential, not just utilitarian. For those who don't have a bathtub that can accommodate a tray over it, however, consider placing a stool next to your tub for a similar effect. Enjoy lounging as you would in a spa hot tub, and for far under $50.

If your spare towels are folded and stored out in the bathroom for everyone to see, consider a small switch up: Roll your towels up instead of folding them. It's a signature move of many luxe spas to roll their towels for guests to use, and even though it seems overly simple, such a presentation can enhance your bathroom's spa factor ten-fold. You can also easily stack and store more towels in one place than you could just folding them too, yet another reason to adopt this new method. The best part? Changing your towel technique is absolutely free!

It seems so simple, and yet putting a fluffy bathmat in the bathroom is a small luxury that transports you to a spa-like atmosphere. Imagine stepping out of a warm shower, straight onto a cold floor or a thin bath mat — it sends a shocking (not very relaxing) sensation up your leg. A fluffy bathmat, however, can help break up that stark transition to make it more palatable. This chenille OLANLY bathroom mat, for example, is a quick dry and also a budget-friendly way to add a layer of warmth and softness to your bathroom both tactilely and visually.

You'll never see a high end spa with mismatched storage containers, so why should you put up with chaos? Invest in a few, aesthetically pleasing and matching bathroom storage containers to make your space feel polished, rather than piece meal. Rattan baskets usually are an internet favorite, while fabric bins allow you to play with design while still creating a clean, Zen palette. These containers absolutely do not need to be pricey; stores like Dollar Tree have genius storage solutions that are both aesthetic and inexpensive.

Cluttered spaces create the exact opposite feeling from relaxation, so cleaning off your counter tops is one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to achieve more spa-like Zen. Research shows that clutter makes it more difficult to focus and causes anxiety but the act of decluttering actually gives you a boost of energy, relaxes your mood, and enhances overall health. And with the exception of investing in aesthetic storage containers as mentioned above, decluttering is a free and routine thing you can do to maintain your bathroom sanity. 

The way a mirror looks can play a huge role in setting the tone in you bathroom, and if you're aiming for a spa feel but on a budget, replacing the mirror with something a bit more decadent can transform the space from drab to day spa. Think sleek frames, metallic finishes, or oversized mirrors to make your bathroom feel contemporary and streamlined. Hang two mirrors upright and side-by-side over Jack and Jill vanities, or hang one large rectangular mirror on its long side to save a bit of money.

Mismatching bathroom hardware can feel chaotic, and chaos kills a spa-like atmosphere. To craft a cohesive spa space in your bathroom, swap out your hardware so that all the finishes, shapes, and styles match to fit into a similar design language. You can even purchase hardware kits and packs that have all sorts of matching pieces in them for a no-brainer DIY. These kits will keep you well under that $50 mark, giving your bathroom a spa face lift at very little cost.

Towel warmers don't have to be saved for bougie hotels or high-end spas — you can have one too! While many free-standing towel warmers may modestly exceed the $50 mark, some come in right at budget, like the Homeleader Towel Warmer and Drying Rack. Bucket-style warmers can also be found for at or under that price, like this 40L foldable warmer bucket. Regardless of style, a warm towel is a luxe touch for a post-shower or bath wind down, particularly if you live in an area where cold winters are the norm.

Spa vibes aren't just about scents and sights; it's also about sounds, and adding a waterproof shower speaker to your space is a great way to enhance the Zen. Pipe in music or sounds like you'd hear during a massage treatment or in a sauna while you take your next bath for a truly immersive experience. This small addition is one of the most budget friendly, with certain models of waterproof Bluetooth speakers going for less than $20 and more stylized versions in that $40 to $50 range.

A curved shower rod helps you cheat some extra room into your bathroom to make it feel more expansive and spa-like, without too much expense. It creates an optical illusion that you have more space in the tub, without having to do an expensive extension renovation. You can play with different kinds of shower curtains as well since a curved rod helps fabric sit better, adding subtle texture to the space to make it feel more elevated. This is also a great way to play with hardware color to see what suits your bathroom best for its spa facelift.

While the concept of bathroom seating might feel a little unconventional at first, incorporating a chair or bench into the space encourages you to lounge and relax in the way you would at a spa. To achieve that authentic spa feel, opt for natural textures or tactile surfaces. Think earthy materials like a smooth teak bench or a soft-to-the-touch upholstered ottoman,  but also ensure they're waterproof for humid bathroom environments. This Unibambou Bamboo Shower Bench fulfils those practical needs, but looks like it came from a spa, all for under $50.

Sometimes your bathroom isn't very relaxing because it's tired, and its finishes need some love to feel refreshed. With this in mind, examine the grout in your; if they're chipping, fading, or discolored, then re-grouting them can make the room feel more like a relaxing retreat. Grouts, like this pre-mixed tile grout, can be purchased for under $20 per pint, while grout repair kits, like this PentaUSA kit, can be purchased for under $17. This is also your chance to play with color. If you have stark white walls, for instance, adding some warmer gray grout infuses a spa-like earthiness into the room.