I turned my bathroom into a scene out of Practical Magic

Here’s how I conjured a witchy, cozy, and affordable transformation — with just $122.

While we all wait for Practical Magic 2 to cast its spell, I decided to bring a little magic home myself.

A favorite among the real ones, Practical Magic (1998) is more than a cult classic — it’s a lifestyle. The witchy décor of the Owens family home has long been coveted by the eccentric, the intuitive, and the interior design romantics… myself included.

While we wait, we can satisfy our craving with bringing some practical magic into our homes.

The home décor aesthetic of Practical Magic is the witchy, coastal grandmother dreamscape you didn’t know you needed. The house itself, built specifically for the movie (and supposedly once coveted by none other than Barbra Streisand), is a blend of Cottagecore and Coastal Gothic — think a New England Victorian farmhouse bathed in sea mist and spell work, blended with botanical witch core vibes:

Weathered bookshelves overflow with books. The furniture is antique, the glass is stained, the rugs are layered, the curtains are lace, the cushions are embroidered, the glassware is crystal, and the woodwork is ornate. Inside, botanical, herbal, and earthy vibes prevail, with tapered candles everywhere, dried herbs hanging from wooden beams, bronze and cast iron pots lining the shelves,

and apothecary jars housing tinctures and oils, and spell ingredients lining the pantry. Outside, the garden is wild, untamed, and alive, growing lavender and rosemary, and roses.

There aren’t any scenes in the bathrooms of the home, but a scene of Gillian’s bathroom in her home away from home has elements such as lit candles and greenery that also reflect her witchiness, as she pours belladonna into the tequila.

My apartment is a new build — modern fixtures, white walls, and bright lights. Moreover, it's a rental! Adding the kind of charm I had imagined seems impossible.

Caroline Winkler, YouTube influencer and home decor genius, says to start with one thing: identify the immovable objects. This is because, as the name suggests, these are fixtures that cannot change. In my bathroom, the immovable items included the tub, toilet, sink, and walls. It is a very nice bathroom that I am generally in love with, but it lacks personality:

I used to have over-the-toilet steel shelves as well as a sister set of shelves across the sink. Not only have I had these for 6 years, and for that reason alone, it was time for them to go, but they didn’t fit the aesthetic super well. Here they are in my bathrooms of yore:

I should add that I could have made them work, but I had better ideas. Plus, I think I am done with open shelves for a while.

I ditched my old shelves for more closed, vintage-looking storage. I purchased smaller and closed storage to replace these. I started with this affordable beauty and replaced the knobs with ornate ones (which came all the way from Australia, and I didn’t mind the shipping cost), because details matter.

I then purchased this one, because I could camouflage it into the wall and add witchy knick-knacks to it.

So far, so good.

Next, I moved on to decor. I wanted to recreate a wall rack of herbs like the ones featured in this Etsy shop, but I also needed it to be, well, practical. I got the herb bouquets from here. Since I could not screw into the wall, I got this shelf instead and added these hooks for the bouquets to hang from. Then I placed my oil bottles on the shelf, and this thematically appropriate quote in this ornate frame. Things were starting to look good, and now I can pretend that I use these herbs in my baths.

I decided I needed greenery, so I had Ikea ship me a few of their faux plants. I used old candle jars as the plant pots and placed them over the mirror.

Everything else, all the knick-knacks (crystals, bundles of sage, tarot cards, candles, bath bombs, whimsical storage containers like this one), I already had! All of this cost $347.43, but I had some points…so I only spent $122.27!

Here’s the final product:

What do you think?