I stood there staring in shock and admiration last month when I walked past my neighbour’s bathroom while it was wide open. They’d recently remodeled it and had painted the walls navy blue. Bold, wonderful navy blue.
Not boring white or beige. It looked elegant, soothing, and interesting. That was when it hit me that I’d been playing it too safe in my own bathrooms for way too long.
Don’t get me wrong, bathrooms are important. They’re one of the rooms we spend most time in each day.
We’re in there when we wake up and when we’re ready to sleep.
So why shouldn’t they feel great to be in too? I’d somehow got it into my head that if I painted anything other than neutral colours in my bathrooms it would be a decorating catastrophe OR it would decrease my home’s resale value. Well, it turns out I was WRONG on both accounts.
I first decided to change things up in my own master bathroom about six months ago. I’d lived with builder-grade beige on the walls since I moved in and knew it had to go. My bathroom is pretty small but it does have a frosted glass window that allows for ample natural light.
Everything else about it was completely neutral – white tiles on the walls and floor, white vanity with matching countertop. The fixtures were a soft brass colour that went with everything. I painted the walls a colour called “Eucalyptus Mist”.
Yes, they actually name paint colours like that. Sage green it was. I loved it in the magazine photo I found it in.
It had been used in a bathroom that looked like it belonged in a fancy hotel. I painted one wall, stepped back and immediately hated it. Looking back, I now know that the issue was the lighting in my bathroom.
It has fluorescent overhead lighting (I know, Mark said the same thing about me!) that tinted the green green. Like hospital-green. Soap-green.
Crud, it made me gag a little every morning when I woke up to look at it. Moral of that story: always paint a sample patch on your wall and look at it during different times of day to make sure you like it. So then I bravely painted the rest of the bathroom, wiped away my original patch and tried again.
This time with a dusty blue colour called “Storm Cloud”. I loved it. It was calming without being cold and reminded me of the ocean.
The warm white LED lights I installed made the colour look slightly grey-blue at night. Magical. The best part was when people would come over and comment on how “high-end” my bathroom looked now.
Seriously, the ONLY thing I had changed was the colour of the walls! I couldn’t believe how much more expensive it made my whole bathroom look. Paint can transform a room; it also can impact how others perceive the quality of your entire home.
Feeling inspired by my little blue bathroom triumph, I decided to take a risk on colour in my downstairs half-bath. It’s teeny tiny. Probably 4 feet by 3 feet.
It always felt like a wasted opportunity to me because the white walls just made it look even smaller. Like a closet with plumbing in it. Instead of taking the safe route and painting it the same blue, I went bananas.
Or should I say Emerald Forest? I painted it a dark green called “Forest Canopy”. It’s more blue-toned than green but reads more like emerald when it’s flooded with natural sunlight.
My sister nearly fell over laughing when she saw it. “Green paint in your bathroom?! Are you crazy? !” She tried to talk me into scraping it immediately but… let’s just say it looked amazing once I was done. The small scale of the room actually makes it feel more high-end to me now.
Like a fancy jewel box. Not to mention green hides water spots and fingerprints like a dream. Once again, swapping white walls for colour was a win-win for me.
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All of this trial and error got me thinking about other colours homeowners aren’t supposed to use in bathrooms. I started doing some digging around and found out some interesting things about paint colour and resale value. Contrary to what REALTORS will tell you, bold colours WON’T always hurt your chances when it comes time to sell.
Sure, if you go too wild with a neon orange or hot pink people are going to assume you painted over an ugly colour and they’re going to want to repaint it. BUT using rich, moody colours in bathrooms can actually ADD value to your home. Dark blues.
Greens. Even grays can make people believe you hired a designer. I recently helped my friend Sarah choose a paint colour for her master bathroom and she was convinced to go with a dark blue called “Midnight Navy”.
It reminded her of bathrooms in high-end hotels we’d both stayed at. She ended up painting the bottom half of the room navy and did white wainscoting at the top. The white ceiling keeps it from feeling too dark and the contrast between the two colours is stunning.
The best part is now her white fixtures really “pop” against the dark background. Her clawfoot tub looks more expensive now that it’s painted dark blue. And the brass light fixture and accents she spent WAY too much money on absolutely shine against the dark walls.
It took some trial and error to find the perfect paint colour, but I’m so glad she went dark! Paint too dark and your bathroom might feel smaller. Light colours can help it feel more spacious.
Paint too warm and it might not look great with your fixtures. Cool colours are usually safer. It also made me realise that not EVERY paint colour will work in every bathroom.
I saw this beautiful blush pink on Instagram the other day and loved it. In a bathroom. problem was, her bathroom ALSO had floor-to-ceiling windows and a white marble countertop. My friend painted her tiny, windowless powder room that same pink and it ended up looking muddy and sad.
Lesson learned. Cooler paint colours like blue, green and grey are more versatile because they work with both warm and cool light bulbs. They’re also safe to use with most fixture finishes.
Warm colours like terracotta, peach and even warm yellow tones are more tricky. They have to be paired with the right lighting and finishes or they can age poorly. And lastly, paint colour can make every other detail in your bathroom look cheaper or more expensive.
That ugly sage green I tried? Made my white towels look dingy and my silver fixtures look like thrift store finds. The dusty blue makes whites look brighter and silver look more high-end.
Dark charcoal grey paired with gold or brass accents is one of my new favourite combinations. Last week I painted my upstairs bathroom dark grey (“Graphite” by Sherwin Williams) and it looks AMAZING with my new brass cabinet pulls, light fixtures and towel bars. It’s moody and masculine without being too dark.
The brass finishes keep it from feeling cold and the white subway tile brightens it right up. The thing about dark paint colours is you MUST balance them out with lighter colours elsewhere. If you paint your walls dark, keep the trim white.
Your light fixtures should be light. You can even paint your floor white if you want!
I broke this rule when I painted one of our teeny tiny bathrooms all-dark.
It was navy blue on the walls AND ceiling. Needless to say it looked like I painted the inside of a navy bean. Quality paint that’s made to withstand humidity and cleaning WILL cost more than your interior paint.
But we’re talking an extra £15-20 at most. That’s it. You get what you pay for with paint, and bathroom paint will last MUCH longer than regurlar interior paint.
When in doubt, start small. Paint just one accent wall or test out colours in a half-bath first. And most importantly; only use paint colours you LOVE.
You’ll be seeing them every day for the foreseeable future! Trust me, beige bathrooms are so 2010.
