Last spring I stood in front of the beige walls of my tiny bathroom staring. You know that builder beige? The colour that looks dirty even when it’ seamlessly blended into the background of my life.
Those beige walls greeted me at 6: 30 A.M. every morning and, frankly, my attitude started to change because of them. I live in a small flat and my bathroom is small too. About seven feet by five feet.
I have boring white fixtures and a basic mirror. It’’s not fancy.
But, I am in the bathroom.
Every day. Not just speeding through my morning routine to get out of there. I soak in the tub at night when my back hurts.
I wash my face with face masks on the weekends. I talk to my sister late at night while rinsing off my face washing. My little bathroom had better earn its keep.
I had been thinking about painting it for months. Maybe even years. Paint bathrooms can be tricky.
The water produces so much humidity. There are fixtures to work around. You name it.
Paint swatches overwhelmed me. I would take home paint swatches and look at them in my bathroom lighting and they ALWAYS looked completely different. Sage green looked dirty.
That trendy dusty pink wasn’t doing it for me. Navy was too overpowering for a bathroom without a window. I was walking through my local hardware store one Tuesday night. (Yes, really.
Don’t ask why I was out at 7 P.M. adulting is weird) when I stumbled across the colour “Stone Blue” by Benjamin Moore. It wasn’t navy. It wasn’t grey.
It was right?! In the middle. That sample paint swatch morphed right in front of my eyes.
Blue-grey? Green-grey? Depending on how the light hit it, Stone Blue changed.
Cue me buying the sample paint swatch. The sample paint swatch cost me $4. Life-changing dollars.
I painted a large square of “Stone Blue” on the wall behind my toilet when I returned home. The next morning I woke up and SAUNDED. INTO MY BATHROOM.
The paint colour on my wall looked completely different in the lighting of my bathroom. Stone Blue looked warm. It didn’t look cheap.
It was inviting. Like a luxury hotel bathroom. But not TOO fancy.
And the paint didn’t try too hard to look like a luxury bathroom. What sold me on Stone Blue was how it made my white fixtures POP. Like they were intentional and not just… existing.
My white bathroom sink, which is a basic model, actually stood out against the wall. The white trim around my mirror seemed to appear out of nowhere. Even my chrome towel racks looked polished.
I painted my entire bathroom that weekend. And one gallon of paint was all I needed. With paint leftover.
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Bonus for tiny bathrooms! I painted my bathroom a satin finish. Let’s be real.
You’re spraying yourself with water in there. Steam is going to happen. You WILL drop your toothpaste on the floor.
Don’t scrimp on paint that will be fine! Save yourself the grief of needing to repaint next year because you went for the cheap paint. Trust me.
The difference was instantaneous. Not only did my bathroom look different. How I felt when walking into my bathroom changed.
It stopped feeling like I was settling for what I had. It looked designed. Purposeful.
Even my morning routine changed. I didn’t realise it until after the fact. Before painting, I would rush through my morning routine and try to avoid staring at those ugly beige walls.
Now I slow down. I appreciate how the paint colour shifts throughout the day as natural light comes in from the hallway. In the morning, my bathroom feels cooler and more blue.
At night when the bathroom lights are on, they appear cozy and grey-green. Friends would even compliment my bathroom when they came over. “Wow! You did something to your bathroom?
It feels so much better.” And almost every single friend couldn’t pinpoint what I did to the space. They just knew it felt fancy. That is how impactful paint can be to a space when you choose the right colour versus leaving what came with the house.
Here is the breakdown of the project. One gallon of Benjamin Moore Advance paint (superior paint and it is made to work in kitchens/bathrooms): $65. Sample pot: $4.
Paint roller/brush kit: $12. Grand Total: $81 to completely transform my bathroom. I have spent plenty of money on things that didn’t work in my house.
That $300 light fixture that looked amazing online but made my hallway bulbs cast weird shadows all over the place. $150 throw pillows that were too trendy to actually use. This bathroom was the opposite. HUGE difference for little money.
It was comical, because I spent so much time trying to think of “ upgrades” I could make to my bathroom that would cost me hundreds of dollars. New vanity. Different mirror.
Maybe tile the whole place? What my bathroom really needed was some colour. The right shade.
One that would make all the other “builder basic” pieces feel intentional and styled, versus blah items that the contractor decided to leftovers to us. If you are considering painting your bathroom but feel overwhelmed by paint choices, I learned a couple tricks.
First, cheque how your paint sample looks at different times of the day.
There is a big difference between warm sunshine yellow afternoon light and sad gross morning light. Last but not least, don’t be afraid to paint small rooms. I was afraid that Stone Blue would make my bathroom feel even smaller.
Quite the opposite. It made my bathroom feel cozier than small. And that is okay!
There is beauty in coziness. Last but not least, spend the money on good paint. High-quality paint that is designed to withstand bathrooms!
It is slightly more expensive, yes. But you will thank me when you don’t have to worry about your paint bubbling because of the moisture. !
