My contractor raised his eyebrows at me in disbelief. “Are you sure you want to paint the entire bathroom that colour?” He questioned, holding up the paint chip sample of an intensely dark forest green. I had spent the last three weeks debating if I wanted to go bold in my small guest bathroom and now we were face-to-face with what could possibly be the inside of a pine tree chest. “Trust me,” I replied, knowing full well I wouldn’t blame someone if they didn’t take my advice. Fast forward 18 months, and I wholeheartedly believe painting my guest bathroom dark green was one of the best risks I’ve taken with design.
Although getting to that point – making dark green work in a beautiful bathroom without making it feel like a witch’s curse – required a lot of trial and error. I also had some panicked moments where I thought maybe I should have just done what everyone else does and went with white subway tiles. Dark green is having a major moment right now in bathrooms but a lot of the inspiration photos you’ll see online are either in uber spacious rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows or they’re so overly styled you can’t quite tell how it will look day-to-day.
My bathroom is around 6×8 feet. It has zero natural light.
It’s the kind of space where one design wrong can make ‘moody’ and ‘sophisticated’ feel like ‘mistake’ and ‘goth wannabe.’ The first thing I did was paint the walls because frankly if I was going to take this leap of faith, I wanted to see how the colour looked on all four walls.
I ended up choosing an emerald green with enough blue undertones that the colour wouldn’t read dirty. If you’re curious the exact colour I chose was Benjamin Moore’s Hunter Green. The finish was key here.
I chose an eggshell finish over matte because I needed to be able to wipe down the bathroom. Satin was out because under artificial light it can often look too shiny and cheap. After the first coat went up I freaked out.
The colour was DARK. Like, eat-night-meals-away-from-the-family-room-dark. When my husband walked into the bathroom and simply said, “Oh” I knew that wasn’t the response you want from your better half while renovating.
What I learned about using dark colours in small spaces is that they NEED layers of light to really sing. One overhead light source wasn’t going to cut it. In addition to the overhead fixture, I installed wall sconces on each side of the mirror (making sure to use warm LED bulbs, around 2700K) and underneath my floating vanity.
This last step – installing LED strip lighting underneath the floating vanity – was a game changer. It sounds bougie AF, but these LED strip lights were a $40 investment from Amazon that plug into a normal outlet. The indirect lighting really changed how dark the green looked.
Instead of soaking up all of the light that batted off the wall, it began to shimmer. Rich. Jewel-like.
Just like I had imagined. My next conundrum was what colour to pair with green. I didn’t want white because it was too severe.
Cream was too yellow. Instead, I decided to embrace warm brass hardware. To clarify when I say warm brass hardware, I mean the tap, towel bar, light fixtures, and yes even the toilet paper holder.
Brass paired with dark greens creates this amazing vintage/modern vibe. Bonus, brass hides water spots better than chrome and when you’re going for a sophisticated vibe every little detail matters. For flooring, I chose large format grey porcelain tile in a concrete finish.
I know what your thinking And you would be right. Grey can be cold. Against the dark green walls the grey tiles mimic nearly charcoal and the large format tiles (60 x 60 cm) help the bathroom feel less chopped up than smaller tiles would.
The key was to find a tile with a slight texture to it. Completely smooth tiles would have looked too sterile against the textured walls. When I decided to go bold in the shower, I didn’t do the typical paint everything white to try and brighten the space.
Nope, I wasn’t done quite yet. I installed dark green Moroccan zellige tiles from floor to ceiling. Zellige is a handmade tile from Morocco that has an uneven surface which reflects light differently depending on the angle you’re looking at it.
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They tiles were definitely pricey. Around £85 per square metre. But since I only needed to buy enough tiles to cover the shower I didn’t feel too bad about the splurge.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of installing zellige tiles…let’s just say it was an experience. They’re well known for being difficult to install because no two tiles are the same shape or thickness. My tile contractor (who, by the way was not the contractor that doubted my colour choice) thanked ME after he finished the shower.
He told me it was the most fun he’d had working on a project in months. The irregular surface of the tiles creates this organic, cave like feel to the entire shower. And in this scenario, cave like is a good thing.
Finding storage that worked with such a bold wall colour was difficult. Like I mentioned above, I passed on white shelves because it was too severe. Wooden shelves felt too cottagecore.
Eventually, I stumbled upon these floating black metal shelves with a matte finish. The shelves practically disappear against the green walls. The key was not overstuffing them.
Everything else lives in drawers inside my vanity. Speaking of my vanity, I ended up commissioning a custom vanity as pre-made sizes were too wide to fit in the space. A local woodworker built me the vanity in white oak and finished it with a natural oil.
Truthfully, the warm tones from the wood ties the whole room together. It helps marry the dark green walls and brass fixtures without making the room feel too precious. I was also very intentional when selecting the mirror.
I refused to hang a boring ol’ rectangular mirror that would look flat against the dramatic walls. Instead, I found this gorgeous round brass mirror with an antiqued finish. It’s a little outside of the box when it comes to bathroom mirrors but it looks intentional rather than weird.
Overall showering in a dark green bathroom has been….everything I hoped it would be. Taking a shower in the morning feels decadent. Like I’m staying at a luxury hotel.
Taking a bath at night (there is a pint-sized tub in the corner of the room) actually feels rejuvenating. The colour on the walls shift depending on the light. Sometimes they almost look black.
Other times they reveal these beautiful blue-green undertones. I was initially worried that cleaning would be a nightmare but it’s not. Eggshell paint wipes down super easy.
Brass naturally patinas over time instead of tarnishing.
And the handmade zellige tiles are surprisingly easy to keep soap scum free. Would I do it again?
Absolutely! Though next time I may splurge on better paint primer from the get-go so I don’t have to paint three coats. And double cheque my measurements before ordering my custom vanity size.
Clearly I can’t read a tape measurer past 6 PM. Who knew? Approximate cost of the project was £28000.
Yes, that is a lot of money. But when you break it down most of that money went towards the vanity and the Moroccan tiles. Paint, fixtures and lighting came together for under £400.
Sometimes the smallest changes can have the biggest impact when it comes to stepping out of your comfort zone.
