Picture this: you’re showered and dressed but still waking up at 6 AM just so you can stare at yourself in the mirror and think god this place feels like a cave. Sound familiar? It did to me too.
Many times. When I first moved into my current flat it came with a bathroom roughly the size of a large shoebox. Okay, I measured it three times.
It was four feet by six feet. The walls were a hue I’ll generously describe as “warm beige” but they looked more “sad hospital corridor” to me.
Everything about the room felt small and cramped.
The whites of my eyes hurt when I looked in the mirror. It was depressing. I started browsing Instagram for tiny bathroom inspiration and came across a revolutionary discovery: paint colour really can make or break the way a bathroom looks and feels.
Mirrors can help. So can clever storage. But nothing opened up my “shower-room” quite like paint colour.
Light-coloured paint isn’t magic. It’s science: colour psychology and reflection. All that, plus it’s WAY cheaper than an actual renovation, which is good news if your landlord is the kind who refuses to do anything more than clean the kitchen extractor fan.
How light colours can brighten up your bathroom I began playing around with light-reflecting colours after reading an article about how white paint reflects approximately 85% of light that shines on it back into the room, while darker colours absorb the light. White made sense as my number one paint colour recommendation. But spending my days in a flat that feels like a doctor’s waiting room wasn’t quite my style.
Neither was going full Joanna Gaines crisp and stark everything on me. Luckily, there are plenty of other super pale colours that can have a similar space-creating affect as pure white. Here are my favourites.
Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White was the firstcolour I tried. Despite its name, it’s not actually white. There’s a very subtle warm undertone that stops it feeling sterile or lifeless.
And trust me, you notice the difference. Hours after I finished painting the first wall I could literally feel myself relaxing every time I walked into the bathroom. Literally.
Lesson Number One: be careful of cheap white paint. I made the mistake once when helping a friend paint her similarly-sized bathroom. We picked a white from the DIY store.
Same amount of sunlight. Same size room. But her shade of white was flat.
Dreary. And it just didn’t have the same… lift. I later realised that the cheap white paint had low-quality pigments that were way more likely to degrade in steamy, humid rooms like bathrooms.
Invest in the best paint you can if you’re looking to create the illusion of space. Trust. My number one go-to “white” recommendation is actually Farrow & Ball’s Pointing.
It’s officially an “off white” but it has these gorgeous grey-blue undertones that change with the light. It’s pricey compared to most colours on the market, but my god does it work in small spaces. Think of it as investing in your sanity every time you step into your toilet.
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Speaking of “off white”, have you ever noticed that the palest pinks can often have a similar effect to white paint? I’m obsessed with Clare’s Current Mood at the moment. I get that painting your bathroom pink sounds like a recipe for nightmare-inspiring regurgitation.
But hear me out. It’s so pale that it almost looks white from afar but adds a subtle warmth that regular white paint can’t dream of matching. My friend Sarah painted her tiny ensuite in Current Mood and every few months she’ll send me a text like: “Holy shit, Anna did you know your colouring makes small bathrooms look bigger? !” Lesson Number Two: colour undertones are everything.
Cool colour undertones (we’re looking at you blues and greys) can help small spaces feel bigger but might not always be the warmest, especially if your bathroom doesn’t have great natural light. Warm colour undertones on the other hand – creams, pale peaches, barely-there yellows – can create a faux sunlight effect that works wonders on tiny bathrooms with no windows. Speaking from experience here.
I painted my sister’s windowless basement powder room a cool grey- white that looked fantastic in the little paint chip. It took one steamy shower for her to realise the space felt cooler than it looked. Pastel blue is another great bathroom colour if you have white fixtures.
I painted my bathroom last year in Dulux’s Coastal Blue, which is so ridiculously pale it can also pass for white. It reminds me of the colour of the morning sky and every time I look up at my bathroom ceiling it seems higher than it actually is. Pro tip: paint your ceiling the same colour as your walls instead of white.
It creates instant height. Okay, hear me out on this one. Paint finishes.
Most people would never consider the paint finish as an option when painting a small bathroom, but lighter colours paired with a semi-gloss or satin paint finish will reflect light better than flat finish paint. Sure you might see more imperfections with a higher sheen paint, but baths steam up. Nobody’s looking at the walls that closely anyways.
The added bonus? Higher sheen paint is much easier to wipe down than flat paint. Once you’re ready to add that super pale paint colour to your bathroom don’t forget about the finishes you already have.
Chrome taps and white sanitaryware will give you extra mirrors to bounce light around the room. Since painting my bathroom, I’ve noticed that every time I look in the mirror it feels like a light box. Even my other half, who never takes 🙁 bathroom shoutouts, noticed that my shower-room “felt different.” As soon as I finished painting he walked in and said something about it feeling bigger.
Masses of people compliment me on my “sparkling clean” bathroom but what they don’t know is I hardly ever clean it…. ! Trust me, I’ve been there. You try the perfect colour at the shop that looks amazing on the tiny paint chip but as soon as it’s dry, it looks like totally different colour.
Swatch your paint colour on the actual wall you’re painting! And live with it for at least 48 hours.
Colours can look drastically different once they’re dry and painted onto a large surface.
Pale sage can go from fresh and spa-like to hospital-corridor sickly in the wrong light. I’m actually addicted to buying tiny sample pots of paint in the colours I love. For bathrooms I always keep Cloud White, Pointing, Current Mood and a super pale sage green called Breakfast Room Green on hand.
Depending on the bulbs you have and how much natural light your bathroom receives, each colour can completely change the mood of your bathroom while retaining that illusion of space we’re all after. One last life hack: brighter colours= happier mornings. At least that’s how it is for me.
Ever since I painted my bathroom I actually enjoy waking up early enough to take a morning shower. Stepping into a steamy, brightly-lit room with pale creamy walls instantly puts me in a better mood. Who knows.
Maybe lighter colours are scientifically proven to make you happier. If they are, I’m ready to paint my kitchen.
