What paint colour for my bathroom?

Question

I am halfway through decorating my bathroom, and I have white tiles around the bath and up to the shower etc.; with a grey mosaic border. I intend to have a slate grey floor, and I need to decide what colour to paint the other half of the bathroom that would go with it all. So just looking for ideas.

Answer 1

Piggy Pink.

Answer 2

I have exactly the same colour scheme - I have done my walls in a dusky plum type colour. I can't give you the name of the paint as the shop where I bought the paint actually made the colour for me from a roll of wall paper.

To help me chose I took a floor tile, a wall tile and a border tile to the paint shop with me and went thru hundreds of different colours. I tried small trial pots in greens, greys, cream, whites, blues all of which were disastrous until I came up with the plum idea. It looks great. You just need to add some warmth to your colour scheme.

If you're really brave you could try bright red or orange I did the bathroom in my last house in the same tile colours as you've mentioned and painted the walls in red and orange - brave but stunning if you have a big bathroom but this time I chose to be a bit more conservative cos these colours wouldn't go with the rest of my house.

happy paint hunting.

Answer 3

I like using a method I call contrasting colors. By that I mean the one color makes the other color stand out. An easy way to do that is to use a dark color and a light color against each other.

In my bathroom I have a sandstone colored floor and light/bright objects on the wall such as natural oak cabinets a white toilet, chrome and white porcelain towel holders, a white marble sink, etc. Those objects are bright or light, so I used medium to dark colors in my bathrooms to draw attention to those objects. Due to the contrast of color between the wall and the objects it makes the objects stand out and your eye gets drawn to them.

You are going with a slate grey floor and a grey border around your shower. So I'd recommend a medium to bright color for your bathroom to contrast against that dark colored floor. Then for your hardware on the walls such as towel holders and light switch covers, etc I would go with a dark metal such as a dark antiqued look or a smooth black contemporary look. That will make your hardware stand out against the light color of the wall and the light color of the wall will make the floor stand out.

I'd suggest going with a warm yellow. A yellow with a little bit of a slight bit of a brownish tint. A color similar to what I'm thinking is Fruit Compote 3004-2A of Valspar paint at Lowe's. I would say you could do a yellow with a colorwash technique so that it has a little bit of brown feathered on the surface so that your wall kind of has a bright New Mexico stucco kind of look. Although I tend to stick with solid colors since they are simpler and easier to get right.

I noticed a number of people recommended blue or white. I wouldn't recommend blue. Blue and grey put together can look dreary and depressing and it just isn't going to make things stand out in your bathroom. White will make things in your bathroom stand out. But in my new house all of the walls were painted off-white when I moved in and you get sick of it after a while. I almost got the mental hospital feeling. You can pull off white and make it really good, but if you do so, I'd definitely recommend putting some nice bright paintings or pictures on the wall. I would look for paintings or pictures that have bright red in them to catch your eye and add at least a few sparks of color to a monotone room.

The reason why I like the yellow better with a slight brown tint is that it has a nice warmth to it. It has a very inviting sense to it that says, "I feel comfortable in this room." If you do too much in neutral colors your house can get a blah feeling to it, so I wouldn't recommend tan.

One last recommendation before choosing your color, take a descent size sample of the color and go shopping around for shower curtains and accessories that look good with the color. For my master bathroom I chose a nice medium to light blue that went along really well with the medium brown (Behr's Blanket Brown) that I had in my master bedroom. It also looked great against my sink and mirrors and stuff, but when I went shopping for shower curtains and accessories for the bathroom I couldn't find a good selection of accesories in my area that would go with the color. So now I'm going back and painting it a red that looks AWESOME against the blacks and whites and chrome/nickel finishes in the bathroom. And the bathroom will have a totally awesome contemporary look.

Don't be afraid to be a little on the bold side. If you pick bold colors pick ones that are warm and inviting and give you a wow factor. Like the one person mentioned turquoise just isn't a color that does that.

PS - Don't use a flat finish paint, especially in a bathroom. A flat finish will show any paint touch ups that you have to make later if the wall is scratched or something. I like a Satin finish the best. If the finish is too shiny it will show imperfections in the wall too easily, such as bumps or nail spots.

Answer 4

Personally I like white bathrooms, but the grey floor sounds lovely. I'd keep it really plain with white walls and you can then add colour with towels, mats, shower curtain and the odd vase, picture or plant.

Answer 5

A light rose, would go with the grey slate, and white tiles.

Answer 6

I would keep the walls white to keep it looking clean and simple, but accent it with a shower curtain that has an eyecatching color or a nice pattern- something to throw it off a little bit but at the same time compliment the clean looking style.
Check out either westelm.com or cb2.com for ideas. They always have nice things for the house.

Answer 7

I too would paint the walls white. You could then add big silver swirls to the walls thus having a nice celan look of silver & white.

My advice to you would be to stick with a white loo seat - do not be tempted by the silver ones. They are a nightmare to keep clean as they get fingerprints all over them when the seat is lifted......grrrrrr!

Answer 8

My friend has just painted her bathroom "Auebergine" (dark purple) and with her white bathroom suite and tiles and Slate floor it looks fab! She also added a few chrome accessories.

Answer 9

Stay neutral. Introduce the colour with your accessories and then its easy to change if you get fed up with the colour. I painted my bathroom bright turquoise (it seemed a good idea at the time) and I hated it the minute it was finished. And because it was such a definite colour, it took about 5 coats of paint to cover.

Answer 10

why not just go with white and the grey it would look nice like a pearly colour. Or if you want to add colour then maybe baby pink or lilac.

Answer 11

With white and grey? Absolutely any colour you like!