Ah, the magic of paint strikes again. Greta’s bathroom has always had good bones–the classically tiled shower, wood dresser vanity with great curves. I even loved the beadboard. A couple months ago, we tiled the floor and gave everything a fresh coat of paint (Alabaster on top and painted the beadboard Revere Pewter). And then it sat. I got questions from a lot of you and our team, “Why aren’t you posting Greta’s bathroom?” And I knew it was because it wasn’t there. Something was off. I knew I didn’t take my own advice I tell people ALL THE TIME–don’t paint a windowless room white. I did just that and it look drab. But! Since this blog is all about learning, I posted all about what I didn’t think was working right here and over 700 comments came pouring in. You guys like it when I share our mistakes. But I’m glad we did, because we made it! We’re so happy with the bathroom now!
As a reminder, here’s how it looked after round one:
And here’s how it looked when we started:
Because we had already picked out blush towels, I knew a dark green would sing in the space! We landed on Sherwin Williams’ Jasper (the deepest green that I’ve never seen look bad) and then a funny thing happened. We were trying to decide whether to paint just the beadboard, or the upper wall and beadboard and decided just to go for painting EVERYTHING since I love when trim and walls are all one color. But as soon as I saw Jasper on top next to Revere Pewter on the beadboard, I startled Chris when I screamed, “Wait!!! This!!!” It wasn’t even an option I had considered but it was definitely the right option. I loved the way Revere Pewter blended with the floor tile and Jasper on the walls eliminated the dull white paint. To me, it was a match made in heaven.
The only problem? Chris had already started painting the beadboard–OOPS! Luckily, we still had some of the pewter left and it was easy to paint over it again.
We also decided to paint the entire ceiling Jasper as well. It really extends the walls up and the room feels so much larger! It’s incredible. It also makes the darker paint color look less like a thick stripe in between bead board and a previously white ceiling. The shower is fully tiled in white subway tile with mosaic floors and it really shines in the contrast. (Why did I try to steer away from my norm again?)
The other tweaks we made were we extended art along the entire back wall for a fun gallery wall which MADE THE SPACE. If I could pass on a tip for gallery walls, it would be to lay it all on the ground first and move and move and move pieces until you can find some good balanced asymmetry. I repeated two of the same frame, but hung them opposite each other for balance and then on either side of the center 4, I hung a wider black and neutral picture diagonal with a brass smaller frame also on the diagonal. It’s all about guiding the eye to the next piece through subconscious hints.
We actually put the original mirror that was here when we moved in BACK in here. The beveled mirror edges are really so pretty, tie in well to the faucet and I’m not lying, this mirror weighs 75 POUNDS so I felt compelled to use it somewhere.
Greta loved her bathroom before but she said she feels like a teenager now (great). I think that’s code for cool. Haha. And I feel excited about the space. I couldn’t wait to share it with you which told me everything I needed to know. I’m so happy we worked through it.
You know the old adage, If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again? “Succeeding” in home projects is solely baed on YOUR happiness with the outcome. There will always be people that like (or don’t like) how something looks, but it only matters how you feel. If you’re not happy with an element of your home, and it’s something you can change–take action on that dissatisfaction! Whether it’s a new paint color or rearranging furniture or tearing up the carpet on your stairs–there’s so much success in finding joy in your home.
SOURCES
Wall Color : Sherwin Williams Jasper in Low Lustre (Emerald Line)
Beadboard Color: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter in Satin
Tile
Towel Hooks
Toilet Paper Holder
Towel Ring
Vanity Light
Blush Towel
Striped Hand Towel
Bath Mat
Soap dispenser
Toothbrush holder
Art (from top to bottom, left to right)
Time Stands Still (small landscape)
Braid
Masked Girl
Love & Be Happy framed prints (come in pair)
Floral Bouquet
Mask- Jennifer Ament
Love this look! I recently painted my windowless bathroom Hunter Green and installed sconce lighting on either side of the large round mirror over the vanity. The issue I’m facing is that I only have the sconce lights and an overhead light in the shower (that turns on with the fan). The sconces give a candlelight effect (60watts), that is very flattering, but I’m not sure if it is too dark for a bathroom. Should I add another ceiling light in the bathroom? Or any other ideas to brighten up the room?
Is your “braided hair” print an 8 x 8 or 16 x 16”? I want to do this in my bathroom and can’t decide which size. Curious what the scale is on your wall. Thank you! I love this space, and really every space you do.
16×16!
Thank you for reminding us to NOT paint a windowless bathroom white. We are designing our new build home and my husband wants his office bathroom (in a basement, no windows) to be light and bright and airy, and I keep trying to tell him we need to embrace the windowless room and go a bit moodier. White with no windows = drab. I’m going to show him this. :)
Our bathrooms have no windows and I’m so inspired by this! It looks great. I painted one feature wall dark in our master bath, but now I’m ready to do all of them! And the ceilings too! Woohoo!
Beautiful!!! My favorite room in our home is a tiny powder room with light colored travertine (ugh) on the bottom half of the walls and floor with a black upper wall and ceiling. Despite the tile that I don’t love, the black makes the space.