We’re slowly inching closer to a finished upstairs bathroom. Even though we didn’t do any major renovations in there it’s still taking a while and the latest step in getting there was a fresh coat of paint. You may be thinking to yourself, “Allie, the bathroom doesn’t look like it needs to be painted?” Well that’s just because the colors on the wall are so light it’s hard to capture them in photos. For starters the color on the wall was a really faint blue. That alone wasn’t enough to make me want to paint the whole bathroom, but then there’s that random piece of trim that wasn’t painted, the bottom of some of the tile trim wasn’t painted either, and there were some weird white splotches on the wall, plus some holes in the ceiling from hooks we removed. So it was definitely necessary.
Bathroom Paint Color
Now, I realize that throwing a fresh coat of paint on sounds super easy, but it actually wasn’t. We had such a hard time choosing a color! Color should really be in air quotes here because we were deciding between like 10 different variations of white, off-white and gray. I’m not kidding we got at least 10 samples. For some reason a lot of the samples we got ended up looking SO different than the paint chips. Like, more so than I’ve ever experienced before. I don’t know if it’s the lighting in the room – there’s only one window that’s surrounded by very leafy trees so it can be kind of dark. Or it could be the tile? We didn’t choose that tile, the previous owners did and I really don’t know why they didn’t just go with a classic white. But, then again I question a lot of their choices… Originally we were very sure we wanted a gray but everything we tried was either too warm or too cool, we really couldn’t find the right one. The warmer colors that toned nicely with the tile all felt too yellow creating a warm glow in an already warm bathroom. After coming to terms with the fact that all the grays weren’t right we decided to reconsider some of the whites we’d gotten and it turns out there was one that worked really well. Fundamental White by Sherwin Williams was just the right amount of creaminess while still feeling crisp and bright which we decided was the most important because it helped keep the room feeling as light as possible. Nothing’s more annoying than getting ready in a dimly lit bathroom.
Initially we planned on doing different colors for the trim and ceiling, but since this white turned out to be such a perfect neutral we decided to paint everything the same color. And I’m actually really glad we did. I don’t know that you can tell from the before pictures because the paint is so light, but the wall color was different than the color of trim piece above the tile which was different from the rest of the trim which was probably different than the ceiling (though I’m not positive about that one). So we had at least 3, and maybe 4, different paint colors plus the tile is that strange shade of gray. Basically there was A LOT going on for such a small space. By painting everything the same color it brought so much more cohesiveness to the room. I was actually surprised by that result. Because the paint we decided on was relatively similar to what was there before I just wasn’t expecting such a noticeable difference, but there really is. Unfortunately it’s probably more so in person – I guess that just means you need to come over and visit!
As you could probably have guessed, because of all the samples we got it took us a while to decide on a color. And then, when it came to the actual painting that took a while too. There was a lot of cutting in, taping, and small detail work that definitely contributed. It was nothing that hard just time consuming. Plus, when I started I used the sample jar for the cutting in and I didn’t notice right away, but the bottom was not mixed all the way. There was a whole section (you can see the gray on the edges below) that wasn’t the right color for the first coat. I was already annoyed with Lowe’s because they told me it would only take one coat and it definitely took two. And then that happened – so overall I wasn’t very happy with them for this project.
But, I’m so happy with how the color turned out – even if there were a few curveballs along the way! Now, we just have to get the mirror in and add some finishing touches. I can’t wait!
