I tried the dark teal walls in the bath this weekend.

[Susie]

While we're finalizing all the choices for the bathroom and getting everything ordered, I decided to get a sample of my potential wall color and put it up, to see if I really liked such a dramatic change.  In the pic with the vanity light, you can see the old, very pale blue color on the other wall in the corner.  It's a huge change!

Obviously it needs another coat or two, to achieve the true depth of color.  But already I am having doubts.  I loooove the color itself.  That's not really the issue.  The issue, which these pictures don't necessarily convey well, is how dark the room feels now.  This morning as I was getting ready, I felt like half the lightbulbs in the bathroom had burned out.  They hadn't of course, the teal just reflects so little light.  I expected that the dark paint might make the bathroom feel small or something, but I didn't exactly expect the "dim" feeling.

The renovated bath will have more lights.  Right now we have one triple vanity light and an overhead heat lamp (which was on in these pics).  We will have two [could be double or triple] vanity lights, plus an overhead light.  The white tile will be replaced, but similar.

WDYT?  Is the light situation salvageable or should I think about moving to a lighter color?


 

[mrs.jacinthe]

This is your only full bath, right? Do you get ready in there or is it toileting/showering only?

[mala]

I love it, but if you're worried about light, how about doing one or two walls that color and the other walls a lighter version of the same color. Or instead of doing the whole wall, do a horizontal stripe around the entire room.

[tres3]

I love it but it needs another coat of paint it looks like. I think the color is beautiful.

I think the vanity needs to be white and the window trim should be painted white too.

[Susie]

Mar 5, 2018 10:35:20 GMT -5 tres3 said:

I love it but it needs another coat of paint it looks like. I think the color is beautiful.

I think the vanity needs to be white and the window trim should be painted white too.

For sure on another coat.  Maybe 2 more.  But it's only going to get darker, so I'm wondering if I should abort before putting in the time!

The vanity is not going to be white, but the window trim will be.  This had been my plan:

Attachments:

[tres3]

Susie,

I think it will be beautiful. You won't have a lot of wall space that is actually that color and it will be pretty. Just make sure the art above the toilet is a lighter color.

[Susie]

Mar 5, 2018 10:34:06 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

This is your only full bath, right? Do you get ready in there or is it toileting/showering only?

Yes.  I do put on makeup in there.  I was hoping since the white tile shower (and/or white shower curtain) will be behind me and reflected in the mirrors, it would be ok.  But I'm not sure.

Mar 5, 2018 10:35:15 GMT -5 mala said:

I love it, but if you're worried about light, how about doing one or two walls that color and the other walls a lighter version of the same color. Or instead of doing the whole wall, do a horizontal stripe around the entire room.

With how the tall linen cabinet and the tiled-to-ceiling shower break up the room (PIPs up thread), I think I need to commit to one color.  Unlike most other rooms, I can't imagine how you'd do an accent wall in this specific space.

[mala]

Looking at your pictures I think it will be fine. The color is gorgeous.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Ok, so with that knowledge, and given the experience I have with our (very) dark bedroom, I'd say to either consider a lighter color OR look into a lighted vanity mirror. Dark walls just suck up light and without some direct light on your face, it will be very difficult to do your makeup. However, I really love the color, so if you can find a lighted mirror you like (and that fits the budget), I'd go that route first.

[bellalynn]

I love the color. I think it will be beautiful after another coat or two. In regards to getting ready, would you have room to put up a light up make up mirror on the vanity just when you get ready?

[momin2013]

I think it'll look better once the window trim is painted white. Also, is the mirror with the black frame staying? I think that would look better if it had a white or beveled glass frame instead of black...

[mrsukyankee]

We have a darkish colour and really the only way it works is that we have a very well lit mirror. I'd look into that.

[bhnumbers]

That color is beautiful. I wonder if making it glossy would help reflect more light? I visited a design house last year and there was a room that had glossy walls...I know it sounds weird, but it was a really pretty look.

[Susie]

Mar 5, 2018 11:28:49 GMT -5 momin2013 said:

I think it'll look better once the window trim is painted white. Also, is the mirror with the black frame staying? I think that would look better if it had a white or beveled glass frame instead of black...

Basically nothing is staying.  The door, and maybe the window trim (I'm not painting it until we get through all the demo just in case) are about it.  It's a total gut reno.

Right now I am leaning toward this medicine cabinet over each sink:

It's 20x31.

I looked at the lighted medicine cabinets, and they're really not in the budget.  It looks like they are running almost $1k each, and we would need a pair.  We are already at the top of our budget, so that splurge is no dice.  We're going to need to stick with the ~$200 medicine cabinet and ~$100 light mounted over it!

[auroraloo]

WOuld brighter light bulbs help? The color is fantastic.

[heliocentric]

Can you add an overhead light? That might help for the times when you need more light than what's above the medicine cabinet.

I can see how it would feel dark, but I love that color and want it to work for you!

[mala]

You could totally go with brighter bulbs to throw more light. With the CFL or LED you can go really bright before you max out the wattage on the fixtures. We just replaced our kitchen fan and went from three bulbs to one and got a super high CFL light bulb while still being within the wattage for the fixture.

[hbomdiggity]

LOL at everyone saying it needs another coat...

I love the color. But would also be having reservations after seeing this and it may not be practical for a full bath. Is there any way to use this color in your half bath?

We ended up using a dark glass tile in our master bath and I was also worried it would be too dark. But with a lot of lighting and the reflectiveness of the glass tile, it was not issue. For you, it is just paint. Of all the decisions you are making the wall color is the easiest to change. You will have double the lighting (I assume a fixture over both mirrors) and the full white tile shower. I agree about adding a ceiling fixture if you don't have one already. Try it and if it doesn't work you can (with some primer) get a lighter color. 

[woowoo]

Susie, I LOVE the color but I had a bathroom in a rental already painted in that color once and ended up using a different bathroom full time to do my makeup. The hue it cast always made it so difficult to get a feel for how my makeup really looked. But I do full makeup every day for work (foundation, eye shadow, etc). If you're not a full makeup wearer than it might not bother you. Worst case, paint a 2nd coat and then wait until the new lighting is in there before deciding. You can always repaint!

[Susie]

Mar 5, 2018 13:40:28 GMT -5 hbomdiggity said:

LOL at everyone saying it needs another coat...

I love the color. But would also be having reservations after seeing this and it may not be practical for a full bath. Is there any way to use this color in your half bath?

We ended up using a dark glass tile in our master bath and I was also worried it would be too dark. But with a lot of lighting and the reflectiveness of the glass tile, it was not issue. For you, it is just paint. Of all the decisions you are making the wall color is the easiest to change. You will have double the lighting (I assume a fixture over both mirrors) and the full white tile shower. I agree about adding a ceiling fixture if you don't have one already. Try it and if it doesn't work you can (with some primer) get a lighter color. 

That's an interesting idea.

This is the half bath (with a white door now):


In terms of art, there is a framed landscape plan, drawn as a joke by a landscape architect friend, on the wall opposite the door.  It has lots of different colors in it, so I think it would be fine with any wall color.  Maybe I could paint this bath Blue Peacock to get that out of my system?  This bathroom has a triple vanity light plus an overhead light, and lots of white, all of which would help with the bold color.  In fact this deep teal idea is leftover from when we did a gut reno in this bathroom, I just didn't have the guts to go all the way then.  Obviously what I settled on did not scratch the itch (although I like the half bath as it is).

My only concern with doing Blue Peacock downstairs is that the half bath is off the family room, and it might seem a little much, or jarring, looking in.  The family room (which now has white trim and new furniture - I need new pics, lol) is a lot lighter.  Maybe mine just is not the right house for this



It is just paint, which is why I was thinking of going so bold.  But if I'm 50/50 at best on keeping the bold teal, I'd really like to decide yay or nay on it before the new-everything goes in.  With SUCH a bold color, it's so hard to get every last bit of edging just right to perfectly cover it, KWIM?

[TR]

Oooooh do the family room the dark teal

[tres3]

Susie,

if you love the color maybe the 1/2 bath idea is a good one. My 1/2 bath has that teal wall paper. It is a bold statement but I always think you should go bold in a powder room.

[mrsemilys]

I agree with the other comments. Looks wise-I love it! For functionality so you can see to put on makeup and such look into new lighting or a lighted mirror or obviously go a lighter color. Do you think you will regret it if you go lighter?

[simpsongal]

I would go lighter. I love the navy blue in our living room (w/the white wainscoting), but even with all 8 recessed lights blasting and several lamps, it always has a moody/depth from the dark color. Which is great in a formal living room, not so much in a bathroom.

I vote peacock in the 1/2 bath!

[sassystace]

It is a pretty color but for size of the room and the darkness factor I'd go with a lighter shade on the same color strip.

[Susie]

After another day with it, I'm still so bummed about it, but I'm not even going to finish covering with the Blue Peacock.  I'm just going to go to SW and pick out another color.  I will continue to think about doing Blue Peacock in the half bath.  Since I otherwise had no plans to paint that room, maybe I'll use the sample can to paint some poster board to hang up in there and see what I think.

The picture over the toilet is a definite keeper, since that was the original inspiration for the color scheme.  So now I'm looking at colors that I think will just make a nice bathroom, even if they are just kind of "nice" and boring.  Unfortunately Blue Peacock is one of the historical colors, so it's not on a strip that I can just move upward to get a lighter version.  I know I could get it mixed at x%, but it's easier to envision if I just pick a color that already exists.  Maybe something like Aquaverde, in the pic below.  It's pretty, it's just... so exactly in keeping with half the rest of my house's muddy blue greens:

   

I like them (clearly), I just wanted to step out of the mold for a small, closed-door room.

Attachments:

[kellikans]

I love it!

[auroraloo]

My neighbor had Drizzle in her house, it's gorgeous.

[hockeywife]

Mar 5, 2018 11:50:55 GMT -5 Susie said:

Mar 5, 2018 11:28:49 GMT -5 momin2013 said:

I think it'll look better once the window trim is painted white. Also, is the mirror with the black frame staying? I think that would look better if it had a white or beveled glass frame instead of black...

Basically nothing is staying.  The door, and maybe the window trim (I'm not painting it until we get through all the demo just in case) are about it.  It's a total gut reno.

Right now I am leaning toward this medicine cabinet over each sink:

It's 20x31.

I looked at the lighted medicine cabinets, and they're really not in the budget.  It looks like they are running almost $1k each, and we would need a pair.  We are already at the top of our budget, so that splurge is no dice.  We're going to need to stick with the ~$200 medicine cabinet and ~$100 light mounted over it!

What about three sconces and an overhead light? or a mounted makeup mirror for the wall to the left of the vanity?

I love the color and would definitely keep it.

[Susie]

Mar 7, 2018 9:01:35 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

My neighbor had Drizzle in her house, it's gorgeous.

Yesterday I picked up a sample can and painted one of the walls Drizzle.  I like it!  Going to think on it for a while, but definitely getting warmer.