Well, as I’ve been hinting around here and elsewhere, I got a wild hair at the weekend and decided to paint the bathroom.
I haven’t shown much of my bathroom on my blog because it was just so blah with cream tiles, crummy cream laminate flooring that never quite looks clean, a swirly artex ceiling (mmm sexy), white walls and a very large mirror that’s antiquing a bit – and not in a good way. We have talked about ripping out the whole thing and starting again many times but the kitchen remodel has taken priority and the bathroom has taken a back seat.
I had put a framed print and a shelf up months ago and finally decided to move a second print into the room last weekend which had been in the hallway just outside the bathroom. It was only once I decided the second print actually added something to the room that I decided to just take the plunge and work with what I have until the time comes when we can look at spending proper money and energy on a remodel.
One of the first times I actually played with the idea of painting the bathroom in a deeper hue was when I viewed Hillary Thomas’ deep teal bathroom that she showcased on Lonny in the Jan/Feb 11 Issue. Her whole place is beyond amazing (if you haven’t seen it, you really must check out the link because it’s stunning) but the bathroom just looked fantastic to me.
 |
| via Lonny |
Unfortunately, my bathroom didn’t have wainscoting and a pretty marble sink. In fact, it’s so tiny, it only just about manages to fit in a bath, sink and toilet.
 |
| The bathroom the morning after we moved in. Excuse the open lid. I do live with a man. |
The funny thing is that I have no other true ‘before’ pictures. The bathroom was so sad and boring that I obviously never felt the urge to document it.
Eventually, I added a Clarissa Hulse shower curtain which gave me my colour scheme.
I realised that my two peacock prints went rather nicely with the colours in the shower curtain so adding these (the bottom one only just being added last weekend as I mentioned) added a little bit of personality but it was still missing a certain oomph.
And then, on Thursday, Apartment Therapy ran an article on Unique and Colourful Bathrooms. And I was sold.
Seeing regular ol’ not-especially-pretty bathrooms done up with bright happy colours was just the thing I needed to get off my arse and get down to Homebase to mix me up a batch.
Enter the glorious Hawaiian Blue 2 courtesy of Dulux.
It’s amazing what a bit of paint can do, isn’t it?
I also decided that the horrible cheap chrome towel rail (which appeared to emulate one of those heated towel racks but had no such practical function) had to go.
And I replaced it with a set of hooks from B&Q.
It was a bit of a splurge at £30 but I really think it adds something different to the bathroom since we don’t have enough room behind the door to include a standard towel rail and I like the way the white really pops against the deep peacock blue.
Oh and I also replaced the disgusting light fitting…
 |
| Grossness overload. Yes, those are dead bugs in there. Blegh!! I made W take it down because I wouldn’t touch it. I’m such a girl. |
I purchased a new sparkly glass one that felt a bit more ‘retro’ to me (30’s retro rather than 90’s retro). The pictures don’t really do it justice because the light plays off the facets in the glass rather nicely in person and it’s so much brighter in there now (which seems bizarre as it’s been painted a darker colour).
Here’s a good before and after for you because we all like those… (baring in mind, it’s difficult to get a good pic in here with the room being so tiny!)
Before…
 |
| Meh. |
And after…
 |
| Shazzam! |
I love the way the prints now pop off the dark walls…
Before…
And after…
The best thing is that I didn’t tell W what colour I was going to paint it for fear that he may balk at my choice of a darker colour. I just told him I was going to paint and when he said, “Yeah that’s fine, do whatever ya like”, I took that as a green light to go to town. He didn’t even see it until after the first coat was done and when he walked in, he just went, ‘Wow.’
I waited to see if it was a good ‘wow’ or a bad ‘wow’.
“It looks great… Good choice!” and then I got a kiss for being such a clever girlfriend. Happy boyfriend, happy me.
He’s said now a few times how wonderful it looks, what a difference it makes to the room, that it looks 1000 times better than it did. So I have received very kind approval from W which is always good when you take risks like painting a room without telling your other half. Ahem.
Another before… (please try to ignore the fugly floor and manky pipework)
And after…
I’m really pleased with the transformative power this colour had in the smallest room in my house. It’s just a temporary thing until we can do it up properly but for now, I think it’s made a nice difference to a rather bland room and I did the whole thing for £57 (£15 paint + £30 hooks + £12 light fixture). Not too bad for a weekends’ work I don’t think.
Ok, (and here’s where all the insecurities roll in) it’s not as lovely as Hillary Thomas’ bathroom in the inspiration pic above and I may buy a few more bits and bobs (towels, new floor mat, a proper soap dispenser) and I need to figure out how to make the frosted glass in the medicine cabinet completely opaque and I’m even thinking of how I can bring in some orange as an accent colour…
Oh and I’m considering replacing the shower curtain with something prettier and just use a shower liner on the inside which is ironic considering that’s where the inspiration started from! It’s just difficult finding nice shower curtains in the UK because they aren’t very popular (most bathrooms have glass screens) so I may be looking for a while but the ‘Waves of Ruffles’ curtain from Anthropologie has caught my eye (the price, on the other hand makes my eyes water).
But even after all those rambling excuses, I’m still pretty damn happy with it.
So… what do you think of the change?
Linking up here...
Hey gorgeous,<br /><br />It looks awesome!! I can never believe my eyes when people transform a room in the twinkling of an eye, like you've done. I LOVE the colour. What an amazing difference it makes. Wow. Wow. W. O. W.<br /><br />Sarahx
What a gorgeous colour those peacock prints really stand out now what a great choice, love it
Oh you are so clever – it looks great. Love the colour and those prints look great – i dont know why i have never thought to put pics in the bathroom! You have inspired me to do something with ours as its so manky too!! xx
A wonderful transformation well done!
I can't remember who did it but someone just posted a tutorial on how to make your own ruffled shower curtain. She just used the cheap plastic ones from the Dollar Store. Google it and you will find her. Someone else posted on how she made an actual fabric one for way cheaper then Anthropologie. Love the paint and now I really do have to change from the yellow and gold sponge paint job,
LOVE THE CHANGE. it's brilliant, and i love how you've shared the evolution. if you had started with a different hued shower curtain and prints, you may have been swayed to follow a different direction. i love blue for bathrooms because it feels so natural to me! i have used deep color in one of my past bathrooms and loved the jewel-like feel which you just can't get with white walls.
Excellent colour! It really looks like a little jewel box now. (You can make a shower curtain with sheets for waaaaaaaaaaay less than the Anthro one and it will look just as nice~)
It looks amazing! The hooks really set it off and I love your peacock prints.
The color and the room are spectacular! What difference a bit of paint can make!! The peacock ..LOVE
Just beautiful!
Love it love it love it!! You picked a GORGEOUS colour, I love the richness of it against the white. And your prints are darling, very appropo with the peacock blue colour! Love your eye for style, girlie!<br /><br />Meera xx
STANDING OVATION !!!!!!!!!<br /><br />Great job!!!!! Love the color!!
OMG the peacock paintings are wonderful!!! WHERE have you found those?<br /><br />Yes search for stores at Mateus.se. They are sold all over Scandinavia and I would be surprised if there were not sold in for example the UK. :-)
It looks ace, really stylish and different. I meant to post on here before, I really love it. It looks like the kind of place you see on something like, 'Decor8'. I am havinga boring neutral bathroom and I like this because it is so much more daring and individual.<br />Ta for your comments on my blog, lovely lady. xxx
Love Love Love that blue!!! What a beautiful transformation it made. I love that Anthropologie show curtain. I've seen a few people in bloggy land make ones. If you sew at all search for ruffled anthro shower curtains and I'm sure you'll find some. I'm putting your bathroom in the PoPP Spotlight!
Looks great! I love it! There is nothing like the power of paint is there?!<br /><br />Happy weekend, Stephie x
oh wow! That shade of blue is definitely gorgeous for your bathroom. The paint completely gave that ommmph you are looking for! Thanks for stopping by Beach Cottage Good Life Wednesdays.
I really love the color you chose- it is beautiful!! Such a stunning transformation! I would love for you to come share this at Feathered Nest Friday sometime!! It's just gorgeous!
fab!!!!! loving the peacock blue colour, my rug came today!!! in a square box lol, i could have had the grey one shipped from america afterall as it folded up really small and was lightweight, might still get my sis in law to buy it and ship it over for all it will cost, its a good size x
Fabulous!
It looks so sophisticated! Adding the white shower curtain you mentioned and a pop of orange would look amazing! Wonderful job! <br /><br />If you have trouble finding a shower curtain you like, you can always drape your own with fabric (or sheets) on top and a plastic shower curtain liner underneath.)
Hi there~Just popping back over to say thanks so much for sharing this at Feathered Nest Friday~ love seeing it again- your bathroom is just gorgeous!
I think it looks amazing! Great choice!!
I'm not going to lie- I think blue is the best color to paint a bathroom :) So spa-like!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Love this, this is exactly the colour I am having for a bedroom (quite daring!) so really glad to how you have used it! Looks great!
I love this colour and it makes the bathroom pop!
Apparently this post happened just before I discovered your blog, but I did come across this post a few months back. I popped over to it again today because I've just started painting my powder room (finally decided to DO IT and stop thinking about it). Like you did with Wayne, I just mentioned to Jason that I'm going to paint the room. He didn't ask me what color. Strange, but I went