Thanks for the response: I think I'll start small by priming the beams in one part of the bathroom (over the doorway where I'm thinking of putting a shelf so if it's tooooo much to imagine the effect for the other walls, no harm done). Wished we could post images, but my current (and new beloved) color scheme from floor to ceiling is: red with black streaks true linoleum (Marmoleum), very soft tinged green-white walls, dark brown painted unfinished style farm beams, light tan lacquered pine board ceilings. Have fun with your ponderings!

It all depends. Small rooms can be done in darker wall colors and small bathrooms can absolutely look stellar with lighter wall colors. Decorator "color tips and tricks" can be annoying. :) There are indeed rules when it comes to color and the built environment but once understood, those rules are made to be broken. Purposefully choosing wall colors to create unique atmospheres and customize environments sometimes means not following "the rules". Again, perfectly fine as long as you know what rules you are breaking and why. There are reasons why dark wall colors work in small rooms. Just like there are reasons why a lighter wall color can be the best choice for a small bath. Light or dark wall colors boils down to personal aesthetic and color tolerances. Every time. You either feel good in a small room with dark walls or you don't, etc. There is one philosophy about color in a small bath that I believe rings true consistently. And that is it's better to limit contrasts. There shouldn't be big contrasts among the materials used, like tile, flooring, fixtures, and the wall/ceiling color. Now, whether the color palette for the small bath leans darker or lighter isn't the point as much as how you handle incorporating the colors of all those elements to create a cohesive whole - i.e. manage the contrast appropriately. IMO managing the contrasts appropriately means more subtle levels of contrast. Lastly, defining what a midtone is can be challenging. It's not necessarily the colors located in the middle of color strips. A good *guideline* for defining a midtone paint color is to look at the LRV, Light Reflectance Value. A LRV close to 50 would be a midtone.

Hmm @Beth Gazley- I don’t know what happened to my comment above- it got cut off! What I said was- we are finishing an unfinished house (so we are finding a lot of weird things!). A strip light would be a really great option, or side lights if they were hanging. I’d love wall mounted side lights but they will have to wait for the main level bathroom.... I am going to a BB store today also will have another look at the options they have!! Thanks for your feedback!

These are grand examples but I couldn’t find what was in my head. I would paint a light color , an off white , and do something with the ceiling. Painting a lighter color will make the floor you like pop more. Also, your artwork will show up better. You could go bold on the ceiling with paint or do something wood up there.