Piece of art that could also serve as some sort of source of something

If I had it to do over again, I would choose black and white small hexagonal tile in some sort of pattern. Either marble or ceramic. And walls gray, or wainscoting with gray, and white and black accents. That is much more me.

I would pick one of the taupey beige colors from the tile for paint and pick new accessories. Go soft and serious with the accessories. I might do a lighter shade of paint with enough pigment to contrast with the white baseboard. Look at BM Cedar Key as a starting point - it is less of a color and more of a feeling.

Try white towels with gray or taupe embroidered lines. Or plain. Look at decorative towels and different artwork. I have a water painting that works great with that tile: blues and driftwood with a touch of rust.

If you are doing black and white in the other bathroom, it might be nice to embrace a warmer palette in this room.

I'd go with a charcoal wall paint.

Try Cracked Pepper from Behr.

BM Caponata. Go dark. I think you'll love it. And it would segue beautiful from the Amazing Gray.

Thanks everyone! I am also really just ready for a refresh in this room. This room was remodeled was five years ago and I'm tired of the look now, aside from realizing I'd do it differently. I'll look at cracked pepper and caponata!! I have seen some pics of caponata on the other powder room thread and thought it was pretty, but need to go back and look with this particular tile in mind. At the time j wanted a rich color but was stupid enough to listen to my contractor. Almost always a terrible idea when it comes to paint colors, at least around here---he wasn't a designer and simply believed that any small room should never have a bright or rich or dark color. Lol

I think your wall color is too green for the tile. Why not pull the darkest grey from the tile and go two shades darker - almost black? Like cracked pepper or maybe a bit warmer

I'd like to suggest not using a cold color, like gray. Bathrooms have the cold, hard porcelain of the fixtures and often floors, like your mayble. Offsetting that stone with a warmer color, IMO, is a good idea. Plus, the artificial light needed to light windowless rooms works much better with warm colors. I did my powder room in a cool chocolate brown. I love it, but I admit I wish I'd gone with a warm chocolate brown instead. I just can't bring myself to repaint it. IT's a hard room to paint! Otherwise, I probably would.

I like the tile! I think a deep blue would look great with that tile and the painting then use yellow as accents in the room. Dark colors often look nice in small powder rooms.

If you go with a cool-toned wall color it will "cool off" the warmth of the tile and pull out its cooler tones. But a dark charcoal would work well, too. I like the tile! Please share results if you can.

Oh I will definitely share results. I'm not sure when I will get to this though. Super busy with work. Could be quite a bit.

I'm going to say it: I am not a fan of brown, yellow or red paint in a bathroom. You can guess why.

Brown floor tile is OK if it has variation in it. Yellow accessories are OK.

If you want a dark color, navy with a lot of white woodwork/fixtures and yellow accessories can look awesome. Sarah Richardson did a bath like that and it was beautiful - big. IDK how navy would go with the tile - you'd have to try it. A dusty navy/denim or smokey medium blue might be nice - I keep thinking about my painting which would go great with your tile (I picked a marble similar but more white for my fireplace). Think white tee shirt and jeans. There are a lot of gray tones but the blue balances the warm tones in the tile better than gray would IMO.

Take samples of your tile into the paint store if you have extras. (I collect samples of everything I install and keep them handy. I also download sample pics to my ipad for reference.)

Benjamin Moore's Bean Soup is a warm black that I think might play better with your floor than Cracked Pepper. I think black and beige can be a really pretty combination (you may not agree).

Correction: The name is Black Bean Soup, not Bean Soup.

My mother-in-law is a visual artist and we have tons of her work throughout our home (though her profession was a landscape architect, her undergraduate degree was in art and she's quite amazing; she does juried shows and sells a lot of her work). So even though I could swap one of her paintings from elsewhere in my home for this one, none of them would really be chosen to "match" the room if that makes sense, though i guess I do have some that have different color palettes, even a few floral ones. I happen to love this one, which is an urban scene (close to where she grew up, actually); we live in the rust belt and she does a lot of this kind of work. The urban scenes are all my favorites; I just think she brings so much authenticity to them, being from that area and having lived there during its downfall. (Sorry to go on, but I wanted to explain the story behind the painting.)

Navy is a thought. I never thought of navy with that tile, but maybe. Especially if I did wainscoting, but that's definitely not in my (time or money) budget right now.

i have a black and beige rug on the kitchen floor, cawaps! (in my black and white kitchen!)

Black bean soup is pretty-- I like it!

I love the marble and I'd go with more of a caramel or butterscotch color to brighten up the room. I also love the piece of art and think it would bring out the colors in the art more than another beige or grey. Try BM Roxbury Caramel or a similar color. It is rich and warm and I love it in our powder room.

Ok, black bean soup or caponata, I think. I'll get samples and throw them up at some point as a starting point. One looks to be blackish and the other a brown-charcoal with purple undertones. Both should give the room a lot more drama which is really what is missing, IMO.

Next I am on the quest for some shelves, or something, on the wall either above or next to the toilet, but I suppose I need different pictures for that question and I'm posting from bed now. :) but in general here are the issues: Fixtures are all chrome, crown molding and plumbing and floor moldings are all a bright crisp white(don't remember exact color), so not sure of color of shelves. White seems like it would be so stark in the middle of such a dark wall. Do I go for a chrome rack of some kind (I don't need it for towel storage--just for decorative items and an oil diffuser and maybe some hand lotion for guests.) Thoughts?

Nice choices. I think either will be beautiful.

For the shelves, I'd go with either black, glass, or reclaimed wood type of shelf.

These are from the Container Store and everything is on sale now!

Purrus I won't add paint suggestion as you've gotten wonderful ideas but i do want to comment on your marble. Like you, I like b/w and I've learned that many times an infusion of totally unexpected color (in this case the brownish/orange/rust shading of marble ) actually accentuates the overal b/w decor. Think about an all B/W picture. Now think about same pic with a little girl wearing a rust headband. Same pic, yet #2 is more interesting and you still think of it as B/W.

Yeah, I know. I've actually not even committed to accent colors in any of the rooms, except for the hall bath upstairs which has aqua on the walls (I painted the old 1960s vanity black, and the tile and countertop are white---it turned a yucky bathroom into something pretty spa-like until we can gut it someday). But most of the house is just black, white, cream, grey. Mostly there are so many toys and toddler detritus everywhere that an accent color just doesn't seem like it is possible :) It would just add too much of another element!

Tibbrix, I really love those shelves. I think the glass looks especially nice. Too bad my husband will kill me if I order now!

I'd get them while they're on sale, or wait until the next sale.

Take a look at SW Urbane Bronze. We used it in DS's living room in satin and it is amazing. The chairs have some gray, tan and a tiny bit of blue. We put SW Repose Gray on the two window walls but it also works well in rooms with no natural light. It's a warm gray.

Everyone who has seen this room just loves it and are shocked that such a deep color can look so amazing. Bonus: SW is 40% off this weekend!

cool, thank you!

I like the floor!

ok, this thread was a year and a half ago but I think this might be the week for me to attack this powder room. I'm thinking super dark, almost black... I'm super excited! I'm also finally going to buy some shelves for that room, after four years with no shelving at all after my attempt at installing a floating shelf failed dramatically.

One of the many cool black powder rooms google image search turned up:

And here we are! Cracked pepper by behr

Ideas for accessories? I need to do something with the large wall to the left of the commode because there’s some damage from a shelf that used to hang there. (I’m pretty great at spackle/sanding/wall repair but it’s complicated.)

i do need a little storage, something to hold a box of tissues, maybe a tiny oil diffuser, and something to hold bags for the trash can.

This is a terrible room to photograph—sorry for the awful pictures.

Adding: I’d love to do a pop of color but nothing goes with that stupid floor. So what do I pick for hand towels, etc

Maybe soft gold or warm gray towels. You could also use white. I think it turned out beautifully. Very dramatic wall color. I like how the white mattings on your wall art contrast with the wall color. White hand towels would be the same idea. Maybe you could find some with a black or charcoal border.

Love it . I like the black and white prints in your inspiration photo. Something simple and elegant, with a large white mat and great frames. Those large vintage wine posters would also be great in this room.

"Cognac Monnet Vintage Advertisement" Giclee Canvas Wall Art, 12x18 · More Info

My attempts so far!

I took tibbrix’s advice on those shelves. I love them! So cute!! Great quality too. The art is stuff we already had, by my MIL. I still have the empty wall by the hand towel and the wall on the other side of the toilet — should I add art there? I’d post a pic but it would just look like an empty wall.

And the hand towel is one we already own—though maybe I’d go forone with a darker grey in a graphic pattern. Pure white won’t work around here with a messy H and. 4yo!)

I'm so glad you did this and shared the result. I also thought to suggest dark paint when seeing your terrific painting of the yellow house. The more serene drawings look very elegant. Well done!

Thank you! dark was my first instinct years ago. But I was stupid and listened to my contractor about paint colors. Have to remember never to do that again!!

It is also my way to post about ideas for something and then finally have time to actually carry out the project years later! About to do the same thing with the entry from out garage. It needs help!! Ha!

Looks great with the beautiful floors!

thanks! I like the floors much better now. It just goes with my style ad the rest of the house much better now!

It looks stunning!

I'd probably go with white (and silver) towels, but can see any color, for example, how about green or purple or fuchsia?

Green is a compelling thought! I am super black and whit and grey focused elsewhr but a tiny room is an easy place to make a small investment in a couple of accessories.

I googled black and dark gray powder rooms and looked at the colors of, mainly, the plants. What's your favorite color? IMO, the floor is a neutral.

Honestly I don’t have one! I like whatever looks good and makes sense with everything else. I love fuchsia, purple and green as accents, yellow too. See?? :)