Beekeeperswife - I noticed the photo (FABULOUS) before seeing to whom it belonged and when I saw it was you, it made all the sense in the world. I still LOVE the kitchen you did that was featured everywhere - the backsplash is still my dream backsplash. And your use of Wasabi is the reason I have BM Wasabi in my house. I think you moved, though, since I was last on here actively, so I will have to hunt down what you've been doing lately! I showed DH the pic of your Dark Purple bathroom - he loved it and said "You could do that!". Sure....like that's not time-consuming. I would definitely consider doing that in a smaller space. Gorgeous! always1stepbehind - I love that kids don't have the same fears us "oldies" do when it comes to color! Looks like your DD made a great, lively choice! robotropolis - I'm not afraid of color as much as I am afraid of picking the "neon" shade - which has happened during the 1st year we lived in our current house. My sitting room and kitchen are currently painted BM Dark Salmon - which looks fantastic during the day - it's like being nestled in a bowl of ripe tomatoes - but at night? Holy smokes! It's electric dark orange and I HATE it. Same thing happened in our living room. I was trying to bring shades of California into our Texas home (transplants) and went with BM Opal Essence and Blue Seafoam. Toothpaste and aquarium. We felt like we were living in an aquarium. I thought the room could carry it off but even the south/southwest facing family room couldn't handle it. I finally did the family room and entry in BM Rattan and I really like it. My piano studio is in Kendall Charcoal (it was a can that a BM customer never picked up; the sold it to me for 1/2 the price!) and Concord Ivory. I'm planning on re-doing the kitchen (which opens to Rattan) and the sitting area (which opens to entry) in BM Papaya. I'm going for a lot more neutral than I'm use to but I like it. DD's room is Valspar Beet and BM Passion Pink and my son's room is in BM Midnight Navy and Patriot White (space theme). Still up in the air are the kid/guest bathroom and the mastersuite. My inclination for the kids bathroom was towards bright but I don't want to have to re-do a bathroom if it's neon again plus, now that I saw the glass mosaic tile frame around the bathroom, I'm thinking of doing that which probably changes my whole color scheme. Someone asked what was in the kids bathroom; I don't have a picture of it before I started making all the paint samples but it's basically always1stepbehind 's bathroom without the pretty touches: builder grade white tile around the tub, those hideous Hollywood dressing table lights above and builder grade sink/cabinet painted sorta-white (house built in 2000). Painted in Band-Aid pink with old world globe wall paper below imaginary chair rail line. Yes...it's as bad as it sounds. :) Runningplace - thanks! Family is good. Things never seem to go as planned when you (me) are the caretaker to several people in the family. But that's life! Our floor tile is sort of an adobe look which doesn't got with anything at all in the house! The previous owner must have gotten it on clearance before they put the house on the market. You know - thanks for writing about your tile - it made me think about my floor and now I'm wondering if I need to go with what I know best - Spanish Colonial style (we moved from San Diego/Santa Barbara where I learned so much about that style especially when we bought our 1929 Spanish Revival cottage there). Do you have a pic of your deep blue floor tile? AnnieDeighnaugh - your guest room is lovely! It looks like something about of a very high-end, old world hotel. I love the blues with the creamy yellow. nosoccermom - I haven't had a chance to get back to my BM store but will definitely be picking up a swatch of Mellow yellow. Sunflowers and Southern France is definitely a nice visual. JDez - SW Window Pane is such a pretty color! Tomatofreak - I'd love to see your tile surround. It sounds like something you can definitely work with! Well...off to teach. I'll be back!

The best small bathrooms & powder rooms I've seen are the ones in which everything really ties together, no quirky odd elements or tangents, & it seems like you can "get away with" more in a small space than in a big one. You can be more starkly modern, more decadently Deco, more specialized & individual. You can put down a floor that looks like water (don't know how that's done, but it's cool), you can use a bright orange 70's theme, things you'd never do in a bigger space. I saw one below-the-stairs powder room that was done in a Victorian theme, very busy wallpaper in warm gold/brown/burgundy tones, dark hardware, dark cabinetry, etc. It was like a perfect little gem. & it wasn't exhausting to the eye because of course nobody spent much time there.

With the photoshoped images I showed above, I was just playing around with the paint bucket. Example #4 is putrid IMO, but I put it up there to show that this could be a wrong direction to go with color. I really like the #5 too @sloyder. I also like #2, #6, and even #7. I think the peach colors might work if they were deeper and more grayed down. As they are in the above images they seem to "bright" to me, too clean.

Certainly ask the kids for suggestions, but in the meantime, I would concentrate your search on warmer colors that will compliment the warm sand color of the tile. I have a feeling something in the same family as the former yellowish cream color will probably be your best bet, although I could see a warmer green (with more yellow than blue) working in there. If you don't mind a dark color in a small space, a warm chocolate brown or a deep plum could look nice as well, although I have a feeling it might be overwhelming given that there are no windows.