None of my baths are remotely the same. I suppose the only similarities they have is white toilets and tubs (because I believe plumbing should be white). My powder room is venetian plaster in a soft green with dark empredor marble floor with crema marfil insets. Victorian music stand with an onyx sink in green. The fixtures are gold (shiny brass) as is the antique lighting. DS's bath is done in a mid color cherry with a very fancy cabinet. His wall is a mix of antique golf posters which I made into wallpaper. His counter is black marinache (looks like dinasour eggs) and the tub is surrounded with nordic black antique and travertine. Chrome fixtures. My bath is in crema marfil, chocolate croc and white (tub and toilet) with chocolate cherry cabs. ORB fixtures. All of the tiles have individual designs, on purpose. I personally hate a home where all rooms are done in the exact same finises. Even subtle differences make a huge difference in the overall look of the room and are necessary in good design. Fancy, I'm having trouble with the white on white on white. Have you considered any colors in your tile or counters?

Ooh, I am so into eggplant at the moment (said as if I am not usually into purples, lol). What other colors does it have? If it has an eggplant accent already, I'd steer clear of any purple for the walls. It would all depend on the main color of the set whether to go with a warm or cool color. Your bathroom floor would go best with a warmer tone. BTW - I don't think your bathroom is half bad, just not terribly interesting as it is. Your second bed combo seemed to go with it and made it work out. If you are switching to a 3rd choice, then it probably goes back to a little boring. FWIW - boring is a heck of a lot better than ugly ;)

ha, b's mom -- I think of a backsplash because I am a hopeless *mosaic and tile addict*! : ) Guess you haven't seen my daughter's bathroom LOL. It's a riotous yet controlled explosion of Pratt & Larson seconds/overruns that I facemounted on mosaicmount and worked into the design of the entire room. I only have in-process photos, no current photos of it because my daughter is 14 and we don't have a housekeeper, iykwim. Anywhere I can tile I generally try to,and if I find some nice tile at a salvage, I have a tendency to buy it and then figure out where to use it somewhere down the road. It's even happened one or two times : ). I was actually thinking of wainscoting in the room, but I want to find a tile that is the same color as the paint. We actually have some two-or-three-fist-sized rocks of labradorite that we will have cut to make slices to work in somewhere, probably in the shower. I can't cut it because it fractures too easily. I may try to get the fabricator who has sold us the countertop piece to see if he can cut these rocks. I'll try to imagine the room without a backsplash...honestly, I've had bathrooms in other houses without a backsplash and it can work...I'll keep an open mind. I love the mirror frame idea to have that be the reference to the gold floor -- a combination picking up the chrome tone would be cool. Thanks! You know, I could probably even do it myself, I imagine, with a couple of shades of rub-n-buff? After a little observation and practice? And thanks, kp -- I appreciate your vote. I'll find a way to highlight the counter so it doesn't disappear into the wall color. Glad to know that someone else besides me notices through-composed floors! : ) And stinky, I do think the lighting fixture is beautiful, as you say -- once again, found at salvage, but I then searched online and found it at retail back in 2007 for about $200...the shades look like large crystal block ice cubes. The pantry is a combination of Ikea metal-mesh shelving (I like it because it's see-through but much tougher than that plastic-coated'ventilated' shelving with the ridges which I despise (it's just me -- other people may love it but it's like fingernails on a blackboard to me) -- we tried both, solid wood and the metal mesh, and I vastly preferred the metal because I could actually see what was on the higher shelves) and wood* on one wall because we couldn't get the metal in sizes we wanted, and the marmoleum counter. There will also be a mahogany (to match the Ikea Hallarum) sink cabinet and mahogany countertop edging (vintage floor moulding I've stripped and stained to match the Hallarum) as well. I'm completely in love with the marmoleum -- a kind g'webber pointed me in the direction of great wood tints and I've warmed up a light blue (again, salvage) to a joyous spring blue-green. I think if I could live my entire life in the nexus of brown, gray, gold, blue and green I'd be happy : ) *Yes, the wood is a salvage find too, an extremely high grade *new* plywood that we bought scads of random offcuts of...it's a very light off-white maple (I think) plywood, and we had no idea how it got to the salvage but one day we went to the Museum of Contemporary Craft here in Portland and saw the current exhibit on one of my idols, Betty Feves, and lo and behold, all the display stands for her pottery/ceramics were made of *exactly* the same wood! There's no mistaking it! So I'm one degree closer to Betty Feves now! I was thinking just to paint the plywood, but not after we discovered its noble provenance : ) Well, maybe after the vicarious thrill wears off and I want more uniformity in the room...but not now. o.k., just for the fun of it I'll link to the exhibit, just have to spread the Feves gospel wherever I can : ) Here is a link that might be useful: visceral, glorious Betty Feves

Oh yes, a nice new light would be lovely. Even Home Depot and Lowes have nice choices for reasonable prices in lighting. Wayfair has a huge number of fixtures to choose from. I prefer ones with lights that shine downwards, but there are lots with lights facing upwards - that's really your choice as long as you get good light. Don't be tempted for any Edison style bulbs in the bathroom because in my experience they are often really yellow and that doesn't help anyone looking in the mirror trying to do makeup or shave etc if there is a yellow cast. I like this one which won't disappear against the wall. If you changed the handles on your vanity to match the dark or the bronze this might be nice but of course it depends on all your other choices. I thought this one was just a big different if that suits you. A little bit modern and industrial looking. Very classic and if I used this, I'd probably make the handles on the vanity match. you could also consider a new faucet in the same finish. For a floor pattern, you could likely do a hex stencil if it is small enough. I agree the existing pattern is going to make many stencil options not work for you. This particular one would allow you to paint small hexes throughout and then you could customize if you wish by adding a word like they've shown in the picture, or adding a border (that border could be the navy blue colour with the rest being white. Or here is another option where they've just used a plain hex in what looks a bit of a colour variation - that looks lovely as well. For your mirror, Home Depot carries kits so you can make a frame for your mirror. But someone posted on Houzz last week a place where you could order frames that are meant to dress up a mirror like yours and they were really nice looking. Worth doing a bit of research on that. Once you've decided on a flooring then that should inform your other decisions on wall paint colours. Would you consider a wallpaper or something like grasscloth on the walls in the bathroom. The grasscloth comes in some really gorgeous colours. Since it is a guest bath there won't be a lot use on a regular basis so I think you could easily choose wallpaper or grasscloth to bring in some colour. Look at these really gorgeous colours....if you went with a white floor either or these blues would be so lovely. But if you wanted to keep the floor etc as it is and used this taupe colour in the room along with your new white counter top and some bright white trim - that and a new light fixture etc might be all that is needed.