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Home Decorating Design Dilemma Bathrooms

Ideas to make bathrooms less gray

29 days ago

Hi! I'm brainstorming ideas for how to make these two bathrooms look less generic, sad, and gray. We are going for an airy, Scandi/mid-century vibe for the rest of the home (e.g. light natural white oak floors, white walls, dark wood furniture, turkish rugs, neutral beiges/grays/whites for linens with the occasional pop of warm tones such as terracotta/ochre/etc).

The bathrooms are definitely *not* our vibe right now. A gut reno is not in the cards at the moment, so I'm trying to come up with lower-intervention ideas for improvement while keeping the existing tile. Here's my list of things we *could* do but I'm not sure what to *actually* do in each category. Let me know what you think and what other suggestions you have :)

Paint the walls above the tile. We always have been white wall people, so we are kind of scared to do this and don't really know what color to go for. Maybe a rich dark green would be interesting in the bath with the white tile walls? No idea what to do in the bath with the gray tile walls. Or we could just keep it white and maybe the other changes would be enough?
Change light fixture above medicine cabinet. No idea what to go for here, except I think it should be larger to balance the giant medicine cabinet.
Swap out medicine cabinet for something more modern, like this one from West Elm. The existing ones aren't THAT bad and they're in pretty decent condition, so it feels a bit wasteful to do this.
Add wood floating shelves or standing shelf above the toilets.
Add artwork/decor/bath rug in front of sink with richer warm tones.
Swap out gray lacquer vanities for something in a natural wood tone. This is definitely a lot more work than the other ideas, but hopefully shouldn't be *too* hard since we wouldn't have to touch the faucets.

Bathroom 1 (white tile on walls):

Bathroom 2 (gray tile on walls):

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Comments (9)

Lyn Nielson
29 days ago
last modified: 29 days ago
I'd leave everything as is and just paint out the walls and ceiling Behr Day Spa

for a fresh upgrade... save $$$ for an overhaul when you are ready.
auntthelma
29 days ago
I like gray with yellow. Maybe paint the walls a prettu yellow. yes to artwork.
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Kendrah
29 days ago
I understand wanting to keep the walls white. I'd put down a Turkish rug as a bath mat, get a walnut wall hung vanity in each room (donate the current ones), and get artwork you like in walnut frames to match the new vanity.

I think this will make the rooms more warm, inviting, without sacrificing your personal taste or style. If that isn't enough, then consider medicine cabinet and lighting.
kandrewspa
29 days ago
Behr Day Spa, SW Sea Salt, BM Quiet Moments. There are a lot of blue-green-gray paint colors that could add interest. I think dark green would be dreary. It looks like neither of these bathrooms have windows. Lighter versions of the above colors would be good too. Everyone has a different preference for the saturation level of wall color. I have a very light green (closer to white) wall color in my primary bath. The other surfaces are white and gray. Pick a color, put up some towel bars and towels and a rug to add some life. If you decide to update the medicine cabinets, is there a ReStore near you where you could donate your old ones? Donating them so they get reused is a good way to mitigate the guilt of getting rid of something perfectly good that you just don't like. :-)
otherdingo
Original Author
29 days ago
Thank you, all! I hadn't thought of doing a light blue/gray since everything else is already so gray and cool-toned. Definitely food for thought. Any ideas for warmer-toned paint colors?
chispa
29 days ago
last modified: 29 days ago
I would find some fun wallpaper to add some color and/or pattern to both bathrooms. Lots of amazing vinyl wallpapers that will work in a bathroom.
Jennifer Hogan
29 days ago
I would start with decorative window film over the glass shower curtains and pick wall color, art, a small carpet and towels to accent the window film.
mnmamax3
29 days ago
Love the window film idea! I was thinking of some kind of textural wallpaper. This is "glittered" but you get the idea. Along with towels, art and maybe even a live plant on a raised stand between the toilet and sink.
izeve
28 days ago
I think you have a good base for a Scandi style bathroom in both cases, they just need accessories and towels to warm them up.

Two elements you almost always see in Scandi bathrooms are wood and green plants. How about adding bamboo bath mats, wood pegs for towels and wooden shelves that could hold a couple of fake (but nice) plants. I'm suggesting fake plants because both bathrooms don't appear to have any natural light. Or maybe plants hanging from wall brackets or the ceiling.

BTW, I would strongly consider upgrading the lights over the mirror cabinets. The current ones seem woefully inadequate.

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