19 Bathrooms That Aren’t Afraid of Color
Bold hues and pretty patterns add a splash of fun to these personalized homes
1. Jungle-inspired powder room in Jersey City. This powder room is attached to the kitchen in Joey Meyers and Mark Baehser’s 1910 Victorian in New Jersey, and was likely a pantry when the home was built. The couple made it dark and moody in contrast to their white kitchen. The blue wall paint is a custom mix and made to complement the banana leaf-patterned wallpaper designed by Justina Blakeney for Hygge & West.
Meyers cleaned off layers of dirt on the 1960s Sputnik chandelier to reveal a warm gold finish underneath, and the small sink is an estate sale find. This blue-and-green bathroom is accessed through a Kelly green painted glass-paned door found on Craigslist.
Wall paint: custom blend, Sherwin-Williams; wallpaper: Nana (Jungle), Hygge & West
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Meyers cleaned off layers of dirt on the 1960s Sputnik chandelier to reveal a warm gold finish underneath, and the small sink is an estate sale find. This blue-and-green bathroom is accessed through a Kelly green painted glass-paned door found on Craigslist.
Wall paint: custom blend, Sherwin-Williams; wallpaper: Nana (Jungle), Hygge & West
See more of this eclectic New Jersey home
2. High-energy hues for a spirited daughter in Dallas. There are five bathrooms and two half baths in Scott and Melissa Powell’s new-construction home in the Lake Highlands neighborhood of Dallas. The couple have four children, and in daughter Avery’s bathroom, they went with a punchy pink-and-orange color combination. “When you have children, you can’t expect everything to stay bright white and crystal clean forever,” Melissa says. “Within an hour of moving into our new house, our boys had already drawn on the walls in a bathroom upstairs with a metal toy. We have yet to paint over it. It just comes with the territory.”
Lacquer Modern Petal mirror: Shades of Light; vanity: custom, White Rock Cabinets; Arcade shower curtain: Jonathan Adler
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Lacquer Modern Petal mirror: Shades of Light; vanity: custom, White Rock Cabinets; Arcade shower curtain: Jonathan Adler
See more of this contemporary Texas home
3. Jewel-box half bath with geometric wallpaper. This cool-hued bathroom is located just off the foyer in Jeff Jones and Shauna Glenn’s Texas home. The walls are wrapped in a kicky cobalt-and-periwinkle Indian damask-inspired patterned wallpaper, and the intricate wood vanity is custom. “The hardest part of designing for myself was not second-guessing my decisions,” Glenn says. “Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and panic about wallpaper options.”
Wallpaper: Palmetto in cobalt and periwinkle from Serena & Lily
Watch now: Walk through this color-happy home in Fort Worth
Wallpaper: Palmetto in cobalt and periwinkle from Serena & Lily
Watch now: Walk through this color-happy home in Fort Worth
4. Crazy for color in Southern California. This is the only bathroom in Kelly Mack and Eugene Young’s beach house in Manhattan Beach, California, that they redid. “It was just a cosmetic face-lift,” Mack says. “Everything was new and laid out well, so there was no need to structurally change anything.”
Mack painted the white wainscoting and cabinets a deep red and covered the walls with gold wallpaper. A sheet mirror above the vanity was replaced with two gilded medicine cabinets and a mirror framed to match. The trio gave Mack the depth she was looking for. “I didn’t like the flat-mirror look. I wanted something three-dimensional,” she says.
The countertop bouquet is a combination of fake and fresh flowers. “It’s an easy way to get volume in an arrangement without spending too much money,” she says.
Wallpaper: Nobilis
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Mack painted the white wainscoting and cabinets a deep red and covered the walls with gold wallpaper. A sheet mirror above the vanity was replaced with two gilded medicine cabinets and a mirror framed to match. The trio gave Mack the depth she was looking for. “I didn’t like the flat-mirror look. I wanted something three-dimensional,” she says.
The countertop bouquet is a combination of fake and fresh flowers. “It’s an easy way to get volume in an arrangement without spending too much money,” she says.
Wallpaper: Nobilis
See more of this colorful global-inspired coastal home
5. Bold botanical-inspired wallpaper in Berkeley. Interior designer Helen Howard transformed a dated bathroom in her 1928 Northern California home by adding striking green, turquoise and blue patterned wallpaper. Brass accents and vintage fixtures help to tie in the bath to the Craftsman home’s architectural roots.
Wallpaper: Raphaël Dark Blue, Sandberg & Friends; sconce: Rejuvenation
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Wallpaper: Raphaël Dark Blue, Sandberg & Friends; sconce: Rejuvenation
See more of this colorful Craftsman home in Berkeley
6. Bohemian black-and-blue bathroom in Texas. Artist, biologist and plant ecologist Mary Phillips treated her master bathroom like a canvas, covering the walls and floors with swirling mosaic tile. An old china hutch painted bright blue and partially covered with a black-and-white damask print was turned into a vanity to provide plenty of storage, and the same blue hue was used to paint the claw-foot tub.
A recycled door decorated with ironwork and painted scenes of landscapes and birds was given new life in the colorful space.
See more of this family’s handcrafted homestead
A recycled door decorated with ironwork and painted scenes of landscapes and birds was given new life in the colorful space.
See more of this family’s handcrafted homestead
7. An Austin boy’s bathroom bathed in blue. Lisa and Doug Roberts built a two-story addition with two bathrooms and more in their 1955 ranch home in Texas. Their son Ethan uses this bathroom, and they went with a strong yet soothing blue cabinet color that goes well with the green of the other new bathroom, seen in the next photo.
Lighting: Jonathan Adler; countertop: Caesarstone in Pebble
Lighting: Jonathan Adler; countertop: Caesarstone in Pebble
8. Seeing green in Austin. This is the second bathroom in Lisa and Doug Roberts’ new addition, used by their son Benjamin. The layout mirrors that of Ethan’s bathroom, but the cabinets are painted in a cheery lime green.
Lighting: Jonathan Adler; countertop: Caesarstone in Pebble
See more of this modern Texas ranch home
Lighting: Jonathan Adler; countertop: Caesarstone in Pebble
See more of this modern Texas ranch home
9. Vintage map wallpaper and a repurposed worktable. This bathroom in David and Adrienne Sams’ Dallas home is characterized by eclectic industrial-style materials plus collectibles and travel mementos; it exudes the warmth of a cabin in the woods. Adrienne turned a stainless steel utility table into a vanity, and maps from the 1940s to the 1970s cover the walls. “The island in the kitchen is the same but with square corners; in the bath it has a bullnose edge,” she says. The low-maintenance shower is made from a red version of the water-resistant 5V Crimp galvanized steel panels also used on the roof.
Worktable used as vanity: Ace Mart Restaurant Supply
See more of this rustic farmhouse in Dallas
Worktable used as vanity: Ace Mart Restaurant Supply
See more of this rustic farmhouse in Dallas
10. Contemporary colored glass mosaic in Salt Lake City. Christi and Trent Thorn’s master bathroom shows off their love for color. The couple worked closely with Imbue Design on their custom house and incorporated vibrant hues throughout. Bright mosaic tiles in a green-and-blue gradient cascade down an accent wall from the ceiling to the floor and throughout the shower on the adjoining wall. The rest of the space is understated, with a white painted wall and white countertop. The Thorns created their custom tile design using an online tool offered by Hakatai.
Towel bar: George’s Architectural Salvage; toilet: Vero, Duravit, from Mountainland Design; undermount sink: Box 80, St. Thomas
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Towel bar: George’s Architectural Salvage; toilet: Vero, Duravit, from Mountainland Design; undermount sink: Box 80, St. Thomas
See more of this colorful home in Utah
11. Turquoise takeover in a London bath. Kelly Hill and Michael Pawlyn share their loft’s only bathroom with their two teenagers. Custom closets line one wall to provide plenty of storage for each family member, and the bathtub is vintage from Lassco (the London Architectural Salvage and Supply Co.). The tub used to be located in a church nearby and served as a beer tub for the couple’s first party. They had wooden legs put on it temporarily and then left it as is.
See more of this London loft
See more of this London loft
12. Lively lime green powder room in San Francisco. A gallery wall and painted walls in a zesty hue called Tequila Lime enliven this compact powder room shared by a family of five. Adrian Booth and Jennifer Fetner-Booth personalized the first-floor bathroom often used by guests by adding a collection of family art and photography.
Wall paint: Tequila Lime, Benjamin Moore
See more of this family’s home in San Francisco
Wall paint: Tequila Lime, Benjamin Moore
See more of this family’s home in San Francisco
13. Sunny yellow brightens up a Washington, D.C., bathroom. Andy and Bree Ryback took a hands-on approach in updating their 1960s row house with bright colors and hip design flair. Vibrant yellow walls and a graphic shower curtain brighten their second-floor bathroom, which needed very little updating. Andy installed the open shelving over the toilet, and the vanity light adds to the overall industrial look.
Wall paint: Viking Yellow, Benjamin Moore; shower curtain: Urban Outfitters
See more of this colorful row house in Washington, D.C.
Wall paint: Viking Yellow, Benjamin Moore; shower curtain: Urban Outfitters
See more of this colorful row house in Washington, D.C.
14. Hardworking double-sink vanity in Seattle. Artist Amy Ockerlander and Alan Brookfield live in a converted 1922 commercial building that they’ve transformed into a vibrant and hardworking live-work space. Their master bathroom vanity is actually standard white powder-coated steel laboratory cabinetry from Metal Arc that the couple ordered online and had shipped from Michigan. Kitchen pot fillers are used as faucets. Brookfield built the wood mirrors with fluorescent lights and added the pullout speed-rail towel racks.
Seen in the reflection are gray square tiles punctuated by colored ones that surround a deep soaking tub Ockerlander installed.
Wall paint: Night Flower, Benjamin Moore
Seen in the reflection are gray square tiles punctuated by colored ones that surround a deep soaking tub Ockerlander installed.
Wall paint: Night Flower, Benjamin Moore
15. Fresh yellow-green zing for a guest bathroom. The walls in Amy Ockerlander and Alan Brookfield’s guest bathroom are painted a cheerful chartreuse to provide an ideal backdrop for an eclectic collection of art. This space also features another white powder-coated steel cabinet they turned into a vanity, adding a laminate countertop and a speed-rail towel rack to match the master bathroom, seen in the previous photo.
Paint: Golden Delicious, Benjamin Moore
Paint: Golden Delicious, Benjamin Moore
16. Seeing spots in Seattle. Amy Ockerlander hand-painted dots in the first-floor powder room to echo the tile colors of the master bath. Cast aluminum speed-rail bars salvaged from the now-closed Seattle restaurant Entros form the base of the sink, which flanks a commercial flush toilet.
Paint: Golden Delicious, Benjamin Moore
See more of this eclectic live-work space in Seattle
Paint: Golden Delicious, Benjamin Moore
See more of this eclectic live-work space in Seattle
17. Taste of the tropics in a Texas powder room. This jewel box of a half bathroom in Lisa and Doug Roberts’ home features graphic Bird of Paradise wallpaper by Osborne & Little. A chic wall sconce and oblong mirror complete the look.
Hang 1 Pear mirror: Hive Modern; Meurice five-arm wall sconce: Jonathan Adler; sink: Vero, Duravit
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Hang 1 Pear mirror: Hive Modern; Meurice five-arm wall sconce: Jonathan Adler; sink: Vero, Duravit
See more of this modern ranch home in Austin
18. Elegant and nature-inspired powder room in the Netherlands. A leafy-patterned wallpaper creates an accent wall that ties together the moss green tile backsplash and unfinished wood countertop in Anique Mangnus and Willem Vierdag’s powder room.
See more of this inside-outside home in Arnhem
See more of this inside-outside home in Arnhem
19. Breezy ocean blues in a Dallas bathroom. This upstairs bathroom is used primarily by James Hart and Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart’s daughter. “Because it’s a small room, I wanted the walls to be special,” Kristina says. She layered multiple patterns to achieve a disarmingly playful effect. The graphic but calming blue wallpaper depicts an underwater scene with fish and sea horses.
Elisa Cachero Odyssey shower curtain: Urban Outfitters; wallpaper: Anthropologie
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Show us: Have you personalized your bathroom with color? Upload a photo in the Comments below.
Read more about using color in the bathroom
Elisa Cachero Odyssey shower curtain: Urban Outfitters; wallpaper: Anthropologie
See more of this North Dallas home
Show us: Have you personalized your bathroom with color? Upload a photo in the Comments below.
Read more about using color in the bathroom
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