Reader Help Update: I Painted My Bathroom!

by Elizabeth

I'm so grateful to everyone who chimed in with advice on what color to paint my bathroom - it really helped me figure out what I was after. The main thing I took away from that post were the words "spa like" - while an orange bathroom does intrigue me, I wasn't quite ready to go there.  Mostly I wanted a bathroom that was fairly neutral, where the white trim stood out, and where no one walked in and yelled "HOLY PANTS!".  And I think I succeeded. 

The color is Valspar Ante Meridian from Lowes - it is not perfect, but it will do.

Here are some before/during shots, when the ceiling was being scraped.  The ceiling was a total disaster - I am not a fan of a painted ceiling or boob fixtures, so both of those had to go. 

And here's a lovely after, with a white painted ceiling and a new fixture:

(When we first moved in I wasn't a big fan of the travertine floors - they seemed a little cheesy to me and didn't really match the vintage style of my house.  But then I noticed how they almost never show dirt and how easy they are to clean and now I kind of love them.)

Here's a shot of the color that is a bit more realistic - it photographed more gray than it actually is.

I repainted all the trim (semi gloss white).  It actually needs to be sanded, stripped, filled, patched, and repainted, but I just don't have that kind of time to invest in this bathroom, so we're going with quick and easy. 

I love these ceramic switch plates, even though I am VERY UNHAPPY with the fact that they don't line up evenly.

Most of our towels and such are white - here's a few hanging out in an old egg basket. 

I'm crazy about the color of these bathmats at Cost Plus and a white bath mat is nobody's friend, so I bought a couple of those last year, and luckily they look fine with the new paint.

Eventually we'd like to replace the vanity with a pedestal sink and lots of wall storage - I thinking maybe a nice big medicine cabinet in the middle with some open storage on both sides? 

Taking out the (hideous) vanity would ordinarily mean losing a lot of under sink storage except one of the doors doesn't actually open - the toilet is in the way. 

Let's all cross our fingers that the (hideous) vanity was installed OVER the travertine and I don't have to try to patch it.  In the mean time we use this sort of annoying IKEA rack.  (I really love those jars which are also from IKEA.  I got mine from a garage sale, but I think they are actually in the kitchen section, not the bathroom section.)

(I've thought about painting the vanity white - but I have a VERY ANNOYING black dog who sheds all over my house.  I have to wipe down the white blanket chest in my bedroom every other minute and I'm afraid of the same thing happening here.)

You may notice we don't have a toilet paper holder.  That's fun, huh?  As soon as the pedestal sink moves in and we have a bit more space, I think I'll get one of these toilet paper stand things.  

For now a rogue roll of toilet paper just kind of floats around the bathroom.

My favorite thing in the entire bathroom is the ceiling.  LOVE IT. 

I hope to find a pedestal sink on Craigslist - I've seen some for as little as $30 dollars, I'm just waiting for one I like.  In the meantime, this bathroom transformation cost a whopping $22 ish dollars - $15 for a quart of paint and $7 something for the light fixture.

There's more pictures in the Style Lush Cribs pool, for you bathroom fetishists. 

{photo credits:  ikea.com, amazon.com, moi}

Comments

[bessie.viola]

Lovely! I really like the color. We're in the middle of working on our bathroom too and chose a similar color from Valspar (something Smoke? A blue-gray, anyway).

I love the pedestal sink - ours is going in this weekend, and was a CL find for $50! I hope you find one as well.

[Shoe Lush]

I love it!

*fingers crossed that it's over the tiles*

That is the main thing that has kept us from starting our Master Bath reno, I haven't found vanities that will work in there yet and I don't want to have to 1) be without sinks until I do or 2) patch the floor around something I find later

I think I am just going to design and build my own since the lay-out in there is too weird for anything to be ready made.

[Life of a Doctor's Wife]

Super cute! I love the paint color - definitely screams "spa!" Well, I guess if were screaming that wouldn't be so spa-like... So maybe it whispers "spa" in your ear while giving you a massage.

[craftyashley]

Looks so great! Thanks for posting the after pictures! Can't leave us hanging!

[A'Dell]

I like how you say "an old egg basket" as if we all have those laying around with the spare butter churners in our bedroom closets.

Love the color! We are about to repaint the interior of this house and I am ALL ABOUT paint colors these days.

[kat]

i LOVE the color! i wish we had travertine tiles - we have those small bathroom tiles - UGH. so hard to clean!

[Emily]

But if there ISN'T tile under the vanity, you can rip it all up and put in something more vintage-y! Even Dave and I can do tile. And we suck at things like MEASURING with PRECISION.