Picking the perfect shade of paint for your bathroom can be perplexing. Should you opt for a tranquil pale blue or perhaps choose a scheme featuring a bright, bold, cheerful orange?
Whether you’re simply repainting and redecorating your bathroom, or doing a full remodel, selecting the right colors for your bathroom will take some serious thought. However, if you know some of the tricks that professional designers use to select attractive, unified color schemes, the process is much easier. Here are some of the strategies designers use to develop killer color combinations for the bathroom:
1. Start With What You Can’t Change
Before you get too far into the planning process, take into account what you know won’t change. For example, if you aren’t changing your flooring tile, this is a color you’ll have to incorporate into your new color scheme. Your countertops are another area you might not be ready to switch out unless you’re remodeling.
Most bathroom vanities can be painted or refinished if you’d like to change their color. Hardware and fixtures are other considerations you can take into account. But these are also usually quite easy and relatively inexpensive to change.
2. Use a Rule: 60-30-10 or 70-20-10
There are two versions of a rule that many designers follow when creating color schemes which involves picking 3 different colors. The first color is the most dominant and usually the most neutral or the lightest. Using the rule, it’s going to cover 60% to 70% of the surfaces in your bathroom space. So, this color is usually used for wall paint, flooring, and other large surface areas like the tub and shower.
The secondary color is used in 30% or 20% of the room. Often, this color is just a richer hue of the main color. For example, if you chose light blue as the dominant color, the secondary color might be a darker blue.
Finally, the last color is an accent color that can add an exciting, bold splash of color in 10% of the room. Perhaps this color is featured in art, the hand towels, a vase, or the frame of a mirror.
For unity and consistency, each color should be used in at least 3 separate times in the room.
3. Find Inspiration from Art
If you’re having a hard time finding the right colors to combine, you might look to a favorite work of art for inspiration. Find a painting, a piece of pottery, sculpture, or even a photo that features a beautiful selection of colors. Then, choose your color scheme from there. As a bonus, you’ll have chosen a piece of art to display in your bathroom that perfectly matches your scheme!
4. Use the Color Wheel
The color wheel has long been used by designers and artists to choose colors that go well together. Choose complementary colors, or colors that are opposite of each other on the wheel. Or, select colors that are beside each other, or analogous. You can even use a monochromatic scheme by selecting different shades, all of the same color. For example, choose three shades of green that you like.
5. Get Into the Mood
Direct your color scheme choice by working from the final mood you hope to achieve. Do you want a relaxing, peaceful bathroom? An energizing bathroom? Choose colors according to the mood you’d like to create.
To create a relaxing space, for example, opt for lighter, more neutral tones. For an energizing bathroom, consider including exciting accent colors like yellow, orange, or red.
With these tips, you can put together a bathroom color scheme that looks like it was done by a professional!