Small Windowless Bathrooms Need Dark and Moody Paint - A Reveal

8:02 PM

After a year of working on the guest bath off and on, it's complete and we couldn't be more thrilled! The main culprit of the delay was...you guessed it- paint! Initially I chose a pretty muddied pink color and while I loved it, I knew almost immediately that it wasn't right for the guest bath. To add insult to injury, it sort of made me hate the DIY harlequin floors. Once I admitted that I couldn't live with it and started over, everything changed. Here's the lesson- small windowless bathrooms don't need light paint. They need depth. Here's the guest bath, start to finish!

Things to look for:

DIY harlequin tile floors

DIY beadboard

A dark and moody paint color

An affordable transitional vanity

DIY shelves and a hidden storage nook

Here's the before:

AFTER (Revision 1):

I didn't take many photos at this stage, since weren't "finished," but I grabbed this one as a reel cover image. Note how I didn't include the floors in the photograph. The writing was on the wall. For the record, this color is gorgeous! It just didn't work here.

The real AFTER:

doorknob | hand towel

toilet lid | toilet paper holder

Details:

It was a bit challenging to get a pulled back look at the light fixture which was hung a bit higher than intended- but here's a close up. We love the texture and the light it gives off. We had a ceiling light added to the room (shared about it here) and it made a big difference- especially with such a dark paint color.

This little vignette is my favorite. The light reflecting from the living area windows really makes the paint pop.

The marble on this vanity is gorgeous! We got it on sale (it goes on sale periodically) which made it an even better value! You also get a good glimpse of the floors in this photo. They turned out really beautifully. It was our first time laying tile- I chose them, arranged them, marked the edges to be cut, and grouted. Joe cut them and laid them. Joe said the biggest challenge was trying to move quickly before the mortar set- which made it a bit stressful. Plus he was cramped in a small room which was physically uncomfortable. I shared a bit about tiling, here. (But sorry- no tutorial this time, as we really were just figuring it out as we went along).

I really need to get a better photo of this nook. It's in a dark corner of a dark room so it's not the easiest to photograph- before we renovated the bathroom, it was just an empty nook. I built shelves, using the same method I used here, added a tension rod and curtain, and voila- mostly hidden storage! I shared more about it here.

Let's get a close up of the pretty toilet lid. But wait, here's the backstory: We removed the old toilet and only then did we realized the pretty toilet we ordered was way too big. Who knew sizes varied so much?! (Also who knew toilets could be pretty)? Just before leaving town- did I mention we did this a night before leaving for Puerto Rico- we ran to Lowe's to grab one in the store. We were lucky to find one but admittedly, it's not as pretty as the one we'd ordered. The wooden lid elevates it, for sure.