Friday, October 9, 2015

Bathroom, refreshed

Thanks so much for all of your input on how to repaint our bathroom. It was SUPER helpful to consider it all, and we did end up going with an idea that Emily, my favorite design guru, provided in a comment (not to mention a flurry of follow-up emails where I asked increasingly desperate and specific questions before we finally got everything settled).

The idea was white paint below the chair rail and peacock blue above it. We went back and forth between two Benjamin Moore colors--the more muted and sophisticated Largo Teal and the brighter and more playful Surf Blue. Side by side, I leaned toward the Largo Teal because it seemed like the safer and more polished choice, but Torsten has a THING for bright paint colors and I always, always veto him, and I did genuinely like the Surf Blue even while I was a little nervous about how it would look as a paint color, so I kind of felt like... if I'm ever going to compromise on paint colors (and yes I know, it's both of our house and I can't rule the decor choices with an iron fist, but also, sometimes I'm OBJECTIVELY CORRECT and we are not painting our whole house in primary colors), half of a small bathroom seems like a good place to do that. Even though looking at the bright color side by side with the more muted color made me feel a smidge nervous (Surf Blue on the left, Largo Teal on the right):


So! We went with the Surf Blue, Torsten's bright color preference and actually? It turned out AWESOME. It isn't as bright as I was expecting, and I feel like it really works. It's not juvenile or garish at all. I don't even feel like I compromised or settled... I just straight up love it. Everyone who has come over since we painted it has exclaimed over how great it is, including people whose own home decor I really admire, so I'm feeling good about it. I also LOVE the way the lizard looks on the wall (the lizard has a few touches of peacock blue in its design, so I feel like it really works).





Now, two choices left... do we keep the current mirror (which I thought I wouldn't like but actually I like much better with the teal paint than I did with the beige) or go with something a little simpler? If simpler, I'm strongly leaning toward this one, but am undecided. And... what to hang on the big expanse of wall that is currently totally blank? All thoughts are, as always, appreciated.

5 comments:

  1. It's funny: the RESULT looks more like what I would have expected with the Largo Teal! I love it. That's similar to the color we've been considering for our upstairs bathroom, after using it in a kid room.

    I would keep the mirror. I think it's great with the new paint color.

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  2. Wow it looks great! Either color would have looked nice though- i like them both! Personally I would change out the mirror.

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  3. OH MY GOSH I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! This may just inspire me to paint *our* half bath that has been a sad banged-up painter's white since I moved in. This looks SO GOSH DARN GOOD. And I agree with Swistle, this is what I would have expected your Largo Teal to come out as! Man picking paint sure is tricky. (I also like the mirror better now!)

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  4. Oh!! This looks so fantastic!!! I think the color in our half-bath is a little closer to the teal you have, but I have loved it so much! Yay for color!

    xox

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