Best Colors For Small Bathroom With No Natural Light – Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase through one of my links, at no cost to you.
If you have a windowless bathroom, you might be looking for a few tricks to keep it clean and fresh. After years of looking at my drab guest bathroom, a new color created an opportunity to do just that!
Best Colors For Small Bathroom With No Natural Light
Almost every room in my house has at least some source of natural light. But two rooms — two small, windowless bathrooms — proved particularly difficult to redesign. My guest bathroom, for example, is perfectly functional; but because of the way it’s closed, I just don’t like being there. And if I ever have a guest again, they probably won’t either. I guess it could be part of dealing with quarantine, but I was bored and wanted to solve the dilemma once and for all.
Kylie M Interiors
This post is sponsored by Ace Hardware. All opinions, terrible quips and other words written here – for better or for worse – are 100% my own. 😉
It took some trial and error, but thanks to inspiration from the Clark+Kensington 2020 Color Trends palette, I think I finally got it! If you find yourself faced with a similar problem (perhaps a jack-and-jill tub or a basement bathroom), consider these tips for dealing with a lack of natural light as well as shortcuts to getting a clean, professional paint finish. The post with more details is below, but you can also see the transformation in the video:
One of the first things you might notice in the before photos is how yellow the bathroom looked. Soft white bulbs are common, of course, but when there are no windows in the room, you’re left to rely on the hues created by the bulbs. In this room, soft white just didn’t work and left a hint of yellow
. I hated how every time I picked something out (like the sink I’d been patiently waiting to install), the lighting would find a way to mess it up.
Bathroom Color Ideas To Try In 2024 |
I’m sure you might be thinking, “Why not just change the bulbs to daylight or bright white? I would – except I made the equally unfortunate choice of choosing a light fixture that doesn’t use standard bulbs. They’re getting harder to find, and I decided enough was enough !Not only did I need a new color, but I wasn’t going to spend a dime on specialty bulbs.I love picking out new appliances, so this wasn’t a simple hand-wringing.
A few years ago I also installed a Bluetooth bathtub fan that has an LED light. It casts a bluer shade than I prefer – not quite daylight – but it’s a step in the right direction and
Interference from soft white light bulbs. I used this light to pick the colors. Do you see a difference just in the light change? I like it better already. 😊
The existing walls were partially covered with purple gray-violet paint. It’s actually a very nice color on its own… in the right room. But over time I realized that it was completely the WRONG color for this bathroom. The lighting, countertops, and tiles just didn’t play well with the undertones, making everything look sickly and gray. It’s amazing how much color affects a room. I gave up on making any further creative progress on the design after adding this color!
Bathroom Color Ideas That Will Wake Up Your Space
I say “partially covered” because I also didn’t manage to finish the first coloring. I had some more patching to do near the old light fixture after removing all the wallpaper here and fixing the drywall. I painted most of the room and finished patching, but kept procrastinating. A word to the wise: if you cover the grout like this, be sure to seal it with a primer
Coloring — even if the new color has a primer, as the Clark+Kensington line does. The main reason is due to the phenomenon of the so-called
. A patched area of wall like this is more porous than a finished or pre-painted wall, so there’s a chance the paint will soak in and break the uniform gloss look when light hits the wall (one spot looks duller than the rest, or just uneven). It can also require multiple coats for even coverage, so a primer is the best option to avoid this and cheaper than buying more paint to apply another coat!
Ace Hardware sent me a care package earlier this year as inspiration, full of sustainable natural products (many of which I’ve never used before and am excited to try). They also sent a color swatch and information about Clark+Kensington’s 2020 color trend picks.
Best Colors For Your White Bathroom: A Relaxing And Refined Experience
Looking at these nature-inspired shades, I knew it would be a great opportunity to revisit, as K put it, “the bathroom where inspiration goes to die.” 😂
Tip: I was able to order my paint over the phone and go pick up the paint at Ace Hardware the same day.
Let’s talk about color, specifically: It’s probably no surprise that as a home decor blogger, I’ve painted my fair share of walls.
I’ve also experimented a few times with different brands and lines of paint (sometimes it’s the same brand but a different type of paint). And despite the fact that most brands have color
Our Dark Green Bathroom, Makeover Reveal
Combined with a primer these days, I’ve yet to find one that can apply one coat, without flaking or touch-up, when there’s a significant color change (like going from this darker purple to a much lighter creamy white). I expected two layers, and two were really needed. But not bad coverage even after just one:
After the second coat dried, I took a step back and scrutinized the finish. The main thing I noticed about this particular line: there is a significant difference in the
Of Clark+Kensington finishes from other brands that I used in my bathrooms before. I can’t quite explain the difference, but it’s…greasy? Velvety?
It is usually recommended to use satin or higher gloss in the bathroom. But since I worked so hard to repair the old drywall, I didn’t want to have too high a gloss where I could see every little flaw in the wall (it would be too overwhelming). I went with an eggshell finish instead; it’s flatter than satin, but still washable enough for this room (I explain the trade-off between gloss and other benefits in this post if you want a little more info!). This was the perfect balance. Hopefully you can see the great texture it left on the walls in the “after” pictures below this post!
Paint Color Ideas For A Small Bathroom To Make It Feel Big
I started by painting the entire room white opal. I LOVE THIS COLOR! I bought a gallon with the Ace Hardware gift card they sent me, but it took me less than half to apply two coats in the room. So, I’m sure I have enough to paint the primary bath with it as well (after re-tiling the shower inside, I never went back to finish the final painting…guess the procrastination paid off, ha!). I compared the color in the guest bathroom (windowless) with the one with natural light (in the primary), and it looks great in both conditions. Highly recommended, especially since it’s hard to find a nice balance in white wall colors (I don’t like overly yellow “warm” whites, and this is also not too pure white to feel sterile and hospital). It’s a nice, simple white that’s still warm enough to play off the cooler green in the accent wall without picking up the blues, greens, or purples.
I also used the rest of the Natural Home palette as inspiration for color choices to create a small accent wall. Despite my fears that this room might be too small to work in this kind of equipment, I’m glad I made the effort and did it anyway. The greens, blues, and grays in the Color Trends palette led me to Far Away Land, which is kind of a soft, darker green with the slightest touch of blue and a lot of gray.
After the White Opal paint dried, I measured and taped off a section of the back wall with tape for the newly painted surfaces. I don’t plan on keeping the mirror (dust gets into all those little ornate frame parts, ugh), but it does have a medicine cabinet attached, so I’m still on the hunt for a replacement. Since when I
Keeping the vanity, I measured 4 inches from the top to make my color line. There was no particular logic in this; I just thought the spacing worked.
Stir By Sherwin Williams
The usual self-painting tape presents a danger of peeling the new wall paint from the wall, especially in the first few days (hardening time can be up to
Best colors for small bathroom, paint colors for bathroom with no windows, light colors for bathroom, colors for small bathroom, best light bathroom colors, best colors for small bathroom walls, best paint colors for a small bathroom, best paint colors for bathroom with no windows, best paint colors for small bathroom with no windows, paint colors for small bathroom with no windows, best bathroom paint colors for small bathrooms, paint colors for a small bathroom with no natural light