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This is one of our dated bathrooms which will be renovated soon. It was so hard for me to get past just the colour in here.

See the chair rail? If you have it in your house and you don’t have wallpaper above it take it out!

Photos by Maria Killam

I didn’t touch this bathroom except to paint it and remove the medicine cabinet and hollywood light fixture as it will be gutted soon enough.

The all-in-one tub and shower surround is pink beige. A very odd choice since it relates to nothing in this bathroom. See how the floor is yellow beige beside the tub?

That’s what people do when they think beige is just beige. It’s certainly easy enough to cover with a white shower curtain in the meantime.

We lost the ends of the radiator caps during the renovation, I was hoping to find them once we were finished but they probably got accidentally thrown out.

Colour is Cloverdale CA184 or Behr 700E-3

It still needs art but I haven’t decided what to install yet.

I’m a big fan of white towels, white floor mats and white shower curtains but in this dated, windowless bathroom, I’ve decided it needs an accent colour to give it some life. So I’ll keep you updated when I find some new accessories. Plus my existing bath mats are too small anyway.

I’m thinking green or orange, what do you think?

Update: here’s my bathroom now

maria'sbathroom

Still needs renovation but at least it’s styled!

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37 Comments

  • StagerLinda says:

    Perhaps Tangerine Tango? Wow, would that be a ‘pop’ of color!

  • Looking good Maria! I love the color you painted! Hope you are doing well! have a great weekend! Lisa

  • Marsie says:

    I love the new color, but why didn’t you take out the chair rail?

    • Maria Killam says:

      Because it’ll all come out in the renovation, I didn’t touch this bathroom. It’s all bad anyway, so I didn’t think it was smart to throw money at anything but the light fixture which I truly could not stand. Maria

  • Carol Anne says:

    I to love the colour you painted… thanks for sharing what it is, I have been toying with the idea of colour for our bathroom instead of my go to Shaker Beige and I was thinking of Tiffany Blue… just might be a little much, I’m right a it would be to much right?
    Anyway, I’m off Stampede…ing this weekend, no time for clients or painting or work… I have giving myself the weekend off… hope I can stick to it… lol Have a great weekend xxx

  • carol jane says:

    Is Cloverdale a BM paint ? The bathroom looks so much better with the new paint and white accessories. What a difference already!!

  • diane says:

    what did you replace the hollywood lighting with?
    I need to do something with mine NOW! need an idea. please send photo.

  • Dianne Tant says:

    I kind of like the tango tangerine too.
    I hate my all wall mirror with hollywood lighting. just don’t know how to get it down and replace it? I could buy a decorative mirror, but wonder how bad the wall will look if I have that glued mirror removed?

  • Brenda -aka mrsben- says:

    Upon first glance of the top photo my knee-jerk reaction was ‘ Maria certainly didn’t hang the framed artwork’. 🙂
    Looking forward to the completed transformation you will apply to the space.
    -Brenda-

  • the difference is amazing! I love a blue bathroom. Looking forward to seeing your choice for accessory colors!

  • Beth says:

    Have you ever tried the http://www.mirrormate.com frames. These are a great way to frame out those big mirrors and instantly update your bathroom. I use them all the time for mini-makeovers in bathrooms. Love them!

  • Love the color! Updates the space immediately!

  • Karen says:

    What about yellow mats? – consistent with the yellow in the rest of the house and would likely tone down the floor. it would give the bathroom some pop but still feel fresh.

  • Betty says:

    I like the idea of green. The leaves with the flowers look so good with the blue – so fresh and clean – like outdoors and NATURE! I love the white towels – maybe a green on top of the white ones? I am amazed at the transformation you made with so little change and so little cost!!! I kind of like it as is without much more as it looks so calming. AMAZING GIRL! Is it possible to put crown molding in a bath with out causing MOLD? I would love it in my small bath, but am afraid it would cause mold over the bath area. Seems like if it was caulked really well it wouldn’t be a problem. ??????

  • Betty says:

    I can’t stop thinking of this bath! What about a pretty shaped mirror on the wall by the tub, with a white or green frame? Or one large picture of a garden with soft colors? I really like the simplicity of this bath! It’s like an escape into a garden!

  • Kim says:

    I have the same cabinets in my bathroom! You should paint the wooden “pull” parts of the drawer and cupboard fronts to see if that makes it look less eighties. I’m thinking of doing that to mine and I want to see what it looks like 🙂

  • I know you are not a pink person, but hot pink would be fun too!

  • SandyCGC says:

    Love what you’ve done, Maria! Beautiful cololr – it looks so fresh, almost like being outside (private setting, of course). And I think more green would be fantastic, but a tangerine pop would be great too. Since you’re not going to do reno until next summer, have you thought about Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations for the cabinets? There are some pretty good choices and it’s not terribly expensive, and, though probably not perfect, that change along with all your other positive changes could make the bathroom look good enough that you wouldn’t have to give it a thought again until next summer.

  • KJ says:

    Great transformation! Love that vase and glass container; the size really kicks it up a notch. I am so getting rid of my three small glass canisters with chrome lids I have on my master bath counter and going BIG!

    Dianne Tant, you could also try layering a pretty mirror over the wall to wall one … like in this photo that was posted on Cote de Texas (from a Ginger Barber townhome)
    http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ze3E3T26BFo/T_ZL8o49sMI/AAAAAAABa9I/fdK1aASYhVQ/s1600-h/image148.png

  • Mary says:

    The improvement you’ve made is wonderful! I think it’s very Zen-like now – I wouldn’t do another thing.

  • amaebi519 says:

    Great transformation! I would consider painting out the cabinets entirely in white and using soft coral-toned accents in the room if you want to amp up the colour.

  • Joy says:

    Im not sure which color to use for the Pop of color. I do like the white-but my eye still takes in the floor. What about a black runner and then a bright bold pop of color on the wall-yellow-green-or orange.

    So back to the chair rail. Are they a thing of the past? If there is no wallpapering, then do you suggest removing it or just painting it the same color as wall or paint it the same as trim color? What will you do next yr when you reno the bath? I have a chair rail in my dining room which we haven’t tackled yet. Our current project is a complete bath redo. I am following all your projects and just loved the changes you made so far.

  • I am so not into the chair rail. All of my recent renos have ripped them out, and it is so much better! The bathroom is already looking a million times better!!

  • I would love to know what lead you to go with the “cloverdale” color for your bathroom wall. Don’t get me wrong, it looks fantastic, I am just curious if you would advise a client to go with this choice should he or she be dealing with the “complex neutrals” as you have in this situation.

    Good luck with the renovations!!!

  • Mary says:

    If you had painted out the chair rail the same color as the walls, it wouldn’t stand out as much.
    I always do white bath mats. Then I can wash them with my white towels & bleach them.
    Love the new color you chose for the room.

  • Hey that looks like my bath! Used Behr Fresh Day (don’t know the number) http://www.playfuldecor.blogspot.com/2012/07/master-bath-makeover.html

    We only painted too since we’ll probably gut it in 5yrs. Painting a room in your fav colors helps immensely even if the rest isn’t remodeled.

    In another room with chair rail, I painted the rail same as the upper wall color and it hides the rail. Just trying to make the biggest changes with the least money & time on a work-in-progress-house! Have a great weekend Maria!

  • BillP says:

    As Kim suggests, paint the base cabinet the white of your trim, including the wood, and it will look 100x better. I would also repaint the radiator cover the same white and it will refresh everything.

    Yes, I would paint the chair rail the wall color and then it just becomes a minor architectural detail.

  • my 2 cents is that the best color to put in a bath would be something close to your skin tone. you look very fair so, like you said, maybe something from the orange family, but very pale. also, your shower curtain is the backdrop for you when you’re putting on makeup and that should be complementary too. again, just my 2 cents. the improvement you made by painting is HUGE. much easier to live with till you decide to reno.

  • Wendy says:

    I vote for ONE rug, maybe a graphic pattern. And pick up a color in the towels. I say deeper version of the wall…turquoise. And then some orange flowers or whatevers. AGREE about ditching the phantom chair rail…has no purpose!

  • katkins says:

    Like Wendy, I’d go for a deeper version of one of the colors that’s already there. If the floor is the yellowish beige that I’m seeing on my monitor, I’d probably try a mustard or gold rug…but then again, I like those colors. For you, I’d probably choose green.

  • Sue says:

    I’d paint the cabinets out to neutralize between the floor and counter. Maybe in the trim color? Rustoleum’s Cabinet Transformations covers those laminate doors.

  • I’m in the process of looking for new bathroom lights so I’d love to know what you put in there.

  • Diane says:

    I always like white towels and bath mats too, but would probably switch out the white shower curtain for a clear textured one — I like to be able to see out when I take a shower! Have to confess that we actually added chair rail to our powder room! We have 2 boys and it is just so much better to have paint on the bottom portion for clean-up! Right now the bottom is the main color (BM Brookside Moss, I think — it looked good with brushed nickel hardware) and the top is a light neutral (BM Linen White). I always planned though to wallpaper above the chair rail someday…

    • Sylvia says:

      Oh, bless you for saying that!! I was beginning to feel like I was the only one who actually likes chair rails!

  • Kimba Haas says:

    The blue color is a huge improvement. I also had fixtures in different shades of beige that didn’t match each other. Finally found a wall color, Valspar Muslin Wrap, that keeps them from fighting with each other. Since I’m trying to sell this house, the bathrooms have to look neutral and zen-like. I also had a problem with my vanity, which had nasty beige melamine doors with silver trim. They were awful. But I like the double sinks and the cultured marble top is in pretty good shape. The doors just needed to go. I replaced them with MDF Shaker doors and painted them a linen white. What an amazing difference. In retrospect, I should have used solid wood doors that could be painted because MDF is subject to chipping. But I wasn’t sure if the whole door transplant was going to work so I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in it. I used the old hinges and it looks a zillion times better. If I were going to still live in this house, I would have upgraded the doors but kept the style and finish. It’s classic, sophisticated and goes well with the creamy and neutral tones in the bathroom.

  • Hanh says:

    Hello,
    I already ripped out my bathtub and walls due to mold and mildew. I want a walk in shower with subway tiles but can’t decide what tile to use for the floor. The tile throughout my condo is dark brown, woodlike. I painted my bathroom Swiss coffee and has white quartz with tiny speckles. Please advice what option I have. Can I carry the same tile into the walk in shower?

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