my bathroom needs help!!

Cryssy W.
by Cryssy W.
So we just bought a home built in approx 1922. We had to cut open the floor to replace a burst pipe and we found mold :( . We have bumped our renos up to NOW!! I am adding pics and looking for some design ideas ... I have a shower curtain that is white with dark and light blue and limey green dots which is what I hope to design around. any ideas are welcome ... flooring types and colours... paint colours ... tiles. Thanks in advance to anyone who has any advice
  11 answers
  • Amanda M Amanda M on Sep 09, 2012
    I like to go bold with color. Since the shower curtain is your inspiration, I would paint the walls the lighter blue, leave your subway wall tiles (they are original to 1920's design), and use the other colors for trim and splashes of other colors. Have you watched Rehab Addict? She restores a lot of houses in the time era as yours, and she restores as much original as she can. She's on DIY. Cannot wait to see the finished product!
  • Larose LoganOakes Larose LoganOakes on Aug 18, 2013
    So Cryssy, where is this bathroom in your house and who will be using it? It looks like maybe it is in a basement under a stairway or is it in an attic?. I think anything you can do to keep it nice and bright will make the room appear larger. I love the colors in the shower curtain and the paint choice for the walls. You might want to get some towels that are the green or medium blue color as in the curtain to give the color a pop but I wouldn't buy dark blue towels as they are too hard to keep clean and usually have to be washed by themselves. Do you have a mirror or medicine cabinet yet? If not I would say to make your own using the flat back glass stones from the craft or dollar stores.I think it all depends on who will be using the bathroom.Is it for kids, guests, or the entire family?I redid my bathroom last year and I have a lot of ideas but I need to know this info so I can make more suggestions.Thanks!:)
  • Cryssy W. Cryssy W. on Aug 18, 2013
    Hi Thanks for the reply! The bathroom is upstairs of our 125 year old home. The roof is very sloped. The washroom will be used by the entire family! I have painted it green above the subway tiles including the ceiling and the tiles a shiny white. I have a mirror beside the door but infront of the toilet there is a cut out where the old one use to be.
  • Larose LoganOakes Larose LoganOakes on Aug 19, 2013
    If it isn't too late let me recommend that you put the electric heating in the floor. It is a wonderful feeling not to have to step out of the shower onto cold tile flooring.We did this in our house in VA and I love it.They also have heated toilet seats and I imagine in Maine that that would be a wonderful thing too.One other item I would recommend would be to add a piece of acrylic/plastic on both sides of the toilet. It makes it so much easier to clean.When you install a toilet you are supposed to have 36" and we only had 24" so as you can see that is a very tight fit and I can never get my arms along side the toilet for proper cleaning.We did this and it is one of the best things that I have ever done.It wasn't cheap to buy the sheets of acrylic at the glass shop but you might be able to get them at a big box store or somewhere else a lot cheaper.I ordered mine to only go partially up the wall and then we screwed them onto the wall.I wish that I had done this a long time ago. Just spray and wipe and you are done.As I tell the males in this house " I am not the one that has bad aim!"LOL:) We have been in our home for 23 years and we never had a exhaust fan because there is a window in the bathroom. We did however install a ceiling fan and it has been a Godsend. It helps to cool you off in the summer and it helps to fumigate when necessary.We don't have A/C in this house so sometimes in the summer temps have reached over 95 degrees in the bathroom.I bought a wall clock online very cheap like $10 and it lasted for 1 year before the workings died. I then bought a waterproof clock with temp. at Bed/Bath and Beyond for $28.It works great. That's how I know what the temp is in the bathroom.Well I hope this helps you out some with your new bathroom. If you need some more ideas let me know.
  • Kelly S Kelly S on Oct 16, 2013
    If the number of family members is the same or less than the number of colors in the curtain, use a different color towel set per family member. That will bring in all the colors together. Put matching shelves in the cut out where the mirror was so that each family member has his/her own shelf.
  • Centrd Centrd on Jan 11, 2014
    I think the conventional choice would be blue paint, but I'm proposing an alternative green to work with that shower curtain. A designer friend of mine used a citron/spring green in her vintage bath and it's stunning. But whatever you choose, make sure there's some kind of overall plan for the whole house so that it doesn't stick out as random. Maybe pick out a complete palette of colors that work together and then make all of your decor choices based on those colors. For instance you have several colors in your shower curtain that you must like. You can go either darker or lighter with those colors to achieve some depth yet maintain continuity. You can also use some small splashes of accent colors in complementary tones, as well as neutrals with the right undertones, meaning you're not stuck with just blues & greens throughout your house. Martha Stewart's paint system is awesome for finding a variety of colors that work together as they're all coded with symbols so you can't go wrong with any of the colors you combine from a certain palette. Gives you lots and lots of options. I have to say, it's pretty brilliant. Anyway, here are a few photos.
  • Centrd Centrd on Jan 11, 2014
    Also, I'd do a vintage tile floor. Either a white hexagonal penny tile, maybe with black accents. It fits the character of your house and won't go out of style. Then marble or subway tile in the shower and vanity are also timeless and classic and on trend.
  • Centrd Centrd on Jan 11, 2014
    Here's info from Home Depot on the Martha Stewart Color System. "Notice the back of the Martha Stewart Living™ Paint swatch in the above photo. The top and bottom have coordinating colors to help you with your trim or woodwork color and your ceiling color. Simply fold the top and the bottom of the card over the face of the swatch and you can see how the colors look together instantly." So see the 4 symbols on the left of the photo? Moon, sun, star, apple? There are dozens of paints you can choose based on what you like and then if the symbols match, you can be confident that those colors will work together in your space. The great thing is you don't have to use them just for paint. You can choose paint chip colors for accent pillows, artwork etc. This takes all the work out of it, does for you automatically what you'd normally need a designer or color specialist for.
  • Cryssy W. Cryssy W. on Jan 11, 2014
    thanks for all your advice. I should have updated this post .. We have almost finished the entire bathroom we went with a green similar to one in the swatch 'honeydew melon' unfortunately our budget was not big for this room so there is nothing fancy about it but it is new and pretty
    • See 1 previous
    • Centrd Centrd on Jan 12, 2014
      @Cryssy W. great minds think alike!
  • Funnygirl Funnygirl on Feb 17, 2014
    Would love to see maps added to the sloped wall
  • Linda Cabler Linda Cabler on Oct 29, 2016
    I once knew a very young couple who had nothing starting out. Her dad built them a kitchen in an old garage and they lived there for years. It was beautifully decorated with NOTHING. She papered the kitchen with newspapers and had red curtains in it. and int he little living room she took brown paper bags and literally tore them into round shapes and pasted to the wall one on top of the other. ( layered) Then took a sock with some brown stain and went over it. I think it was one of the prettiest homes I ever saw and I have been in some that cost several millions of dollars since we did home improvements and remodeling as our occupation for years.