If a bathroom remodeling project is on your to-do list, you’ll need to decide on a color palette for the room. But with so many choices and trends, where do you begin? We have some tips and tricks to help you select a color scheme for a beautiful bathroom that won’t become outdated anytime soon.
1. Design Around a Single Focal Point
When designing a color scheme for your bathroom, start with a favorite item and design around it. It can be something as simple as a painting, a flower vase, or an area rug you picked up just because you loved the colors. If these items convey the feeling or mood you want to evoke in your space, use them as the starting point to create your bathroom color palette.
2. Let Nature Inspire You
Natural, organic materials like wood, stone, and metal bathroom finishes are having a moment right now in home décor. For a warm and earthy bathroom space, choose a color palette of grays, browns, and ivories for your paint, fixtures, tile, and flooring. DuraBath™ natural stone wall surrounds for the tub and shower offer timeless beauty that reflects the current trend toward nature-inspired home décor.
3. Apply the Principles of Color Theory
You can also create bathroom color palette ideas based on the ways colors relate to each other on the color wheel. The color wheel is a circular arrangement of colors that are organized by their chromatic relationships with each other. It consists of 12 colors: three primary colors, three secondary colors, and six tertiary colors.
According to the fundamentals of color theory, certain placements on the wheel determine color harmonies. For example, two colors that are opposite from each other are harmonious. Three colors that form a triangle and four colors that form a rectangle are also complementary. When it comes to designing your bathroom, you can use these “color harmonies” or “color schemes” to create your palette.
There are many variations of color schemes and while each color on the wheel has its own tints and shades, the basic principles remain the same. For bathrooms and other smaller spaces, it’s easiest to stick to two- or three-color schemes to avoid creating a space that is too loud and busy, especially if you’re going for a spa-like environment.
4. Check the Latest Bathroom Color Trends
As one year winds town, design experts begin announcing their top colors for the new year. And while it’s not necessary to keep up with these trends, you might find some inspiration in these lists.
Sherwin Williams calls the 2024 “Renewed Comfort” color collection includes “staple neutrals…reassured by the uplifting qualities of gentle brights” that are perfect for the bathroom. Colors in this collection include Pearly White, Softer Tan, and pinkish Persimmon.
From bright and uplifting pastels to deep and moody indigos, blues are also still as big in 2024 as they were in 2023. Apricot Crush is Pantone’s color of the year for 2024. This bright and versatile shade of orange is a beautiful way to brighten out the browns, rusts, and coppers in Re-Bath’s natural stone and acrylic wall surrounds.
Re-Bath design experts can help you select the tub or shower surrounds, tiles, and vanities that work with current color trends and suit your personal design style.
5. Use Light Colors to Open Up a Small Bathroom
Light colors can make a small space seem taller and more open. But if you have too many white and light-colored surfaces, you run the risk of creating a cold, uninviting bathroom. The texture is a great way to add contrast and interest in a bathroom that might otherwise seem sterile or institutional.
Add interest with tile backsplashes, natural stone wall surrounds, and acrylic DuraBath tub and shower walls that replicate the colorful variations found in natural stone. Patterned towels, soft, cozy rugs, and live, tropical plants also add warmth to light, bright bathrooms.
6. Coordinate With Other Rooms
If you are stumped for bathroom color ideas, take a hint from another room in your home. Choose a favorite color from another space and make it a dominating color in your bathroom palette. Repeating colors in multiple rooms creates a seamless look throughout your home, while using different accent colors gives each space its own unique personality.
7. Don’t Shy Away From Dark Colors
Although it’s tempting to stick to whites and neutral neutrals in the bathroom, you don’t have to avoid darker hues in smaller spaces. If you tend to gravitate to deeper, darker color palettes, they can absolutely work in the bathroom.
In fact, the bathroom is a great spot to experiment with bold colors and patterns that might feel overwhelming in larger rooms. Deeper color palettes create a cozy, comforting retreat. On-trend colors like forest green, rich purple, and charcoal can be dramatic and enveloping. Add shine and sparkle with mirrors, bright fixtures, and metallic accessories for a truly glamorous retreat.
8. Try the 60-30-10 Rule
When creating a bathroom color palette, the 60-30-10 design rule is another effective approach to distributing color throughout your space. This formula requires three colors. Use your main color in 60% of the space. For example, you can use it to paint the walls, your tub or shower surround, or your wall tile.
Next, use your secondary color to fill 30% of the space. Your sink vanity or an accent wall would work well. Your accent color is used for the other 10% of your bathroom. This could work for your trim, curtains, linens, or bathroom accessories. These proportions help to create contrast and balance without over-saturating your room in a single color.
9. Ask a Design Expert for Guidance
If you have a color palette in mind, but aren’t quite sure how to translate it into your bathroom remodel, let our Re-Bath project consultants help you design the space of your dreams. We know it’s common to experience “choice overload” when looking at all the options available for paint and materials.
We have simplified the process by offering four popular design styles: traditional, transitional, rustic, and contemporary. Using these styles as the foundation for your bathroom remodel, we recommend products, materials, and colors designed to complement each other perfectly.
The same is true whether you are interested in a tub or shower conversion, a tub liner, or a complete bathroom remodel. We offer colors and products to blend in seamlessly with your existing space. Check out our design gallery to see finished projects and get some inspiration for bathroom color palette ideas.
A free, in-home design consultation is the first step. Call 800-216-8526 or connect online to schedule your appointment today.