Picking paint colors is extremely difficult. You might want to use a blue or beige but there are literally hundreds of any one color to pick from. We worked with a decorator who created the design board at left, to help the customer pick their colors quickly. He wanted blue and picked sky blue from the multiple choices offered.

Fortunately we’ve learned to always audition new paint colors as shown below left. We painted just one wall of the bathroom undergoing renovations. Learn what happened next as the most careful planning doesn’t always work.

A Painting Emergency

We were on a tight schedule to remodel not one, but 2 bathrooms. The customer focused on getting to the closing on his new condo and knew he wanted to update both bathrooms. We had 90 days to get everything done and with the number of design decisions to make, everyone was relieved to have an interior decorator on the team.

Step 1 was the design board above, which our decorator put together after walking through the new condo with the customer. At the walkthrough the customer said he wanted this bathroom to be blue. The design board provided several neutral (beige) colors along with a recommended blue, one the decorator had seen in other bathrooms. That’s important here because many bathrooms don’t get natural sunlight and paint colors look very different morning to night, and natural to artificial light. The customer picked the blue and we got to work.

The tile floor went in followed by the wainscotting,both of these with neutral colors. We painted one short wall and moved the new vanity, counter top and sink into place so everyone could see how the colors came together. Then we got the following email …

“We have a small color emergency at the condo. The blue we all chose for the second floor bathroom is not working at all in there. It looks more like battleship gray when you see it on the wall and it takes all the light and cheer out of the beadboard and the tiles and clashes with the vanity top. I think we should be looking at a far lighter color and probably not a blue. I left the color wheel in the bathroom for you to look at. We are thinking that …”

Lots of phone calls followed. Our decorator added different shower curtains and other decorating elements to simulate a furnished bathroom and support rethinking the bathroom color. We painted the back wall with the “proposed new color” and you can see new yellow won. The lesson learned here is that bathrooms are small and the decorating elements you use, if not neutral, will influence the overall feeling of a room. In this bathroom, the granite countertop was a warm, rich brown and it simply didn’t work with the blue.

After emailing the left photo plus one other to the client, we received the following response “I think the new color looks great. Let’s get that bathroom wrapped up. Thank you all.”

Author: tinagleisner: Tina Gleisner is passionate about helping women home owners LEARN about their homes, CONNECT with home professionals committed to delivering quality home products, and CREATE homes that support their lifestyle. Leveraging her experience as the owner of a handyman business, Tina created the Assn of Women Home Owners at www.HomeTips4Women.com.