I would go with the Palladium Blue

I like the Palladium Blue also. I feel your pain on the brass trim on the tub door. But how about installing a shower curtain in front of it-you'd still have the practicality of the doors for containing the kids' showers but it would be prettier with something covering the brass. Then definitely change out whatever hardware you can to a nickel or a silver finish. How about painting the shelf unit over the toilet white with a rub of palladium blue into the carving at the top? Or maybe pick up one of the bright orange or pink colors from the rug for an accent? I wouldn't stain the wood of the vanity-it's pretty as is and would be too much contrast if it were darker, imho. Post pics when you are finished. I'm sure it will be great!

Gel stain is more like paint than stain, in order to get it even you really have to use a brush and it will be as dark as the color on the can (with regular stains you can control the depth much better than gel stain). Gel stain also takes a good deal longer to dry between coats than regular stain or latex paint. I did both bathroom cabinets with gel stain and although I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, I won't be doing the ktichen cabinets with it like I'd planned, it'd just be too time intensive for all those cabinets.

I like the Palladium blue also. And agree about hanging a shower curtain, I removed the silver colored bath enclosure in our MB (it was there when we bought this house last year) and put up a nice looking shower curtain and painted the walls a light aqua with the cabinet being mahogony gel stain, love that room now. Your's is going to be really cute when you're done. :)

I like the paladian blue. Love the rug! I think white would look best on your cabinets, but since you don't want to go white, I would try the gel stain. I have worked with it and although I agree with ghostlyvision in that it takes longer to dry, it was forgiving and pretty much one application. I used it to do my son's headboard and footboard. I would sand lightly first, then apply. Replacing your knobs could be inexpensive since you don't have too many. - I would like to strongly encourage you to take down your doors. I first took down my doors in my kids bathroom. The set up was just like yours. What a difference! The room appeared larger and I had an opportunity to put in a bright shower curtain. The best part? Cleaning is soooooo much easier. No more tracks or doors to clean. I liked it so much that I did it in my master bathroom that just had a shower - no tub. Again, fresher, brighter, room looks bigger, and no doors or track to clean. I just filled holes with white waterproof caulking. It came down and was caulked in about an hour.
- I can see a few pretty candles in this bathroom to give it that spa feeling! You're off to a good start!

Wow, three votes so far for the Palladium Blue (sorry for the type-O above)! Here is another sample area I did only there was some glare from the mirror on part of it, but you get the idea:

I had thought about the shower curtain, but then there wouldn't be access to the towel bar. DD1 is really messy and DD2 is more systematic like me. DD2 doesn't like when DD1 uses her towel and gets makeup on it, so it works best to have separate towel bars for each and keep their stuff separated. If it were just the two I would switch over to towel hooks, but when we have overnight guests, they also use this bathroom. I am OK with the glass enclosure as it works best for showers and no water seaps out on the floor. The glass part is frameless and I've been thinking of contacting the company about adding a nickel frame once everything else is done.

hgtvjunkie: That's an interesting idea about painting the shelf unit. There is no carving though; it's all metal.

ghostlyvision: Thanks for the info about the gel stain. Could you share a picture of your mahogany gel stained cabinet? That is what I would be considering. Also, what shade of aqua did you use?

If I don't use gel stain, I wonder if I could use Restore-A-Finish on it? I've only used it on vintage pieces; my gut feel is it won't penetrate too well, though perhaps it may helps the problem areas. Hmmmm....

for the cabinets you are going to have to sand down the clear top coat of the cherry cabinets before applying the gel stain.

I uses General Finishes Gel stain to refresh the color on some walnut cabinets.

1 - It is NOT like a paint, and you do not have to use a brush. I wiped it on with old white t-shirt material.

2 - You can go darker, redder or "refresh" a color by using a close match.

3 - It wipes on over the old finish, after a bit of cleaning. No sanding or stripping required.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gel stain review

Another vote for the Palladian Blue.

I like your cabinets, but understand needing to cover up wear and stains. I agree with lazygardens. I used General Finish also. You can put it on thick as paint, or you can put it on thin, and what's nice about it is that if you put it on and think it's too dark or too thick, you can use some thinner and either take it off or rework what is there.

I had those orangey oak cabinets and I wanted them darker, but not painted. I wanted the grain of my cabinets to show through, but I also wanted to cover the water damage. I think the key is sanding the surface to get the gloss off before applying the gel.

Here are my finished cabinets.

You can use satin nickel spray paint to paint your brass. I did that in another bathroom several years ago and it is holding up well.

I vote for the Palladium Blue as well. I think the Wedgewood brings out the orange tones in the wood even more.

Is there another alternative to the over the toilet shelving? It looks as though it is being used for mostly decorative touches, but in that I think you are sacrificing space visually - it makes the room feel even smaller.

Perhaps you could cut off the legs and mount the shelving on the wall above the toilet? Paint it the darker blue (wedgewood).

Or get rid of it and replace it with a couple of wall-hung decorative baskets? Fishing creels would be perfect, with their flat backs and lids to hide the contents (minus the shoulder strap)-. Those could be painted in the darker blue, which would work with the rug, too,and then antiqued a bit with the same gel stain you use on the cabinet.

fishing creel

OK, Palladium Blue it is! Thanks! I really like the Wedgewood Gray and want to use it somewhere in my house, but so far, have not found the spot.

lazygardens: Thanks for the info. on the General Finishes gel stain. I will read up on it. I'm a bit nervous about sanding, etc. as the cabinet really looks pretty good as is. But I have some extra cherry doors from my kitchen remodel I think I will test it on there first.

marti8a: Thanks for showing the pic. of your bathroom cabinets. They look great and took away the orangeyness. What grit sandpaper do you suggest? 220 or finer? I'm glad to hear your fixtures are holding up well with the nickel spray paint.

les: I hadn't thought about switching out the over-the-toilet shelving. It's used a little differently now than in that picture which is old. The bottom shelf is for the spare towels (essential), second shelf an oblong wicker basket similar to what you linked but without the lid for DD1's misc. hair styling appliances, and top shelf still has the driftwood and shell display (could be updated to something else). I thought it more open than a closed cabinet. Bathroom is really small for girls (one teen and one tween) with not too much storage space for all of their paraphernalia. Painting it, however, is intriguing, though I'm wondering if it would hold up better if spray painted?

Another beautiful blue is Whythe blue by BM, it has a hint of aqua in it so it looks fab in a bathroom. I'd go very dark like walnut with the stain, I've sanded and used regular stain but not gel stain. I too got rid of a glass door and love the br without it. Got a white chenille shower curtain that adds so much texture. Looking forward to seeing the final outcome.

Glad you chose Palladian Blue. I have it in my guest room and love it. Paint your ceiling the same color. Here's another blue I'll throw out there. Gossomar Blue. I have that in my powder room.

valinsv, I used a 100, but I was also going over several coats of polyurethane.

Maybe my difficulties with gel stain were 1) First time using the gel version and 2) living in a warm, humid environment (Houston, TX), using it with a cloth I rubbed it on a cabinet door and by the time I finished putting it on and went back to rub it off it was already tacky and coming up unevenly, I needed three coats no matter if I used a cloth or brush to get a nice, stained effect.

Guest bath cabinet (new flooring coming soon! lol):

The best pic I could get of the tub/shower area paint of MB (small amount of Olympic South Pacific mixed into semi-gloss white, full strength South Pacific on the outer walls next to white trim):

Have fun with your update, Val!

First coat of Palladium Blue is up. I'm definitely glad I did not go with the Wedgewood Gray as that would've been too dark with the artificial lighting. One more to go so hope to post some pics tomorrow. It looks like blue sky and sandy beaches between the paint and cultured granite surround.

I'm still thinking about the gel stain. I can see it's going to be more work than I initially envisioned to get it right. I read about the General Finishes gel stain which lazygardens recommended. It looks like I will need to either order online or drive about 40 mins. to a place that carries it. Is it really so much better than other gel stains? My concern is then picking the right color since I'm not sure how it will interact with the cherry cabinet. I'm thinking a dark brown cabinet, like java, but I still want to see the wood grain and I don't want it black.

You all have me now thinking about painting the over-the-toilet shelf as well. I was thinking of a dark brown/black/gray depending on how the cabinet turns out. I'm leary of any painted white with the whole teenage makeup thing going on, plus I'll be adding the white towels.

Most likely after I finish the paint, I will progress to the floor, giving the grout a thorough cleaning with oxyclean, letting it dry and then resealing it.

marti8a: Thanks for the info on the sandpaper. I think my cabinet has lots of poly on it too--as it's quite shiny.

ghostlyvision: Thanks for sharing the pic of your gel stained cabinet. I think it turned out quite nice. What color gel stain did you use and how many coats? I'll be a first time user as well so I'll keep what you said in mind. I like your picture of the wall and shower curtain. I know what you mean about the enclosures; but I do think it depends on the enclosure as well as the condition of the tub surround. We updated ours about 10 years-ago. We put in a solid surface product--easy clean and looks very nice. The enclosure has clear frameless glass doors which are much easier to clean than the ones with a frame around it. I feel it makes it look more open since you can see the surround. Only thing I don't like is large brass frame. I'm leary of using a Rust-oleum type product on something that gets wet and needs to be cleaned regularly. I may look into replacing the frame with nickel.

Val, as long as it doesn't make the bathroom feel cramped then I see no problem with leaving the enclosure in place, I agree about eventually replacing the brass frame rather than painting it and hoping it won't chip and peel and become a maintenance nightmare.

I used Minwax gel stain in mahogony, I couldn't find the General Finishes brand in stock and I wanted something more brown than red but not as dark as Java (even though after the 3 coats plus one touch up it did turn out fairly dark. Hubby likes it though and he prefers that bathroom over the MB because it's not at the other end of the house. lol)

I'm a big fan of Palladian Blue (and just a general FYI to all -- it is PALLADIAN Blue) and I think it would look wonderful with a darker cabinet, so I encourage you to go for the stain! Otherwise, I think the blue wall is only going to make your vanity look more orange, unfortunately.

I'm so sorry, I told you wrong. I used Old Masters gel stain and General Finishes Gel Finish coat. The Old Masters was about half the price of the General Finishes. I wanted General Finishes but dh brought home the other, so that's what I used.

Ghostly Vision, mine got tacky quickly too, but I just dipped a paint brush in paint thinner and began working it and it made it workable again. I did the stain part in March before it got really hot & humid here - Dallas area.

Here is what it looks like now after painting it Palladian Blue (thanks, sueb20, for the correct spelling):

This is a spare cabinet door I have that is a dark alder (which is quite similar to cherry):

I do like this much better. This shade still has a tinge of red in it. I'm wondering if I should aim for this type of finish or something without the red undertones? Also, if I were to layer a brownish/black gel stain (like a walnut or java) would it work better to reduce the red/orange of the existing stain? Other possibility could be a mahogany, but since the existing stain has quite a bit of red/orange, perhaps that'd be too much? I'm not going to sand away the entire stain there now, just enough to get off the poly layer. The cultured granite doesn't photograph too well, but it has little greyish/black flecks in it. Usually I find a java stain too dark for my taste, but I'm curious how it would look next to the cultured granite. I don't think it works too well with the existing finish--it's too orange and shiny for me, as the same time, is it fairly good shape and I don't want to ruin it.

Next task, though, is to clean the grout in the floor tile and reseal before DH and DS return so the bathroom can be used again.

I think a darker stain would look awesome with your countertop! And can totally go with a beachy feel, just look for the right accessories to tie it all together. That rug makes me think tropical beach!

I also vote to remove the doors from the tub and replace it with a curtain, it will go a long way to giving the room a remodeled feel with out a huge investment.

I love the paint color. The rug is perfect with it. You don't have to sand all the poly off if you use gel stain. You are just roughing the surface (in a smooth way) so the gel has something to cling to.

Valinsv: Can you do me a huge favor and post the formula from the can for me?? Did you have it mixed at Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams??? My pallidian looked nothing like everyone elses!I have at least a half can left so I'd love to compare my SW mixed formula to your beautiful Pallidian !! Maybe it was mixed wrong? I still want a blue/green/gray bathroom.

I'd love to see a shower curtain too. Just a thought -- my 3 kids share a bathroom that has no wall space for towel bars. The kids have their own towels hung on a hook behind their bedroom doors. Could your kids do that? I just have a hook with a hand towel in the bathroom.

The paint looks great!

Looove the blue in there, Val! I think the darker, less reddish gel stain will look great, with that rug you'll have a lovely Caribbean vibe going. :D I was afraid the Minwax mahogony gel might have too much red undertone but after two or three coats it didn't at all.

Marti, I thought about using thinner when it got tacky but flashed back to when I was making a headboard out of a wood three panelled screen, I stained it to go with a dresser in the bedroom and used the 'green' thinner on that to ease tackiness, looked great then, came back into the garage the next morning to start poly coating and it had greyish areas all over it, took me forever to sand and stain them out (they kept floating back to the surface [sob]), I love that green thinner in all other respects but it made a horror out of finishing the screen.

Eek, I'll have to remember that if I ever use any green thinner.