We have a tiny powder room with a tiny window. It is DARK. But I painted it a glossy dark brown. I like it, and everyone who comes to our house comments on it. Some love it and some think it's strange, but I think a powder room is a great place to try something fun and different.

No matter what color I painted it, it would still be a small, dark room, so I didn't regret going a bit bold.

Do you think I should go glossy? The walls are in pretty good shape.

I have a friend who painted her powder room a lime green similar to your 2nd inspiration picture. She put a lot of bright art in there and it looks great.

Oh, and there was an inset wall space around the mirror and she painted that orange. I know it sounds heinous, but it looked really cool. When she first did it, her house had all neutrals, but she loved that bathroom so much that she did her kitchen and living room with bright Florida style colors.

you could lessen the dark effect by doing a chair rail, so painting only half

We didn't go super-glossy. I think we used a pearl finish. But sometimes I look at it and wish I had gone a little glossier so to get a little more of a jewel box look.

I am not sure I can articulate why, but I don't think the dark glossy jewel box effect will work with that tile, though I do think it works very well with your lovely sink.

If it's such a tiny space, how about new tile. Home Depot marble is like $4 a square foot!

My PW is charcoal gray, before that it was a deep royal blue. It is 5X5 no window. I think it is one space where it is ok to go wild...it's small and no one's in there for long.

Thanks everyone for the reassurance! The tile isn't great but tiling isn't one of my skills (yet, anyway) so it will stay for now.

Here's a before. I threw a couple of sample colors on the walls. I think the green in this photo is a loser, not lively enough. But there's a bright turquoise I really like!

As you can tell, the PO's were EXTREMELY fond of honey oak.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Fri, Nov 8, 13 at 23:35

I decided to go bright this time too! My kitchen is now PPG Montego Bay, and the powder room is the next color up the card. I love it! The only problem I had was having all the walls one color was messing with my pretty severe astigmatism and making a dizzying 3D effect, which doesn't work so well when trying to stand up. So I am stenciling one wall, so far so good! You could always do one wall very dark as an accent, add a lighter stencil on top of all dark walls, or a dark accent wall with stencil.

It's about the same size as yours, 64x60. Darn hard to take pics of!

Here is a link that might be useful: Stencil I almost used, shows dark wall

williamsem, thanks for the awesome inspiration! I love it!

I on the other hand kind of chickened out, and tried to go midtone green. That involved a terrifying uber-mint experience that made the room SUPER unpleasant*, so I dumped every single light grey paint tester I had into the pot and ended up with a very pretty 1930s green (like ladurée green). Very far from my inspiration photos but I think I've had a good learning experience about how dark a color I can tolerate (not very dark).

* Husband told me it "wasn't that bright" -- I turned around and he was wearing sunglasses!

One of my cats modeling Mega-Green (light pistachio by Benjamin Moore)
{{!gwi}}

Toned down green in progress (almost a perfect Laduree green - now I wish I'd gotten gold fixtures!)

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 20:14

That "Laduree Green" is beautiful. You should patent it!

LOVE the Paint by Numbers! Two of mine are going in my to be PR! A set of garden scenes with swans.
There is a certain green that lives in most PBN - check out your cow PBN - see it? Match that.
Cool vanity!

Thanks for the help, everyone! A few more progress pics:

Cats helping me replace the legs on my vanity
{{!gwi}}

Picked up a used IKEA medicine cabinet and put a wallpaper remnant on the inside back, temporary fix but I'm liking it.
{{!gwi}}

Thinking about what shape of mirror should go above the vanity. The space is only 25" wide. I know the medicine cab is a little overwhelming to the teeny vanity, but it is super practical, so it must stay. At least it is plain.

{{!gwi}}

I love the color and the wallpaper in the cabinet!
Would it look weird if you had the whole area filled in with a mirror? Or maybe even better, a narrower mirror flanked by small shelves? You could even use the wall paper in the medicine cabinet or use some of the colors.
{{!gwi}}

Update: thanks so much for all your help. We DID end up getting new tile and getting rid of the rest of the orange wood. Now the green looks too unassertive. So I'm looking at much brighter colors and WILL post an after - I swear!

NSM - I wish now I'd gotten a square top vanity so I could bring the mirror right down to the top of the vanity as I think your idea is very good. I'm now considering a long oval mirror with an integral shelf.

robo, the worst painting mistake I ever made (and I've made a few) came from chickening out. What I wanted was a pure, deep claret. What I ended up with was a mauvy, muddy mess. I say Go For It!

I agree with edeevee! I have a tiny powder room, really tiny. I went over the top with it 5 years ago and I still love it. The green is pretty dark, Glidden Nappa Valley. I started from the ground up with travertine floors, crown molding and blocks, ornate vanity and light fixture. I figured it was such a small space, might as well go big or go home!

To me, powder rooms are small spaces where people spend little time, so there's no reason not to go wherever you want to go with it...from a little jewel box to something more insane like my wild a$$ PR....chippendale swirls on the mirror frame, glass flowers and baubles on the fixtures to "hermes" orange walls. All inspired by the chaos in Hunt's Lady of Shallot. People either love it or say nothing...by which I presume they hate it. Regardless, I love it and people use it anyway.

I'm not bold with color, so my opinion isn't worth much. :)

I realize people aren't in powder rooms for long, but green is a color I'd never use in a bathroom. Feeling queasy? Green can be a real stomach-churner if you're on the verge of something. Ugh. I love green, but not in the bathroom.

Annie, love your powder room! Great color, my master bedroom is painted coral and I love it. I adore your over the top elements, work perfectly in your room!

Linelle, that's funny that you should say that about the green. We have 3 bathrooms in our home, the other two are painted Tiffany blue and cocoa. I will bypass both of those bathrooms and head to the powder room if I am feeling queasy. I find the green much more calming then either of the other bathrooms. My daughter on the other hand, much prefers the blue bathroom.

Color is such a personal thing. I put in a dark green bathroom two years ago and love it. A friend of mine bought a house with a a dark navy powderroom . I loved it and she couldn,t wait to paint over it.

It’s lovely!

Oh, this is gorgeous! And doesn't look dark at all on my screen. :)

May I ask how you're liking the medicine cabinet? Considering it for our ensuite.

Gorgeous, robo. That is a fantastic wash stand. Lovely photography as well.

suz - no complaints, works well, low profile and lots of storage.