Yesterday, I posted about how I’m crushing on navy blue paint and how I want to paint our guest bathroom walls (all or part) or one wall in our bedroom navy blue. Boy, y’all had strong opinions on that! I LOVE IT! I’m grateful you all chimed in!!
By the way, after I wrote this whole post about painting walls navy blue, we had Chinese food for dinner and I cracked up when I read the fortune in my fortune cookie:
Oops. I’ll have to figure out something yellow to do, and soon! Anyhoo…
Now that I’ve started thinking about repainting the guest bathroom (yes, that means I’ve decided I’m going to paint the guest bathroom navy!), I have a hard time not going “whole hog”! So, I decided to make a few more changes to the guest bathroom while I’m at it. The Friday Five today is the five changes to the guest bathroom that are in the works!
(1) Paint
I talked about this in yesterday’s post about navy blue walls. In case you missed it, I’ve decided to paint all or part of the walls navy blue. Now I just have to pick which navy. So many to choose from! Many of you liked Van Deusen Blue:
But I need to find out what it looks like on the wall first. I’m off to buy paint samples later today!
(2) Wainscoting
So, during the discussion of the navy blue paint, several of you noted that the blue will look great with the white trim and white vanity in there. Some suggested bead board on the bottom half of the walls.
I had considered that, in fact, when deciding whether to paint it navy in the first place. The problem is that the paintable/bead-board-able (is that a word?) wall space is really small.
I was flipping through a magazine and saw some shaker-style cabinets and that’s when it hit me: I think I’m going to do wainscoting! I’m going to use 1x4s as trim around the small wall areas. Like this:
The pencil marks show where the trim will be. I’ll paint the trim and inset bright white, with a rail at the top of it. Then, above that area will be the navy paint. Ooooh! So excited about this! Here’s the idea on the opposite wall:
Well, part of the idea.
The benefit to doing this wainscoting is that I can work around the toilet and towel bars without much trouble, and it gives architectural interest to the walls without being busy or overwhelming. And, it will break up the dark navy on the walls, too! Win-win!
(3) Lighting change
This bathroom has the same fixture that’s in our master bathroom, too. (Yuck.) And a new light fixture isn’t in the budget right now. So, I’m going to swap out the bulbs and take off the shades, just like I did in our bathroom, to give it a more industrial look:
It’s an easy and relatively inexpensive fix to an ugly, builder-grade fixture.
(4) Ceiling
The ceiling in the guest bathroom is a mess. Someone (before we moved in) tried to “touch up” the paint on the ceiling and now there are roller-shaped splotches in a few spots.
I tried to take a picture to show you, but they didn’t really come out so that you could see them well. You’ll just have to trust me.
So now the big question is whether to paint the ceiling bright white, like the wainscoting and trim, or navy, continuing up from the walls. Thoughts?
(5) Change the Shower Head
This is a no-brainer. Picture, if you will, the cheapest, oldest shower head you can imagine. That’s what’s currently in the guest shower.
An easy fix is to change out the shower head. If you can screw in a lightbulb, you can change a shower head.
So, that’s what’s going down in the guest bathroom! Whatcha think?
A "recovering lawyer," I turned in my power suits for power tools and a life of DIY. I believe in merging old and new to make a house a home.
i love navy paint and have painted a few walls navy– we tried all of the ones you have above plus more, and ended up with sherwin williams naval as our favorite. it so depends on the light, but some of them can easily look purple so definitely get a sample can before you commit!! i’m thinking of doing our powder room a dark color (maybe more naval!), so i’m excited to see your results!
I will definitely get samples before committing – thank you! I’ll try Naval – I saw that in several example/inspiration photos and liked the blue. Thanks, Hilary!!
I know this thread is old but what about Van Deusen in a dining room?
That color would be gorgeous in a dining room!
Great ideas -paint the ceiling white. White and navy will look great together. When we moved into our current house the previous owner had the walls and ceilings in all the rooms painted the same color ….it was very claustrophobic it felt like the ceiling was really low , so unless you have super high ceilings stick with white.can’t wait to see the end result.
Go with the white ceiling! I’m echoing Marilyn Soto’s note that it will feel claustrophobic w/ dark walls and ceiling. And my vote is for the Newburyport Blue. I can’t wait to see what you end up with <3
Agreed – I don’t want it to feel claustrophobic. Although we do have really high ceilings in there, I’d be worried about that. Thanks!!
Exactly – I don’t want it to feel claustrophobic. Thanks!!
It sounds great, especially the wainscoting, but am not so sure about the light bulbs. I had one in my pendant ovver my kitchen sink, and it just didn’t provide sufficient light for a ‘work’zone’ although I love the ambiance the give over the breakfast bar/clutter catcher (pic on IG).
I hear you about the bulbs, but the fixture in there requires three bulbs for a relatively small space, so I think it’ll work. Worst case scenario is I go back to regular bulbs or I bite the bullet and change the fixture. Thanks, Mickey!
Maybe yellow towels in the navy blue guest bath????? Can’t wait to see your total makeover. One thing has a way of leading to another! Best of luck!
My University of Michigan alumni self loves that idea (school colors are maize and blue, in case you didn’t know)! 😉 We actually already have white towels in there, and new ones aren’t in the budget yet. Thanks, Karen – I’ll keep you posted!
Newburyport is my vote based on the picture
Thanks, Alicia!!
Which shade of blue did you go with? I’m currently trying to decide between Hale Navy and Newburyport Blue myself!
I ended up choosing Hale Navy. It’s perfect in our bathroom! You can see the finished bathroom – just search “guest bathroom” and you’ll see it!