What colour would you paint a small, dark bathroom?

[DitaVonCheese]

The bathroom in our new house is very small and has a single, tiny, frosted, north-facing window. Suite and tiles will be white, floor will be bamboo. I can't decide whether to try to brighten it up or embrace the darkness and make it cosy. Any suggestions?

Anthracite with a white ceiling. Very bright lighting, white light, so LED or halogen lamps ideally.

lamps = bulbs, sorry.

I would go for white all the way

A nice bright sunny yellow.

Watching as pondering the exact same question.

My mum is also voting for yellow, but then she would paint the entire world yellow given half a chance.

Concerned white or grey would make it a bit chilly

Nah, anthracite really would work. What percentage of your walls are tiled? I was randomly assuming all round white tiling to about 2/3 of the height of the walls.

I have an internal en suite shower room with balck and white tiles. It was tiled to shoulder height all over, so not a huge amount of wall space to paint, but I decided to embrace the darkness and painted it purple. Which sounds ghastly, I realise but is actually lovely - it's a Fired Earth colour, whose name escapes me at the moment, but think Monica's bathroom in Friends.

That sounds lush midnightexpress. Glad I'm not alone on this one

OP - is there any chance you could do underfloor heating (if you're not already)? Would save loads of wall space so more options with positioning the suite.

I wonder if a bamboo floor would hack life in a small bathroom. I'm sure it'd look great but would it not get knackered really quickly?

Tiling will probably be a thick strip across the long side of the bath and to head-height on two walls around the shower end of the bath iyswim, plus a short strip behind the basin.

ME that reminds me of a gorgeous bathroom I saw when a friend and I were house-hunting many moons ago, and I do like Monica's bathroom :)

Doh forgot to say - Heartease don't know if this is any good, inspiration wise? :)

I would paint it black.

Tiling to one, uniform height all round would give a much more spacious feeling. Bits and pieces of tiling here and there tend to make a room look cluttered. Cluttered rooms tend to look smaller than they are...

Black would work, anthracite gives the same effect but less clinical.

agree with driven about teh tiling

go for large tiles = fewer grout lines

Sorry driven missed a post. I am sitting next to the underfloor heating as I type :) but we are taking out an old (avocado) suite so will probably just put things in the same place as that seems quicker and simpler (and we have erm three weeks and counting to make the place livable).

I thought bamboo was supposed to be okay in bathrooms? Was v cheap off ebay though so don't mind replacing it if it gets knackered fast.

White

How about British racing green? With plenty of mirrors and chrome? Embraces the dark, but still bounces the light.

Make it really dark and cavern like, lots of greys and browns, orchids in pots. Dark glass bowls for bits and bobs.

Useless for putting on make up but a cozy bath time sanctuary.

I'd go for white too as dark colours absorb light

Nooooooo! Re-plan it, you MUST. It really is worth maxamising the space. You'll be amazed. There should be some free bathroom planning tools on the web, have play. Please.

I agree about larger wall tiles. If the budget stretches to it oblong tiles placed horizontally would give a more spacious feeling.

As far as flooring goes, you know more about bamboo than I do, but stone or tile is blatantly less 'volatile'. There's a big gulf between ok in a bathroom and ideal in a bathroom. The life span of bamboo will be shorter. Large anthracite (coloured) tiles (dark grout) on the floor would be my choice, regardless of what colour paint you go for.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=3.bp.blogspot.com/_OpkfOzH-taU/Sd1O-UYiLBI/AAAAAAAAF-o/fTtUsQK4fwk/s400/black_bathroom.jpg&imgrefurl=decorno.blogspot.com/2009/04/reader-mail-what-to-do-with-small.html&usg=__Iuja6_5w8a3y_LicnQSNfuOrpyo=&h=400&w=400&sz=24&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=DlY-X4pYxZN-wM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsmall%2Bblack%2Bbathroom%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1399%26bih%3D786%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=445&vpy=166&dur=476&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=136&ty=100&ei=aaxhTMOCDcKI4Qb9zrjeCQ&oei=aaxhTMOCDcKI4Qb9zrjeCQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Black works

Black, anthracite, deepest purple. 'tis the same principle and it really does work

I thought bamboo was very hard wearing?

I would go for light and bright. A white or classy off white. I just took a dark feature wall off from my living room where I had previously gone for a cosy look and the difference is amazing. Dark colours would do my head in in a bathroom unless the lighting was v bright.

I would go for cream glazed tiles with dark grout and white painted ceiling/top of the walls. I have small shower room which I have mid-grey tiles on with white grout, black floor tiles and white ceiling, that also looks great. IMO, white tiles would just look a bit cold in a room with poor light.

Mine is white with large white tiles. Creamy floor.

Glass shelf from Ikea and a mirrored cabinet to keep it light.