Colors and how they are combined can make a difference in how someone feels when they are in a room, or even before they enter it. In a small space like a bathroom, where you are going to be closing the door, and typically alone, colors can be essential to give the right ambiance. Bathrooms should be places to relax in.

Bathroom Color Schemes

If your bathroom is especially small, experts suggest that neutral colors like tans, light grays, and classic whites can make walls seem to expand.

Interestingly, some designers suggest that deep blue-green hues on walls can make a space appear larger. Pantone has announced the color of the year for 2020 is Classic Blue, described as the deep blue seen on a Pepsi can, and interior designers are embracing this for many walls.

PEDINI bathrooms are an excellent example of keeping colors and materials in harmonious unity. This is especially evident in their Wellness collection. (Click on the link and then expand various options, such as the lacquered doors drop-down to see some options that can start you thinking about a holistic palette for soothing and sophisticated bathroom colors.)

This muted, grey-toned modern bathroom exemplifies another PEDINI bathroom color scheme in the Murray Park project, which illustrates how the quiet color tones make the most of the space, and the same colors are used with different directional grains to add interest.

Bathroom Colors 2020

Bathrooms that incorporate natural elements like wood are both very modern and timeless. A predominately brown bathroom like those on PEDINI’s website designed by Domenico Paolucci that make extensive use of rich, reclaimed wood speaks to many aesthetics.

Bathroom Theme Ideas 

The colors for your bathroom may be inspired by a theme that comes first. Something as simple as a collection of your favorite sea glass or a favorite print can inspire a whole bathroom theme to surround it. In older homes, you may find a vintage bathroom tile or a fixture worth saving that suggests a color scheme to surround it. For example, light blue bathrooms tiled in that color may inspire a Victorian color and design scheme. Or, pair it with wood and chrome or stainless fixtures to convert it to a modern feel.

With modern building design, you can often be more daring. For example, some of the dark bathroom designs by PEDINI’s Domenico Paolucci combine natural light as a counter-balance to more somber walls and defy the stereotypical advice about bathroom color schemes needing to be pale and wan.

Some popular bathroom themes that can inspire color selection include:

Earth Tones with Metal Tones

Slate gray, putty, and tan work harmoniously. Think Behr colors like Creamy Mushroom, Battleship Gray, and Graphic Charcoal. Dark color schemes can be relaxing.

Industrial Loft

The textures and rawness of an industrial loft can evoke a muted color scheme of exposed brick and either rough or polished concrete. Pair with accents like intentionally exposed plumbing, minimalistic fixtures, and possibly a streamlined decorator’s ladder for a towel or two. This bathroom design scheme is particularly suited to modern houses and bathrooms with high ceilings.

Nautical

Inspiring navy, black, and white color schemes (and suitable for boys bathroom ideas). You needn’t be so obvious with anchor or ship wheel motifs. Instead, let the colors do the suggesting of the feel of clean and crisp, perhaps with accents of linen and maybe a nautical rope floor mat.

Spa Colors

Calling for green bathroom idea colors with shades like sage, jade, seafoam, celery, and mint. (For additional spa color schemes for your bathroom, including some more colorful ideas, see Organic Spa magazine’s article on color theory.)

World Traveler Eclectic

Take a piece with exotic origins like an authentic oriental carpet hailing from Turkey, Pakistan, Tibet, or Nepal, for example, and build the bathroom’s colors around it in deep hues that will bring out the intricate colors. You could also inspire your bathroom on a series of Moroccan tiles, or a warm, jewel-toned Indian print used as an exterior shower curtain. Notable interior colors for 2020 from Milan Design Week include dark copper red, mustard yellow, and dark blues, which could pair well with these exotic elements.

Recent ideas for 2020 bathrooms suggest considering black as a base for fixtures because it complements marble well and establishes a clean aesthetic. Black is deemed to be easy to keep clean and can be remarkably restful. Just make sure there is sufficient natural light from windows or skylights or ambient light from fixtures to soften the look and illuminate the space properly.

Additional Bathroom Color Schemes for 2020

The decade is also ushering in monotone color palettes for bathroom color schemes, such as inspired by “organic beauty,” according to Behr. Behr’s color picks for 2020 include balanced neutrals along with earthy greens and surprise—lavish oranges. Monotone color palettes can work well for small bathroom color ideas. As Architectural Digest recommends, you should ensure that you work in various textures to avoid a “matchy-matchy” appearance. This is especially important if you are going for a predominantly white room or other completely neutral color schemes, like grays.

Use One Color for a Bathroom Accent Wall

 

One way to employ color in an interesting way is to paint one wall of the room a different color. An accent wall provides focus. It can be the wall with your bathtub or the wall with the vanity. An accent wall in the bathroom can be achieved by painting it a different color or using a building material like brick, natural stone, marble, or wood. Another option for expanding the sense of space in a small bathroom is to use an entire wall of mirror.

 

Takeaway

For some suggestions on the best brands of paint for bathrooms for both ceilings and walls, as well as showers, and how to go about painting your bathroom, read more at PEDINI’s post What Paint Should You Use for Your Bathroom? Because the bathroom is relatively small, you can afford to splurge with high-quality paint and also re-do it fairly frequently if you desire a change.

Earth and Man-Made Materials Complement Each Other in this PEDINI Bathroom Color Scheme.