Freshening up 'baby blue' bathroom in new house

9 years ago

Hi again Houzz community,

For anyone a bit bored or wanting to have an opinion :)
This is potentially our new master bathroom (which is a big luxury in Switzerland). As we will not be able to update it for a while (broke new homeowners) , I am looking for workable changes we can make (feel the paint brush coming out again...) and this one is less clear.

Of PARTICULAR interest, note the ever so lovely wildflower tile pattern all over the walls (sadly someone spent a long time getting the tiles just perfect and cemented in place), the baby blue colour to match, the saloon swinging doors (I'm tempted to leave those!) and the general, umm, 1970s feel? The toilet is white and, in a bid to be fancy, it is a bidet/toilet (um, so it will spray and dry your posterior on command; only in Europe!). There is also underfloor heating (hot water driven) so STRUCTURALLY everything is pretty nice. Just what were they thinking on the decor???

Strange loos aside, any ideas for a paint job on cabinets? I plan on updating the hardware as well and possibly the sink faucet. I thought about mirroring the area around the tub to expand the space (again, sorry for the bad photos but there is a window giving light to the room next to the tub). Can you paint tile in a bathroom? The internet suggests it's not a great idea....

Be prepared, the best is yet to come! The second bathroom is 'for the children' and it has a psychedelic snake/worm pattern and geometric tile borders (again, permanent tile) in a pattern to make a 1980s dad or Zach Morris pleased! I've attached them for a laugh. I'm pretty sure that the previous owners had a bulk discount on the blue floor tile as it is in every bathroom...

Thanks for any thoughts and I'll post the 'after' photos once we finish :)

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Comments (4)

hatetoshop
9 years ago
There's something called "tile tattoos" that may work for you:
http://2jane.com/collections/tile-tattoos
swissdixie thanked hatetoshop
boundsgreener
9 years ago
Ohh ick! My bathroom in the French countryside looked like this when I first moved in (the Swiss taste must have travelled across the border...) Those tile tattoos are worth a punt to cover up the weird ones. notonthehighstreet.com has a big range and they say they are bathroom tested.

While you wait to rip it out, I would just paint the ceilings, walls and cabinetry a combo of white and cream (a tone that matches all those tiles). The blue floor tiles might then ping and look pretty good.

Lush towels and a good shower curtain (you can get two layered ones that are nice waffleweave on the outside) will help a lot. And you could take the doors off the tall cabinets either side of the sink and have folded towels, attractive decorative bits, and baskets to store the more practical stuff you need in a bathroom.

As for those saloon doors....actually, the more I look at them, the funnier they are and I would keep them for a while just for a laugh. I hope they have a good authentic squeak to them :)
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boundsgreener
9 years ago
Hi Swissdixie. I know you are concentrating on a painting plan and moving for now, but while I have time, I wanted to share the very similar bathroom I inherited in a farmhouse in the French countryside. Here is a nice angle. And the second photo is the entrance, which rivals your saloon doors, but actually I think your entrance way has more charm. Oh, and I can't resist adding a pic of the room you had to walk through to get to the bathroom, just so you really get a feel for the decor (i.e. sheer volume of paint required by me). The final photo is what we did with the bathroom. It may not be your style, but hopefully will give you some ideas. And hope for the future?!
swissdixie
Original Author
9 years ago
oh my goodness. that is a lot of color. I am fairly certain that much color in one place in banned in CH. We've decided to hire someone for the ceilings for the upstairs - it was a LOT of ceiling to try and cover ourselves!! I'm still deciding on the saloon doors. They make me laugh for the time being. Love the updates to the bathroom!

Freshening up 'baby blue' bathroom in new house

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Freshening up 'baby blue' bathroom in new house

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hatetoshop

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