Never underestimate the power of paint to have all kinds of transformative effects on a space.
Here I’m showing you an incomplete makeover, to illustrate the powerful difference a new paint job can make – even if you don’t change anything else. On the right we have the old colour, and on the left the new.
This is a small L-shaped bathroom with a small west-facing window. So except for particularly bright evenings the natural light progresses from dark to dull as we move through the day. (Last summer it did well in the late afternoons and evenings, but this year it just never gets bright.)
The wall colour, a kind of muddy peach, was chosen by previous residents to work with the (dated) tile. I’ve always disliked the tile, but it was the wall colour that really bugged me. I knew from the day I moved in that I’d be repainting it….it’s just taken me a lonnnnng time to get around to it.
As this is a rental property, I have to live with the tile. Luckily though, it isn’t floor to ceiling and I have the opportunity to make a difference with paint. I’ve gone with a slightly grey white (the base colour of the tiles has a grey tone). Even without strong, bright daylight you can see a huge difference with only one side of the room re-painted.
The room is already brighter, which is not that surprising given the new colour is white. However, what is pleasing me the most is how toned-down my dislike of the tiles has become. Not because I like them better now, but because the new colour is toning down the overall impact they have in the room. The old colour, chosen to “work with” the tiles really highlighted the them and made them hard to ignore.
But the white walls now de-emphasise them as a feature.
Painting walls is not my idea of fun – hence the long procrastination on starting this job! But now that the difference is more visceral and less aspirational, I’m motivated to finish the job. Stay tuned for the final reveal later this week.