Need Paint Color Tips...Redoing 3 Bathrooms

First things first: Start watching/DVR ing all design shows. Spend some time discovering what YOU like in design/decor. Then you can concentrate on getting the look/feel you like for the best price. (Design on a dime, Designed to Sell, Bang for your buck-iffy, Divine Design!!, etc. Plus there are serveral shows that just re-do bathrooms.)

Regarding the bisque colored shower stall: that can easily be changed to white by those company's that come in and re glaze. We did it a couple of years ago in a house we were moving from and I was completely WOWed by how great it looked. (We were covering up a pink tile and a pull plastic shower stall.) If you choose to not do this- it is not like you are working with pink or blue- bisque is very neutral. I like the suggestion of a shade of green. Green is very hot right now. You could also introduce a shade of grey- which is also very hot right now and looks great with bisque- this would give you a more modern look.

The return on a tile in your bathroom over linoleum will be huge. Look for a local discounter. Ceramic tile does not have to be expensive. Use an online calculator to determine how much tile you need for each space and then go shopping. You could find "left over" batches that are big enough for your job but would not work for other people, thus a better price. You do not have to do all the bath's with the same flooring. To make the spaces look bigger use a big tile and lay them on the diagonal.

Love the idea of painting the vanity's white. If one of the rooms is a powder room consider giving it a more designed look; paint the vanity black or dark brown and dress it up a bit. Bed, bath and Beyond, Hobby Lobby, Micheals all have inexpensive accessories that can make a bathroom look great.

Be VERY CAREFUL using paint in the rooms with no natural light. All of them will read MUCH brighter in the room. (I had a living room painted a warm creme color- decided to use the extra paint in a bathroom with no natural light and it looked yellow! It was a pretty yellow but the color was completely different from my sun drenched living room to my bathroom. I put black & white toile in the bath and it looked great.) So buy sample colors before committing to a gallon. Ask the guys at Sherwin Williams their opinion- they will usually give you a safe color.
Also, the colors that will work in a house with 10" ceilings are different from the colors that will work in a house with 8" ceilings- these get less light so a less saturated color might sit best for a person new to design.

For shower curtains: Bypass shower curtains and look at pre made drapery. Then you hang a plastic liner inside-clear- and dress the outside of the room with the drapes. The higher you can hang them the better- depends on your ceiling height. (This also apply's to your window treatments. Hang them just below your molding, or if you are going with premade curtains 102' or 96' off the floor. It will make your rooms look bigger. This also works with hanging the curtains on the outside of a window to make it look bigger. Have the curtains just barely sit on the egde of the window molding to creat the illusion of a bigger window.)

I think it is great to go ahead and do this all as you can afford it because the house will be much easier to sell in 3-5 years PLUS you get to enjoy how great it looks.

BUT start with watching several hours of TV shows- jot down what you like and see where that gets you.

Good Luck!

To make choosing paint colors easier, go to your local Sherwin-Williams store and get a color wheel. It has hundreds of paint colors on it, so you can check them out at your leisure in your bathrooms, in the right light. When you narrow it down to a few colors, go back to the store and get the paint chips for those specific colors so you can put them on your walls and stare at them for a while. You don't have to use Sherwin-Williams paints either, just ask your local Home Depot/Lowes to match the color chip you choose. The BEST part is that if you keep the color wheel in good shape you get a good portion of the purchase price back when you return it. Good luck!

I"m trying to redo our master bath, just moved in a year ago and am finally getting around to it.
first i would go with a nice linoleum As long as it is clean, i don't think people could consider it a deal breaker because they could replace a small area like that. It might be different if you were talking about a kitchen or something but I think people would be willling to make cosmetic changes to a bathroom.

second, i called sherwin williams and they actually sent a lady out to the house for free to give advice. I have to say, i didn't speak up enough when she was here and i don't think I will be taking her advice, but that was more my fault than hers. Other places will charge you, one quote i got was $30 not bad, but again you could just take in something that has the colors you lilke and they usually help you match it at the store.

I would consider the over all feel of your house. If you have strong colors on the living room and bedroom walls you might want to go with a brighter vibrant color in the bath, if you have a lot of warm neutrals, stick with that.

if it helps maybe pick out bathtowels you like and then have the store suggest some color schemes.
Alot of baths are ocean colors, sand=tanish, sky=bluish, water=greenish
I don't like the thought of wallpaper boarders but sometimes in a small space like a bathroom they tie it together, you could look for that too.
you could just browse the bath aisle at target and look at shower curatin liners, wastebaskets, toothbrush holders and get some ideas of what is hot right now. Like the palm tree theme a while back and pick colors from there.
my delimma is that i want a pinkish hue so my skin tone looks nice in the mirror, the nice paint store lady suggested a green on the walls, and while tranquil, i'm not sure how great i'll feel looking at myself with a greenish cast in the mirror every morning. if anyone has an opinion on that i would lvoe to hear it.

I would just go with new linoleum. If you decide later you'd rather have nicer flooring, you can do it when you arent overwhelmed with total redos of three at once!

For a bisque tub, I would definitely go with some soft, pale greens. You can add anything to it like browns, pinks, or darker greens. You could also put in a piece of molding partway up the wall to allow for two colors--one on top and one on bottom.

For a darker area bathroom you can go with a basic white, but you could try to find some lighter colors that will make the bathroom light whiter rather than yellow. Pick a couple of colors you like together that you could decorate around easily (if you like floral themes, some favorite flowers to give you a color idea, and you can decorate with matching hand towels and a couple of prints to keep it simple.

It should be something that someone could visually strip away if you plan to resell with it decorated this way. Our upstairs bath has sage green and chocolate brown towels and an ivory shower curtain with embroidered flowers in a subtle pattern (not FLOWERS!!!, more like scattered embroidery including flowers--no nausea :). It makes it kind of fun to have a few accents on the counters in similar shades, but it is not limiting. I haven't really decorated a lot otherwise myself. My SIL is best at that. :)

80's bathroom...I will help! First you can have the shower refinished to a different color. If not, you can take whatever furnishing or carpet you like to the paint or hardware store and create a color palette. It will read the color and give you choices of warm palettes, cold palettes, bright palettes, etc. No more than two colors for a bathroom, unless it is a large bathroom.