Odd color combination in bathroom - advice?

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 6:08 pm

I have to fix up one 1/2 bathroom in my "new" old house.
Disclaimer: I wasn't the one who designed it, so don't shoot me!

It has grey and brown colors now, which are permanent:
Light-medium grey floor tiles (look quite old but prob too much $$ to change now).
Similar shade grey toilet and sink, with grey formica around the sink.

Large brown sink cabinet.
Brown walls.

I have to change the rusty sink, which isn't cheap as it is (white). Grey would be extra $100.
I have an option to change formica as well, cause it's oldish. It wouldn't cost too much.

But I'll still be stuck with grey toilet and brown cabinet.

And I may have white sink thrown into the mix.

What should I do?
Make sink white?
Keep light grey formica? Or change it? To what?
Also paint walls? What?

HELP

ra_mom

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 6:26 pm

amother wrote:

Is this brown cabinet wood? If not, what material is it? Formica?
Are the brown walls painted sheet rock? If not, what material are they? Tile?

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 6:30 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Is this brown cabinet wood? If not, what material is it? Formica?
Are the brown walls painted sheet rock? If not, what material are they? Tile?

The cabinet is wood, yellowish brown iirc.

The walls are a very diff. shade, warm medium brown painted sheetrock.

amother

Forestgreen

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 6:52 pm

A toilet costs about $90 or less at a Home Depot or Lowes. You could get a decent looking vanity and sink for only $125 plus the cost of faucets. The labor to install either in absolutely minimal. It sounds like a fun DYI project.

MamaBear

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 6:53 pm

Paint the cabinet white (really not hard to do yourself), which will tie in to a white sink and paint the walls white. So the "look" is gray and white. Get a cool mirror and/or lighting and add color with hand towels and maybe a wall frame or something. Or keep it monochromatic.

PassionFruit

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 7:21 pm

Here's what I would do:
Leave the floors, toilet, backsplash grey. Make the walls a bright vibrant color, like magenta, coral, yellow, lime, teal. Get rid of all the brown. Redo the Formica cabinet with something a shade or two darker or lighter than the walls in the same tone. Then, put in a matching rug in that color and add a shower curtain that has both grey and the bright accent color. About the sink, I think it is fine for it to be white, white matches everything. It would be better if there is white somewhere else in the room as well--even if it is white art on the wall or white in the shower curtain. You can even add a shelf above the toilet for decorative things in the color scheme to pull it all together: a bright candle the color of the cabinets, a silver grey tone flower something, and a fancy soap the color of the walls. BOOM beautiful.

ra_mom

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 7:38 pm

amother wrote:

The cabinet is wood, yellowish brown iirc.

The walls are a very diff. shade, warm medium brown painted sheetrock.

I would spent the extra $100 on the gray sink. If you're replacing it anyway, it may as well match the toilet and other areas.
Leave the formica counter if it matches.
Then I would paint the vanity cabinet white.
(If you decide, you can just replace the whole vanity and one purchase would update the sink, counter and cabinet at once.)
And I would paint the sheet rock walls white.
This way everything is white and gray and feels more fresh and updated.
Don't spend more money than that for a partial makeover. Just make it look better now and in a couple of years when you're ready to do a full redo, you can spend the money to design it the way you would like it.
Mazel Tov on the new move and enjoy the house! Smile

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 8:22 pm

Thank you all for the creative ideas. And ra_mom for warm wishes.

I need some time to digest all the wonderful ideas Smile

Have to figure out what makes most sense economically and aesthetically. The thing is I just wanted to replace a rusty sink and got a quote of $250 for a small round sink with faucet and labor. Grey would make it 350. I'm not so thrilled about clashing colors for 250, or a new sink for 350 lol.

I'm thinking of watching a YouTube video and secretly installing it myself.

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 8:35 pm

Any ideas without painting or replacing the vanity? It looks like a solid piece made of wood with drawers and all, and it would be a shame to throw it out or paint that wood. Kwim?

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Jul 13 2016, 11:10 pm

Eureka!

I have found something called "vanity top" with integrated sink, which apparently costs way less than single sink replacement. This way I could probably afford to replace this old formica top, sink and the toilet. Yippee!! Then I'd paint the wall and ask the contractor the cost of labor for replacing the tile, since the area is small and tile is dirt cheap.

Thank you all!!!

greenfire

Thu, Jul 14 2016, 12:36 am

do not paint cabinets if by brown you mean wood

since you have to change sink you might want to splurge on changing toilet - but you can get away with leaving it

the rest of the walls can be any colour ... I would choose something light - maybe spongecake yellow or lavender

make sure the ceilings are white

if the floors are real tile - scrub them with baking soda mixed with vinegar & a tooth brush ... you'll revive them & they are costly to rip out and replace

of course all this said without seeing it ... a picture paints a thousand ideas

amother

Burlywood

Thu, Jul 14 2016, 1:32 am

Greenfire,

The vanity is a very decent looking wood one.

Changing toilet color with sink would sure help.

Painting walls would help even better.

Tiles are small old-fashioned uneven hexagonal awful-grey type. I can try to clean them but the floor doesn't look promising. Looks like there's more grout than tiling.

I want to find out tomorrow how much it may be to replace the tiles altogether through the contractor because it may be not too much more than replacing sink and toilet with an overpriced handyman. For example, the handyman quoted $250 to replace the sink only, while I see I can get an entire vanity top with a sink for probably half that price.

I'll try to take a picture of this masterpiece of design tomorrow.

saw50st8

Thu, Jul 14 2016, 7:25 am

You can buy a vanity with sink for $100 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Glacier-Bay-24-1-2-in-Vanity-in-White-with-AB-Engineered-Composite-Vanity-Top-in-White-GB24P2COM-WH/203921942)

If you live anywhere near Teaneck, I have a faucet I can give you for free.

You can replace the toilet at a later date, but white and gray definitely go together. Paint the walls a really pale gray color and then put up some accent pictures.