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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Gah.

Have I mentioned that I have ugly yellow tile in my bathroom? Really? I've brought that up before? Hmm. But have I shown you the tile close up? Oh look. Up there. Ugly. Yellow. Tile.

Let me bore you to death with more bathroom talk. The plan was to replace the doors on the vanity and paint the whole thing chocolate brown. Then I would paint over the two-tone-yellow-stripe-paint job-over-wallpaper-stuck-to-unprimed-drywall. In a lovely ivory color that would soothe the eye and reduce the number of slightly different yellows in the room to a mere four (bathtub, ceramic fixtures, tile and floor). At some point in the future I would have the floor redone. And the bathtub resurfaced. Because the bathtub is yellow. Kind of like the floor, but not the exact yellow. Neither of which are the same yellow as the tile.

So far, the vanity project was a disaster. I had to regroup and just paint the old doors brown. John is working on installing them now. Last night I rolled on the ivory paint, on the ceiling and walls. And let's just say I'm underwhelmed. John called it "dingy". And he's right. How can ivory not look good? The ceiling is 100 percent better than it was. But the walls. Bleh.

I went back to Lowe's and grabbed some paint chips. And I'm thinking I may just need to try to match the blue-gray tile. That yellow is just killing me. I really don't mind the blue-gray. I'm going to contact a few companies about replacing the tile. Or even just the yellow part. It's probably more money than I'm willing to spend. But that yellow. Ugh. Killing me.

Tell me what you think I should do. I've posted a poll here and on my other blog. Help.

17 comments:

Sharon said...

I know it may be boring, but I think bright white may be the way to go. I think that if you match the blue grey tile it'll make the room look smaller and the yellow stand out more.

Anonymous said...

i agree with sharon on the bright white, the gray tile is a cool colour the yellow is of course warm colour and the cream or ivory is just going to look dirty.

i would do a big dramatic contrast. match the gray and go super dark, for a dramatic contrast, and do the vanity the same. your eye goes to the contrast, so it actually hilights or draws your eye to the yellow when you butt other things up to it. the dark colour walls and ceiling too will lessen the contrast and bring it together more cohesively (?) my spelling sucks but i do know colour!

is the yellow tone decent enough so that when it gets darkened down it becomes more to your liking? that would also be a good choice, but only if you like the colour. again less contrast will make the ickiness blend away....good luck!

donna in london, ontario!

Anonymous said...

oops had another thought! the yellow band of tile could be painted. it takes primer a good thick coat, then a semi glass latex to cover it, do it the same as the walls and only the wall part not any in the tub area, and it stands up really well! i have painted tile this way with great success..then if you don't get a great coverage or you still want detail there, you could do a stencil or design on the tiles to bring the colour thru. but definitely no cream and gray in the same room. sorry!

donna in london, ontario

Suzanne said...

I second painting the yellow tile. I would either paint it bright white or the same color as the walls. I would want to match the blue/grey of the tiles and then lighten it a couple of notches. (it you go this way then I would definitely paint the yellow tiles white.) Good luck! Bathrooms are never easy.

Suzanne said...

sorry, when I mentioned matching the color of the tiles and then lightening it a bit, I was refering to the color for the walls.

Michelle W said...

well, this bathroom seems to be the problem child. I am with you I am not a yellow person. I know that there is a paint out there just for tiles. I think I would paint the yellow trim tile. Then either go darker on the wall color or white. It really sucks when you get a room like this.

For that matter if you just want to replace on the yellow trim tile you can do that. First you would need to get a small grout saw and get the grout out around the tiles you want to remove. Then very carefully pry off the tiles you wan to replace. Then replace the tile with new trim pieces. Since you did your back splash this is the same principle. I have done this also and it can make all the differance in the world.

Jennifer said...

Definitely paint the yellow tile!!! OR... and this is what I would do... replace it. Chip it out carefull and remove it, and then put a nice bullnose on top.

I'm thinking BLACK for either option...

so a black bullnose tile, with cream walls. A nice rich cream.

Oh, and a nice thick shower curtain that has creams, blues, and yellows in it.

aimeemcmillin said...

OK, i have to say that I painted our hall bath blue...and then repainted it a creamy yellow as i decided that blues are hard in bathrooms. Here are my two cents, as I've seen the room:
1) The cheap version would be a paint job in a bright white...something warm, not icy but with less yellow than an ivory (which probably would have looked muddy)
2) the high brow version would be to rip out the yellow floor and the yellow trim tile and replace! more options with what you want!
acm

Sara said...

I can feel your pain. Years ago we lived in a house that had yellow & PURPLE tiles! Happened to be our school colors too-YUCK! Couldn't do a thing about it either-the house was a rental.....

Cindy said...

Hi,

Since grey is sort of kind of part of the blue family, I would do a triad color scheme and paint the walls red. Hang curtains (shower and window) made from a red and yellow floral pattern. The towels would be red and yellow, e.g. red bath towels with yellow hand towels hanging over them.

Have fun,

Cindy

Anonymous said...

I would paint the walls white and consider painting the yellow part of the tile. You could always take out all the tile on the walls and put up beadboard in its place. As far as the vanity, etc, we replaced ours in both bathrooms as well as the toilets for around $100 a piece, this did not include sink hardware. We tried to paint the cabinets in the master bath and they looked awful. It was a cleaner look when we just bought a new cabinet. Good luck, bathrooms are a pain, as well as all house projects especially when money dosen't grow on trees!

Sarah said...

We painted our living room/dining room ivory and it was great in theory but not so great in reality. It's got too much yellow in it, it seems to absorb light and it makes everything look sallow.

You could paint those tiles or you could replace them yourself - it really isn't that hard once you figure out where to start.

I like the idea of bright white but then I think you'd need a much brighter accent tile.

Suzanne said...

oooh I love the idea of just ripping it out and replacing it with beadboarding! I put beadboarding up in my bathroom and LOVE it. It's also not that hard to do and it's cheap... I would totally do this and then you can do whatever you want color-wise.

Janette said...

Marci did you know you could paint that tile? My hubby is a painter and said it can be done. Ask at your local paint store. Aepoxy is one type or an oil. Hubby said latex will never hold up in a bathroom on tile. Walls yes but not tile. It might be worth it even if it's just for a few years. As for the tub get a long shower curtain to hide it. We have an ugly green tub that I hide behind one! :) Good luck!

(I'm think make the yellow tiles black and how are you for bold??? What about red walls?)

Ann Marie said...

I think part of your problem is that ivory is a warm-toned color and blue-grey is decidedly cool-toned. So I don't know that ivory paint would work with that color title. The brown would work, but I'm agreeing with the bright white suggestion for paint. Imagine how open and airy it will feel!

But yeah, you'll have to do something with the yellow tile. As it is now, you've got so many colors going on, and none of them really match! So maybe painting would be a good idea. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I think painting all the tile ivory would be a good way to go and use chocolate brown for the vanity and some accent pieces. Check out The Bungalow Chronicles -she had blue and yellow tiles for her kitchen backsplash which she painted with a water based paint called Breakthrough made by Vanex Color Inc. , what a difference. Good luck !

Blessed said...

Hey - I was originally going to say paint the walls a darker/brighter blue - but then I saw the idea for red walls and I like it too - although if you do that I would lean toward the darker reds to burgundies - also a green might work - go to the paint store and grab all different kinds of paint swatches then put them up to see what you like - sometimes what you look at and hate in the store looks awesome once you get it home and start comparing colors.