Longtime readers of this column will know that I redo my bathroom more often than I run out for eggs, so for bathroom renovation month at Apartment Therapy, let's look at my latest foray. File this under "Why Not."
I love the idea of this, but I wish I liked it just a bit more. The base is actually a striè of two similar colors, which you could only see in hard, raking light for two weeks until the emulsion glossed out. I wanted the blackest underwater blue-green, like black jade. The ornament is the color of patina bronze, and none of this made sense until I got the birds up and running, which have Phthalo blue and a bit of coral. I like the samples I made more than the actual thing itself; it sat unfinished for six months, and now I've finally polished it off. Sort of... It's also so dark, shiny and small that it's nearly impossible to photograph; and, as always, the walnut-colored tile remains a liability, but it is a rental.
My inspiration was some little mid-century mini-survey of Chinese watercolors that I picked up off the street. I can't quite tell if this is cheesy; but, as I say, it was an experiment for future potential projects I may someday take to market.
(Images: Mark Chamberlain)
The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
I like it but not forever. So if you're a serial renovator, great! How about skin tone lighting, though?
ehhh, I disagree. not just no for me, although it's not my taste. I think it would have been more successful in a bigger space, though. In a bathroom that size (or at least from the pictures), I don't think you can appreciate the depth of the color.
It's perfect. Small bathrooms are exactly the right-sized canvas for such a decorative project -- in larger bathrooms, not only are the material costs often out of reach (in this case, it would be just too much work), but high glamour is best in small doses otherwise it risks being tacky.
Gorgeous!
there is nothing cheezy about chinoiserie. ever!
I like the theory of it. I love painted wallpaper above the wainscot. I admired Chinoiserie hand painted wallpaper for ages, even considering forking over the money for enough for just one wall and thinking I just might paint some myself. Then I chickened out and bought
some rolls of Osbourne and Little Summer Palace, in cinnabar red-orange, like your door. I love it.
Very well executed. You could do my powder room anytime!
I like it. I might have gone a big less dark on the background, but I'm intimidated by very dark walls, I guess. Nicely painted! (Love the birds.)
Beautifully done. I'm really into the drama of it. How would it look with different colored trim around the door and medicine cabinet, perhaps a glossy coral or blue to match the birds?
I think your design would make a nice wall focal point on a very large moveable canvas or screen in another room like a living, dining, or bedroom.
Cool as heck.
I like.