We're sure many of you remember one of our most popular house tours, Maria's “Oh So You” Bungalow. The interior was a pastiche of vibrant colours and welcoming textures, all framed by the open floor plans and an outdoor entertaining shangri-la. Maria has been so kind to update us about the one room in her home she was hesitant to share that first time around: the bathroom. She's decided to take a daring directional change inside, painting it high gloss black to dramatic results...
Maria shares: "I used Black High Gloss paint by Breakthrough (recommended by my friend TJ who is a scenic designer). The shower curtain is from Urban Outfitters. Same with the wall accessories. The white velvet curtain and the curtain rod are from PBTeen. I painted a clear water based poly all around the sink so as to repel water -- works great. I kept the light fixtures but I added dimmers which makes the room glow at night. I think one reason this works (if it does) is because I kept the ceiling white and my bathroom gets alot of light. I look forward to hearing from the AT readers!"


Absolutely Stunning.
I have dark walls in my bathroom too but I have a problem with condensation showing up as white drips on the walls and ceiling as I have no window or exhaust fan - Any suggestions?
view bepsf's profile
usually, not my style... but i dig it!
view closertotheocean's profile
Fantastic!
view Kerith's profile
yowza! ballsy and looks great!!
view kdkaboom's profile
'I painted a clear water based poly all around the sink so as to repel water -- works great.'
I'm intrigued. We've chosen not to tile around our new bath vanity which has me a bit concerned about water damage.
To clarify your remodel, did you coat your black walls with the poly? What brand and finish did you use? It all looks gorgeous!
view wig3000's profile
end italic?
view robotropolis's profile
I love black bathrooms. I was going to paint my guest bath black until more than one person talked me out of it due to the very issue bepsf sited (although I do have a window in mine).
Maria, let us know how you keep your walls spot free.
view Seaside's profile
Love the black, white, and pink combo!
view sparkle's profile
Does anyone know where I can get wood antler hooks like those??
view breezy's profile
Breezy: The wall hooks pictured are the "Branch Wall Hooks" in white from Urban Outfitters
http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&navAction=jump&id=13792726&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=SEARCH RESULTS&color=27
view JH4285's profile
hey pals - thanks for the enthusiasm. So, spot free walls: the paint is high gloss black by Breakthrough, a very intense paint that is water-proof. I do get spots from condensation but they wipe away easily and don't leave any sort of stain or anything. The clear poly i used around the sink is Minwax, water-based polyacrylic, clear gloss. I also used it to paint the top of the divider btwn the toilet and sink, the white area but it yellowed slightly so i don't recommend it on top of white. For white i use benjamin moore high gloss white enamel paint, i love that stuff. The wood antler hooks are from urban outfitters - they're tinier than they looked on the internet, just so you know. Well, keep the questions coming!
view pugluv's profile
I loove lov elove the shower curtain. Is that from Urban Outfitters too?
view Eleno_Mome's profile
Yes. shower curtain from urban outfitters too. it smells awful when you first open it up - sickening plastic smell. i left it outside and then doused it with the garden hose before putting it up. talk about NOT GREEN. that part sucks. also, i did not paint anything on top of the high gloss black paint except for the area around the sink where i knew there would be lots of water splashes. m
view pugluv's profile
How cool! I love seeing when someone breaks a "rule" like not painting a small room a dark color and has it turn out so great.
view christie's profile
Thanks for the details, pugluv! I love the floors with this color combo too.
view wig3000's profile
i love that toxic plastic shower curtain smell. it reminds me of blowing up beachballs as a kid in the summer. weird, i know.
lovely bathroom! but i personally HATE those twig hooks (from personal experience only). i have screwed them into different walls three different ways only to have them slide out days later. worthless (for anything other than hanging jewelry)
view jenny!'s profile
I agree, Jenny - the mounting parts of the twigs are ridiculous. There's no way to actually get them to fit tightly to the wall. They should rethink the design if it's one of UO's perennials (like the angel wing earrings that I bought in '05 that are still in the store today). It would make more sense if they came with a separate bracket and a concealed screw in the bottom, like a towel bar.
And for those who called them wood, they're actually enameled iron.
view estydesign's profile
Stunning--don't change a thing!
view julica's profile