apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have a kind of similar situation where I'd like to work with my existing bathroom tile, which is a nice white subway tile - however, the room was painted, and the tiles were regrouted - might I say very haphazardly. So there's a lot of dried paint and grout on the tile itself, making it look unsightly. Are there ways to get rid of this without having to redo the whole thing?

I'd probably stick with a neutral color on the walls. Perhaps a blue/grey and the use chrome fiixtures and perhaps had some art and pop of color with towels.

I think your bathroom is really cute as is. I love the retro tile and the sink.

I have the same question! We have plain white tile in our master and guest bathrooms, and while there's nothing wrong with it, there's also nothing exciting about it either. I can't afford to replace it all, and since it's in perfectly good condition, I can't justify ripping it all out even if I did have the time and money.

OK I had the exact same issue where I had maroon and yellow tiles from the 40's on 3 walls, and nasty white plastic on 2. ( my bathroom is ... irregular.) And I rent, and am poor. And had a dropped ceiling with flourescent lights that I could not remove. So I bit the bullet, got a bunch of sale bedspreads from Urban Outfitters - they are closing them out and they are super marked down in their stores. Then I starch pasted fabric to my 3 of my five walls with cornstarch and water, and attached them to my ceilings! It looks great, and best of all its removable. It gives a nice texture, covers everything, has a lot more design pop than just paint, survives steam just fine, and feels like wallpaper without the expense. I will post pix. but meanwhile think about this on the walls: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=60&startValue=121&selectedProductColor=&sortby=&id=15797822&parentid=A_FURN_SALE&sortProperties= product.marketingPriority,-product.startDate&navCount=231&navAction=poppushpush&color=&pushId=A_FURN_SALE&popId=APARTMENT_SALE&prepushId=

It would feel chic and bold instead of settling for something. You could do subtler patterns too, of course!

I was going to suggest the post after yours... but it is Nicole and Colins, so already been done!

More shots of their bathroom:

http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/021909gleason

As they have done in their bathroom, I would play up the black edging, for example, with black framed artwork, a black shelf, etc.

In your case, you also have a dusty lilac/grey to play with. You could paint the walls an undusty lilac -- that would be very pretty, and still not overly feminine.

Here are some shower curtain ideas from Restoration Hardware:

http://www.restorationhardware.com/rh/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1233148&navAction=jump&navCount=1

You could go with the striped one, paint the walls the lighter lilac colour, and make the towels natural white/ivory, or go with the darkest shower curtain, paint the walls the lighter colour, and go with cream towels.

Or, white everything -- towels, shower curtain, walls.

I would:

- replace the toilet set cover with a black one through a Retro Renovation source;

- get a classic bathroom scale like this:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/personal-health/classic-healthometer-analog-bathroom-scale-045805 ;

- keep the laundry basket in the bedroom closet or the bedroom (too cluttered in the bathroom);

-clean up the grout;

-look for authentic fixtures on Retro Renovaton.

You may wish to consider wallpapering the bathroom, to give it more of a boudoir feel -- for example:

http://www.greenwithglamour.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21_30&products_id=62

http://discount-wallcovering.com/images/general%20images/DAJ001.JPG

http://discount-wallcovering.com/images/floral/DAJ017.jpg

http://www.fabricsandpapers.com/ebuttonz/ebz_product_pages/malabarwallpaper-4001-66.htm

http://www.wallpaperandborders.co.uk/wallpaper-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=443&products_id=221&zenid=de6dd1d1b379d4fd420dbfd0ac614c8e

http://www.wallpaperandborders.co.uk/wallpaper-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=443&products_id=756

http://www.wallpaperandborders.co.uk/wallpaper-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=443&products_id=368

http://www.wallpaperandborders.co.uk/wallpaper-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=443&products_id=635

http://www.wallpaperandborders.co.uk/wallpaper-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=443&products_id=767

http://www.wallpaperandborders.co.uk/wallpaper-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=443&products_id=615

If you go with the b&w wallpaper (very, very cool!), the light lilac shower curtain, towels and bathmat from Restoration Hardware may work best, or you could try to find a grey which coordinates with the wall tiles and floor tiles (more difficult).

Have fun!

(and don't store cleaners in the open -- last tip)

Since there are a lot of colours in the room already, I suggest replacing the old accessories (towel rack, scale, laundry basket etc.) with a matching set. All fixtures in chrome or shiny black, for example, and white towels only. I'd go with a light, neutral colour for the walls, maybe with a yellow tone, and a grey colour for the ceiling that matches the grey floor tiles. A picture with a black frame, just like in the second photo, will help integrate the black tile border. If you choose a yellow tone colour for the walls, a warm yellow shower curtain can bring some colour into the room in a coherent way.

If the bathroom is that lavender gray I still think you can do so much with it! I like pastels like pink and yellow with gray a lot and it would look pretty with the lavender hue. Or a pale aqua on the walls and white towels and curtain would look so fresh!

I'd play up the Art Deco feel maybe a monogram in black on the towels to pick out the tile edges. Some chrome accessories.

My favorite color combo right now is red and gray, so If I was in your place I would use red, maybe not on the walls (a bit much), but at least in the towels and accessories. I've seen a lot of yellow and gray around too, which still looks current and cool (though how long before that's outdated too, who knows...)

I'd paint the walls the same color as the tile - Dove Grey - and replace that chintzy plastic towel rack w/ chrome hardware.

Paint the walls black and have all white towels with black monograms, very small black rug, black tiolet seat. good day

White shower curtain with a black monogram also.

Retro bathrooms can look great, but you need cohension. You cant ignore the black, so I would embrace it. I suggest painting the walls lt. charcoal gray or black with a picture, like the one in the second photo, on the wall to make it pop. The tiles, sink and white towels, will really stand out against this. I can't tell what color the floor tile is, (green?) but I would also try to add a small dash of it somewhere in the room, like a plant. I would not do green towels. Black and white wall paper would also work.

You could use all white towels, get some matching chrome accesories towel bar, etc. I would also suggest moving the laundry basket. It will change the space when it doesn't feel so crowded.
This link has some pictures of grey walls in a bathroom and also black, with white towels, accessories, etc.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bp2.blogger.com/_7voWRpt7Li4/SHr2p1BDNYI/AAAAAAAADqE/L5aQoV9QmeY/s400/south%2Bafrica%2Bblack%2Band%2Bwhite%2BHome%2B7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://alkemie.blogspot.com/2008/07/study-in-black-white-one-designers-home.html&usg=__SExMJ9D-8y7odmsaV4MSzvmU4Vw=&h=264&w=400&sz=26&hl=en&start=88&um=1&tbnid=TwuzQIaJHHRntM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblack%2Band%2Bwhite%2Bretro%2Bbathroom%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D72%26um%3D1

Do you live in one of the co-op village apt's in the LES? My bathroom tile is EXACTLY the same as yours and I've been wondering what to do about it too!

Another issue I have is that years of paint over paint over paint have made the walls disgustingly gunky. That's another issue if you're going to paint the walls....you'll probably have to remove some of the layers of paint and do some prep to get a good paint job....

silvery opalescent paint

bright white towels and terry cloth shower curtain(monograms are a nice idea, but keep it sublte with white on white)

modern silver curtain rings, silver and glass shelf

large grey bath rug

if you skirt the sink, you can keep a hamper and scale underneath

What about painting the tile? If you do it yourself, I would not reccomend painting the shower though. There is a ton of info if you do a "painting tile" search. I came across an article which said a professional job would be about $2000.

If that scares you too much, you should check out the paint sites like Behr, Sherwin-Williams, and Benjamin More for inspiration. I usually start there when I am stumped about color.

I'd try to go with neutral color towels and accessories since it looks like you have a lot of colors going on. Do not paint the tiles - it never ever works right and the humidity in a bathroom will just make it peel.

jimbobwaay-

You should be able to scrape the paint and grout off the tile using a small metal putty knife. Get a decent quality one with a fine edge. Use the flat surface to scrape, don't use the corner or you will scratch the tile.