I’m still not sure what possessed me to buy green towels. To wit, the tale of how green took over my bathroom… Walk into any spa bathroom and what’s the first thing that hits you?
Color. For me, anyway, it happened in a hotel bathroom in Bath last spring: dusky sage walls and tiles that seemed to suck tension straight from the atmosphere. I found myself unnecessarily preening in front of the mirror, trying not to look eager while surreptitiously breathing in that green goodness.
And that’s when it hit me. Green isn’t trendy.
It’s timeless.
My bathroom was builder’s beige. It was sensible. It was… sad.
Until that day in Bath, I never realized how dull beige could make you feel. I wasn’t convinced green would work, either. I mean it.
Would green work in a bathroom? Wouldn’t moisture wreak havoc on a bathroom paint scheme? What about toothpaste splatters?
I replaced my white hand towels with sage-green towels from John Lewis. Fifteen pounds later and my beige bathroom didn’t seem so beige anymore. “What did you do?” my friend Sarah exclaimed when she entered my bathroom that evening. “Nothing,” I replied. “Everything.” She paused. “Oh. Never mind.
I don’t know what you did, but something’s changed in here. It feels… relaxing.” It’s not magic. It’s biology.
Psychology. Science. Our primal brains find green calming because we’re hardwired to associate it with nature – Mother Nature dominates the color wheel, after all.
The tricky part about selecting green for a bathroom is that it will look different based on the light source(s). Artificial light has a way of warping colors, particularly greens. My first experience with green bathroom paint was a FAIL.
I chose a medium-to-dark emerald color that looked amazing in the Farrow & Ball paint sample book. It was glorious. It came screaming into my life when I painted my downstairs bathroom.
Emerald looked like seafoam green in my bathroom, thanks to my LED canlights. Moral of the story: test your greens and make sure you actually LIKE them on your walls! Get the largest paint sample you can (A4 at minimum) and live with it for at least a week.
View it in natural daylight, in incandescent lamplight, with your exhaust fan on. Green is a fickle color that will appear drastically different based on your lighting. I tested around nine different green paint colors before I found THE ONE for my bathroom renovation last year. (My bathroom before I painted it is here if you’re interested.) My new favorite is called “Woodland Pearl” by Dulux.
It has just enough grey balance to it that it doesn’t feel too green or sterile (“hospital green,” as my sister so eloquently puts it) but still feels fresh. It cost me nearly forty pounds to decide on this color (sample pots are pricey! ), but I would’ve hated to choose the wrong color. Imagine that costing you £1000 instead… Greens like sage and eucalyptus are ideal for small bathrooms.
They’re essentially neutral because they recede. Trust me. I painted my skinny en-suite Benjamin Moore’s “October Mist” and it tricks your eye into thinking there’s more space than there actually is.
Rich, dark greens like Benjamin Moore’s “Studio Green” are beautiful in large bathrooms with tons of natural light but they’ll eat your windows/balcony if yours is on the smaller side. A fun green bathroom tip I learned recently? Green + warm metals = beautiful.
Most people assume your bathroom fixtures have to be cool-toned (chrome, brushed nickel) to work with green walls. I painted my bathroom sage a few years ago and am actually ordering custom aged brass fixtures to go with it. Warm metals and green = magical.
You Might Also Like
Your sage walls will thank you by reflecting the yellow tones in the green without trying TOO hard. No seventies avocado bathroom suite vibes here. White is always a classic with green walls, of course.
But if you’re feeling froggy, why not commit to the green bathroom theme? You can find dark green vanities these days and even olive-hued tiles. See what I mean by commit?
It was truly brave of these homeowners to go for the green tile vibe, but I LOVE it! Ah, green subway tiles. So trendy right now.
I get it. They were my go-to when I completed my mudroom (aka dog bathroom/wash station)/utility room last year. Mint green metro tiles were the ONLY non-white tiles I could find that came in a half-height size to use as a splashback.
At first I was worried they’d show water marks worse than white tiles, but they actually hide water rings better than the traditional white subway tile! And as far as trendy tiles go, they’re NOT pricey. About double the cost of a basic white metro tile, but they look AMAZING and haven’t shown a speck of grime from muddy dog paws.
While obviously indoor plants are a MUST for green bathrooms, don’t go overboard. I went through about three spider plants before I realized my bathroom steam wasn’t ideal for plants. Instead of a cluster of tiny succulents, go for one large statement plant in your bathroom like a monstera, bromeliad, or large peace lily.
Green towels, oh how I stumbled upon thee. Sage-colored towels pair beautifully with everything from dark pine-green hand towels to olive-colored ones. If you buy all sage-colored towels, your bathroom can feel flat.
Vary your towel colors by going darker with your hand towels than your bath towels and you’ll add depth to your bathroom. I love white company’s green towels but they do wash-out easily (read: not colorfast) and are pricey. Surprisingly, Dunelm’s range of green towels are really quite nice for the price.
Don’t match your green bathroom accessories to your wall color exactly. Learn from my mistakes. Hide them.
My first batch of green towels, hand soap, and shower curtain blended in with the walls so much I could’ve pretended they weren’t there. Play with lighter and darker greens to add interest to the room. This may sound crazy, but I find myself more mindful of water consumption in my green bathroom.
I don’t know if it’s psychological or what, but having walls + accessories painted green made me crave eco-friendly products. I use cloth tote bags more. Ask for bamboo toothbrushes.
Stock up on plastic-free shampoo bars. Who knows? Maybe there’s something to that.
The one thing I will say is this: invest in dimmer switches for your bathroom lights. The morning shower feels energizing with cool white light but turn those suckers down at night and your sage walls will take on an amber glow.
Rich.
Cozy. Soft. It makes your sage green walls richer and more soothing.
Cool-toned light makes green look clinical. Green is here to stay, my friends. Long after millennial pink fades and we move onto navy blues, mint greens will be everywhere.
We’re obsessed with being outside, but when we’re stuck inside cubicle-like offices and apartments all day, we seek out color options that remind us of the outdoors. It’s called biophilic design and every interior designer is talking about it these days. Plus, who doesn’t want to wake up and feel zen before their morning coffee?
Not dramatic, blah blah…but calm. Green bathrooms can help you do that.
