Walkthrough all the bathrooms in my house and you’ll notice they all have one thing in common: grey paint. Yes, every single bathroom is painted some shade of grey. But before you yawn and click away, hear me out.
When I bought this house three years ago, every bathroom had a different personality. The guest bathroom boasted aggressive salmon pink tiles that made guests look jaundiced. The master bath upstairs was coated in builder beige: beige walls, beige fixtures, beige grout that looked like it could use a bath itself.
Then there was the powder room with its tacky electric blue accent wall that could’ve signaled airplane landings. Painting each bathroom grey was the best choice I made to unify the whole house.
When we first moved in, I knew I wanted some continuity from bathroom to bathroom.
But I didn’t want every space to look identical, either. I wanted the bathrooms to feel connected, but each maintain its own vibe. The answer?
Grey as a foundation color. Grey gets a bad rap. It’s boring, they say.
Kind of dreary, too. But here’s the thing about grey: there are so many different shades! Remember how I mentioned there was pink tile in the guest bathroom?
Well, that bathroom is now painted Benjamin Moore’s “Classic Gray,” which is a warm grey with just enough beige undertones to complement the existing brass fixtures I can’t bear to replace. Spoiler alert: we kept the pink tile. The walls no longer scream against that bright pink background.
Instead, they look intentional, toned down. I hung up some white towels, clipped a few plants to the towel rack, and suddenly it didn’t feel like holding your breath in a tin can anymore. Success!
I was on a roll, so I kept grey as my foundation color for the master bathroom. But instead of warm grey, I painted three walls “Agreeable Gray” by Sherwin Williams, then used the darker grey “Dovetail” as an accent wall behind the vanity. The dark wall behind the vanity made our DIY white subway tile—which yes, we installed ourselves—pop.
Painting all our walls grey tied the space together, but using two different shades gave us flexibility. Here’s the fun part: in each bathroom, I used a different shade of grey as a starting point. My powder room, for example, needed serious help.
So while I used grey as an anchor, I took the opportunity to really change the vibe of that space. I painted the walls Ben Moore’s “Iron Ore,” which is almost charcoal, then hung some brass fixtures I found on clearance at a kitchen and bath showroom that was going out of business. Not only did painting dark walls make that teeny tiny space feel cozy (not tiny! ), but the warm brass fixtures kept it from feeling cold or industrial.
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In my basement bathroom—which sounds super fancy until you realize that means there are now FOUR bathrooms I have to clean when guests stay over—I went with a grey-blue hybrid called “Storm Cloud.” It’s a versatile shade that transforms throughout the day as the natural light shifts. In the morning, when we’re washing our faces and getting ready for work, it feels bright and spa-like. At night with the warmer LED lights I installed, it feels more moody and sultry.
Using the same anchor color throughout my house allowed me to create vastly different looks and feels in each bathroom without worrying about everything feeling mismatched as you transition from one bathroom to the next. It also allowed me to play with texture and different layers. While grey was our foundation in paint, I made sure to mix things up with different metals (chrome shower curtain rods, oil rubbed bronze faucets, nickel outlets and switch plates) and layers of texture.
Think: smooth grey walls, textured white tile, brushed nickel fixtures, and wooden shelves in the master bath. (Psst! The “wood” is actually reclaimed barn wood I found on Facebook Marketplace for $30!) Good lighting is important in any room in your house, but it really matters in your bathrooms. Grey can look flat or washed out if you’re not careful about the lights you use.
I invested in some nice LED fixtures that allow me to adjust the color temperature of the bulbs. Which means: bright and cool in the morning when I’m getting ready for work, and warm and toasty at night when I’m washing the kid’s faces before bed. It was around $200 per bathroom for decent fixtures, but wow does it make a difference in how the gray feels in each bathroom.
If you’re hesitant to paint your bathrooms grey because you’re worried it will look boring or like a hotel lobby, don’t be. Not only is grey super forgiving when it comes to water spots (remember those? ), but it’s also forgiving when it comes to decorating. Love turquoise?
Paint your walls gray and throw some coral towels in the space. Preppy and obsessed with Seagrams grape soda? Go ahead and pop some navy shower curtains in that grey kitchen.
Find yourself obsessing over all the new eucalyptus green plants on Instagram? Stick some green plants in your grey bathroom and call it a day. I love that grey allows me to switch out accessories and decorations seasonally, too.
In the winter, I like to bring in some cream-colored rugs and copper accents. In the summer I’ll switch to crisp white towels and maybe even throw some blue ceramic vases in the space. My walls will hold any color you put next to them, but they’ll never fight with the decor or look dated.
Along my grey painting journey, I made a few missteps.
For starters, I didn’t want the bathrooms to look too identical, but I also tried to use the same exact shade of grey in all four bathrooms. BAD MISTAKE.
Bathrooms should feel cohesive, but not matchy-matchy. They need their own identities. Even if that identity centers around one color.
Lesson: grey comes in so many shades. Some are purple-based (bad for bathrooms, by the way—they make people look sick), some lean green or blue. Always test paint colors in the space you actually plan to paint, and look at the colors at different times of day.
Yes, even paint colors change throughout the day as the sunlight shifts. As other guests stream through the front door and head toward the bathrooms, I love that they use each one but comment on how “pulled together” my house looks. All because I painted every bathroom…. grey.
