Bright Blue Wall Paint Color in My Bathroom

by Amanda
(Providence Forge, VA, USA)

A few years ago I decided I was tired of my plain white bathroom. It was boring.

My husband and I went to the local paint store and were trying to decide on a color. I had an idea of what I wanted but, since I had made all of the decorating decisions in the rest of the house, I let him choose the color.

He chose a beautiful shade of blue called "Cowgirl Blue" in a designer's paint color palette.

It was a bit darker than I thought would work in such a small room since darker colors tend to shrink a room, but I told him he could choose, so we bought a gallon of it along with a Bright White and some primer for the trim.

That weekend he left on a boys weekend golfing trip and I undertook the painting of the bathroom.

One thing I did before painting was to remove and replace all of the caulking around the sink and tub surround. I used a latex mildew resistant caulk. I didn't want it flaking off or turning black and ruining my paint job.

While that was drying I did a scuff sanding on the stained trim and used cheesecloth to remove the dust. Then I primed the trim with a high-quality, oil-based, stain blocking primer. It only took an hour to dry. I then painted the trim with an acrylic semi-gloss.

The next day I cut in the walls, then rolled a coat of blue. At first I was worried because the color seemed so bright, but water-based paints darken as they dry and it turned out to be the perfect blue color.

I used a high-quality acrylic satin finish paint, a high-quality synthetic brush (for cutting in) and a high-quality 3/8" nap roller so it only required one coat.

In all, it took longer to re-caulk the tub and sink surround than it did to complete the painting project, but it transformed the bathroom from boring to brilliant.

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