When you are deciding on paint colours for any room in your home, you most likely wouldn't consider black. You wouldn't be alone in this mindset.
The psychological stereotype of black tends to make homeowners shy away from this strong decor colour choice. This makes sense to a point. Historically, black is used as a symbol of menace and evil. Villains such as Dracula, dressed in black, tend to make our psyche shy away from using this colour in the decor. However, this colour, or lack thereof, sometimes gets a bad rap.
As you can see from our feature photo, courtesy of Kohler, black can be dramatic and stunning, even in a small space. This masculine bathroom, while dark, provides a sense of elegance and stately comfort. This is mainly due to the unusual choice wall colour.
If you look at the details of this room, aside from the wall colour, you can see it's an older, oddly shaped bathroom, perhaps in an older home. There are no built-in cabinets, closets or other architectural features in this particular room. From the older style, double hung window to the vintage black and white tiled floor, this room probably had humble beginnings.
By adding high-performance Kohler fixtures, including a rain head-shower nozzle, curved shower curtain rod, low-profile bathtub, new toilet and vanity, this bathroom is well on its way to becoming stylish and functional. The choice to use a white vanity, versus a dark finish, keeps things light and makes the vanity pop against the dark backdrop. The inclusion of prints and the mirror, framed in white, also helps balance the dark wall colour. The addition of the oversized white drum shade is a good choice for a room otherwise lacking in many architectural features.
Even with all of these new bathroom fixtures, the black-and-white tiled floor and black tiles in the tub area, the room would still lack pizzazz if the walls were painted white. The room would be an OK space, but nothing to get overly excited about. It's the dramatic charcoal-black wall colour that really gives this room verve. Granted, many other rich colours could look nice, but black really does the trick here and it actually makes this room space feel more spacious.
In past columns I've suggested that when one chooses a dark wall colour, it's a good idea to balance it by painting out the door and floor trim white. This bathroom breaks that rule. (I love breaking rules when it's warranted.)
You can see the window trim and baseboards are painted out to blend into the wall colour. The reason for this unusual choice is the graphic black-and-white floor pattern. The floor gives this room all of the contrast needed.
If you painted the window trim and baseboards in white, there would be an overload of contrast, which might be overwhelming. If the flooring was a solid colour, painting the trim white might be a good option. As well, the white tub, toilet and vanity provide just enough additional contrast to keep the room visually balanced. Note that the shower curtain is a light colour, which provides translucent light into the dark shower area.
Being a woman, I like a little softness and would most likely add a splash of colour with bright towels in orange, hot pink, yellow or light blue. A white wicker basket of toiletries on the toilet tank and a soft window treatment would add a woman's touch as well.
If the floor pattern is overwhelming, you could also add some charcoal mats to break up the pattern and add softness under foot. I might also consider adding a large, black-and-white print to the wall left of the toilet. A vintage, movie-inspired photo or poster might work well in this setting. A fluffy white bathrobe hanging on a decorative robe hook would add a sense of comfort and luxury and also offset the dark wall beautifully.
Black can be a wonderful choice in the right space. It's not a common choice, which makes it a good option if you're looking for something different and dramatic. Keep your lighting needs in mind when using a dark wall colour. Keep visual balance at the forefront of your decor design, then just go for it.
connieoliver@shaw.ca
