A person who knows the value of good design and respects people who can create everyday beauty will never call gray boring. It has a lot of nobility, gray can be both strict and warm, both neutral and bright. There are 256 shades of gray – so many options the designer actually has. And one of them (or even several) can become the color of your bathroom.
Gray color: design features, characteristics, psychological impact
Each color in its own way affects a person, gray is no exception. It is formed by mixing red, green, blue in different proportions. This color is associated with maturity and aging, restraint and justice, power and spirituality. In a negative sense, it means unwillingness to be noticeable, boredom, dullness, isolation in oneself.
The effect on humans consists in inhibiting all physiological processes of the body, reducing the intensity of nervous activity, reducing excessive excitement and blood pressure. Gray tones are useful for lovers of deep meditation, with high pressure, temperature, infectious diseases. In sufficient quantities, they help focus, solve various problems, but if there are too many such tones around, depression occurs.
In interior design, unobtrusive gray tones are used as background. Combinations with any others are allowed here, and the room looks noble, brings peace. It is recommended for the design of offices, hospitals, offices.
You can apply wallpapers, paints, etc. on walls and see how they look in various interiors.
Advantages, disadvantages of bath design in gray
The interior in gray tones has its pros and cons.
Positive sides:
Negative points:
The choice of finishing materials for decoration
The choice of finishing materials depends on the style of the interior, the size of the room, the financial capabilities of the owners. Modern manufacturers of finishing materials offer many options suitable specifically for rooms with high humidity:
The ideal flooring is ceramic tile. It is an order of magnitude cheaper than stone, available in various colors, with different textures. It is important to choose the floor – it is stronger than the wall, less slippery, will last longer. In cramped rooms it is laid diagonally – this way a significant expansion of space is achieved. Linoleum is less commonly used – it is suitable for lovers of frequent renovations, as it does not withstand heavy furniture installed on it, if improperly laid it is damaged by mold and fungus, especially at the joints. A waterproof laminate is also a good solution, but it’s equally important to properly install and seal joints.
For walls, tiles are also suitable – the most popular options are stylized as natural stone, precious wood, textile materials. Wall panels are no less common – they are made of transparent or tinted glass, plastic, natural wood, treated with protective compounds that prevent warping, decay, damage by fungus, mold. Sometimes the walls are painted – it can be a gradient transition from light to dark, geometric shapes, stripes, intricate patterns.
The ceilings are suspended or simply painted. For certain interior stylistics, stucco elements made of foam plastic are mounted on them – ceiling panels, sockets, cornices, etc.
Color: a variety of shades
Basic shades of gray:
The use of various shades of the described color for the bathroom has its own characteristics. In well-lit, spacious rooms with windows, high ceilings, it is recommended to use dark, cold shades. If there are no windows, and the room is cramped, it is advisable to use the lightest, warmest colors.
Bright accents, combinations with other colors
A monochrome gray interior is acceptable, but it seems boring, because it requires at least a small amount of contrasting accents. Part of the tile on the wall or all plumbing fixtures, a rug on the floor or a stained-glass window, a curtain over the bathtub or multiple shelves for bath trifles, a flower painted on the wall or a heated towel rail of an intricate shape are bright.
Most popular combinations:
White and gray bathroom
A win-win classic union that fills a room with lightness, relaxation and serenity. White should be used in moderation, as it should only emphasize the unique gray, and not become the main color scheme.
Gray with yellow
The combination of gray and yellow in the interior of the bathroom causes aversion. Yes, not all gray-yellow bathrooms can be called attractive, this is a fact. Much depends on the contrast: the sharper it is, the more fashionable and stylish the interior looks.
You can achieve an expressive contrasting effect using both saturated and calm shades of gray and yellow palette: combine lime or lemon tones with shades of wet asphalt, apricot and sand tones will be good with silver-gray, ashy and pearly shades of gray.
Gray-pink bathroom interior
In a dark gray bathroom, delicate pastel pink colors will look especially advantageous. No less harmonious is the combination of an ashy shade with a powdery color or fuchsia color, in any proportions. The gray-pink duet at the same time gives the design calmness, unusualness and brings bright touches to the room.
Gray-brown bathroom interior
The combination is ambiguous, but interesting. On the one hand, brown balances the coolness of the gray palette, on the other – the already dim gray shades against its background become inconspicuous. To achieve a successful combination, you can play in contrast: combine dark brown with light gray and vice versa to get an expressive and gloomy bathroom interior that will be trendy for a long time.
Brown shades warm the monochrome room and add more comfort and harmony to it. The gray interior of the bathroom in combination with wood looks really stylish.
Gray with beige
If we talk about the combination of gray and beige in the interior of the bathroom, you should consider: in such a color combination it does not matter which shade you give primacy. When mixed, they will in any case dissolve in each other and create a neutral color cocktail. To prevent the interior from turning flat, use a variety of textures, patterns, and enter black, white and brown shades. So you get the desired dynamic and animating contrast, but without flashy contradictions.
Black gray bathroom
The gray-black tandem is associated with elegance and luxury. Such colors do not give the atmosphere a gloom, but rather make it more refined and perfect.
Gray and gold bathroom
A respectable combination of colors for a beautiful bathroom interior is a combination of gray and gold. In such colors, your bathroom will look no worse than in an elite hotel, especially if you place black elements on a gray background and use gold in the form of textured, aged and embossed tile surfaces, framing mirrors and faucets.
The combination of blue and gray in bathroom
Smoky tones with blue or turquoise tones create a rather cool, but seasoned and elegant combination. Midnight blue and sapphire shades add some solemnity to the interior, and pale cornflower blue, celestial or blue colors contribute to relaxation and peace. Due to the low contrast, light blue forms a very pleasant and harmonious duet with gray.
Gray with turquoise
At the mention of turquoise shades imagination draws a sea breeze, so it is logical to use them in the interior of the bathroom. And in combination with gray-silver tones, turquoise creates a truly magical effect: in such a color palette, even a small bathroom will seem weightless, and exotic notes will rustle in its atmosphere, without any additional decor.
Gray with green
Great for small bathrooms. Gray shades in such an interior will visually expand the room, blur its visual boundaries, and green accents will add a feeling of spaciousness, without focusing on himself. Just try to avoid contrasting combinations. Do not use a lot of saturated shades of fresh grass and charcoal tones. In the bathroom, soft combinations will be more appropriate: for example, light green or olive shades with mother-of-pearl pearls will envelop the room with an atmosphere of freshness, which it soaks even without using living plants in the decor.
Gray with red
Red in tune with gray is an excellent solution for the interior of a modern bathroom, despite the fact that the combination turns out to be harsh, pulsating and a little difficult to perceive. To achieve harmony between them, make gray the dominant, and enter the shades of red accent. However, if you add black and white colors to the bathroom decoration, then even a large amount of red will not be too flashy.
Lighting Features
The number of lighting devices, the brightness of the light depends on the size of the room, the saturation of the colors used in the design. It is advisable to use not only a central chandelier, but also a local lighting fixture above each plumbing fixture – a bathtub, shower, toilet, mirror, etc. It is important that all lamps, sockets, switches are protected from accidental moisture. If possible, they are placed at the maximum distance from water sources, and electrical wiring is allowed inside special sealed boxes made of plastic or rubber.
Decorative illumination of the top of cabinets, mirrors, and other items will allow you to create a romantic atmosphere, LED strip, let down on the bottom of the furniture, baseboards, add space to lightness, weightlessness. Dimmed lighting will make the room cozy, creating a soft play of shadows. But if there are small children or visually impaired in the family, the main lighting should give enough light.
Depending on the chosen style of the room, the role of lighting devices is played by branched or multi-track chandeliers, asymmetrical or styled as sconces, flat ceiling or spotlights, light boxes or false windows. The presence of mirrors, shiny surfaces, will make the room brighter, reflecting the light of lamps.
For rooms without windows, experts recommend the use of white, daylight lamps that imitate daylight well.
The choice of furniture, plumbing in gray bathroom
A standard set of furniture and plumbing fixtures looks like this:
Of course, in a small room, this set looks more modest – far from everywhere a full bath is able to fit, which is replaced by a shortened or compact shower. Instead of a dressing table and many lockers, several narrow shelves for cosmetics are often made, and a mirror is placed above them.
Plumbing and furniture can coincide in tone with the background finish, which allows you to expand the space, or contrast sharply with it. The furniture is made of wood with a water-repellent coating, MDF, particleboard, plastic, chromed metal, glass.
Accessories, decor for gray bathroom
Decorative design is selected depending on the availability of free space, for a certain interior style. In baroque, empire, rococo, gold-plated metal legs by the bathtub, intricate brass taps, fine mosaic on the walls, combined with half columns, and other foam stucco work perfectly. In the country, ethnic, rustic interiors live potted plants, rugs, as if woven from a vine, look great. In the styles of hi-tech, loft, minimalism, an abundance of mirrors looks great, chrome heated towel rails and towel hooks, simple built-in lights.
If there is a window, it is draped with a curtain, matching in tone with a rug on the floor or a curtain over the bathroom.
Conclusion
A real interior in gray tones is a great solution for any modern bathroom. It can be two or three gray colors or a complete diverse palette, with individual bright accents. The bathroom space is designed in the same style as the other rooms of the apartment or is very different from them. Such a design, with certain skills, is easy to implement independently or with the participation of professional artists involved in the design of bathroom interiors.