How to choose between gray and beige for your bathroom update

One of my favorite avenues of design consultation centers around making homes safer and easier to maintain for those who just want to age in place. It can be overwhelming to tackle an entire bathroom so often times we address the largest issue first with plans to update the rest of the bathroom later. This inspired me to share some combos from a familiar home improvement store that would match the most popular color of acrylic wall system available from a top manufacturer of walk-in showers and tubs. While the quality of these tubs and showers themselves are not for sale at your average big box store, the paint, flooring and off the rack vanities are. They illustrate an easy way to continue the remodel after the larger more pressing issue of bathing is addressed.

Color Combos to Consider

This favorite wall panel option has a great base color that incorporates gray tones and beige tones to make it warm and versatile. The Behr paint guide for “Grays and Neutrals” shows this range of colors. The shades that I gravitate towards that I think straddle this line the best are Smokestack (N220-3) and Sculptors’s Clay (PPU5-08). One row over to the left and the colors turn more warm, golden and sandy, while the row (unpictured) to the right has a hint of pink.

Versatile Grays

The wall panel sample starts to change a little depending on what paint color you put with it. However, I think you can see that this line of gray is actually a bit cool for the marble pattern. The second chip from the top- Chic Gray (PPU26-10) and the (unpictured) Dolphin Fin (790C-3) do the best job of leaning more warm.

How about Other Colors?

One of the easiest ways to compliment a pallet with an undertone that is both gray and beige is to find a soft color that is both a blue and a green. This Behr paint chip Zen (PPU11-14) was the one I choose and it looked great with many of the new warmer wood tone vanities.

You can see here how the lighter wood on the left (which has a hint of gray) feels very “spa” like with this wall color.

However, I didn’t realize how many painted vanity options were now available in easy to incorporate colors.

This is the Behr paint sample Sculptor’s Clay (PPUS-08) pictured next to a blue-green painted vanity called Chasbury. This color combo would be perfect with a LVP flooring in the lighter natural tone wood or a tile that has a soft white and grey marble color.

Other Vanities

For the true-blue lovers out there…here is a darker denium shade vanity that also compliments the acrylic wall panel option nicely.

But by far my favorite choice was the sharp contrast of the black vanity-

This is pictured here with the Sculptor’s Clay wall color and an option for flooring from the flooring department. I liked the way this luxury vinyl plank resembled pine wood but was streaked with a gray undertone that tied the colors together even more beautifully.

And although the gold hardware might not match the rest of the room you could easily pair it with a vintage mirror to tie it in (especially if your shower head and other bath fittings are concealed behind a shower curtain most of the time)-

Or swap the knobs for something with a more crystal look to pop against the dark finish-

Most of these ready to go vanities come with simple white tops that coordinate with any bathroom scheme so that only leaves new vanity lights and you should be completing that room refresh in no time!

Hopefully this inspires a path towards simple bathroom updates with great impact. From the very first choice of making your bathing safer and more therapeutic, to the easy act of updating a wall color, the goal is to inspire changes that bring about many more years of loving the space you live in.

It is also a part of my newest call here on the blog for an Interior Design movement towards Wellness. I will be challenging the way we can use our spaces to cultivate Wellness by improving not only the physical capabilities of our homes but the impact it has on our mental health as well. Let’s explore the ways we can get most out of the places we spend our time. Because as I have said before-

Time is the luxury.

Let’s make sure we are all enjoying what’s next!