Bathroom paint is way too bright - please help :-(

melodytoon

I've just had the bathroom refitted & chose a colour for the walls that looks too bright to live with for long. The tin called the colour "Elizabethan Gold" (soft sheen emulsion) & the label showed it as a muted beech colour. However, on the walls it looks simply like a ripe orange - whilst it's not blindingly bright, it's irritatingly so. It's even more highlighted by the neutral shades in the hall right next to it.

I don't mind an orange tone to the colour (like a light apricot), but the colour has nothing golden about it, just orange .  I'd prefer to tone the colour down rather than risk putting something totally different over it that might end up looking far worse. We're not mad on pastels, & I really wish we'd stuck to a stone/beige/light mushroom sort of colour now .  Any advice would be much appreciated, as the quicker this colour goes the happier I'll be . Thanks.

Galtizz

:-/ I can't think of a way to tone it down that would result in an even colour. If you want an even colour I'd suggest buying some really cheap white paint and using it as undercoat for another colour.

The best idea I can think of to tone it down is a colour wash or stippling or another paint effect with a lighter apricot colour (try experimenting with colour by paining a piece of paper with the orange the try other colours over the top).

There is a full tutorial on all paint effects HERE

HTH

melodytoon

Many thanks, Galtizz - that's a really good site. You may just have saved my eyes (& sanity) for my old age

Peter-Pan_5

Dont use cheap paint in a Bathroom,it will cause you more problems,what to do is look in the yellow pages for paint suppliers in your area get a British Standard Shade card from them you will find hundred of colours in it and even more that they will mix for you,dont go to the DIY stores as the advice you get will be the same if you get from your dog if it could talk.


Paint suppliers sell to the public to,better quality and a lot more cheaper,you can even get wee totty [small]tins.

mogoot

Speak to the people who sold you the paint in the first place. If the colour is markedly different from that shown on the tin, you could have reasonable grounds to expect them to take steps to rectify your situation.

Is your lighting affecting how the colour looks? When we moved into our current flat, the (white) bathroom looked so dull and dingy, but removing the old, stained globe glass light-cover, and replacing the lights with halogen spotlights made the bathroom so much nicer. Just goes to show that lighting can make a big difference.