Picking the best paint type for bathrooms is not as simple as it may seem; factors like color, finish, and durability play a substantial role. It’s important to strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality.

To explore practical solutions for your painting dilemmas and determine how much paint you will need for your bathroom renovation project, this guide offers comprehensive insights into the best bathroom paints.

Aura® Bath & Spa Paint

Introducing Aura Bath & Spa Paint, a top-tier interior cover ideal for bathrooms and spas with high humidity levels. It flaunts a sophisticated matte finish and promises premium performance and longevity.

One of its compelling features is Moisture and Mildew Resistance, which ensures a tough coating that can withstand repeated washes and high humidity.

Aura Bath & Spa Paint can be applied directly to most surfaces without a separate primer thanks to its self-priming feature. 

Ensure surfaces are clean, dry, and dirt-free before application. Sand any peeling paint and smooth edges for seamless blending with other surfaces.

To achieve optimal results, use an extra firm nylon polyester brush or the recommended Benjamin Moore Aura 3/8″ nap roller cover. Maintain a wet edge to prevent unsightly lap marks. Cleanup is a breeze with just soap and water.

Choosing the Best Sheen

When selecting paint for your bathroom, the sheen is a significant factor. The right sheen enhances durability, resists moisture, and creates visual aesthetics. Different types of sheens have varying properties:

• Flat (Matte) Paint: Not ideal for bathrooms due to low durability and susceptibility to staining.
• Eggshell Paint: Provides slightly superior moisture resistance and enhanced durability relative to matte paint.
• Satin Paint: A balance between aesthetics and utility, suitable for bathrooms with moderate traffic.
• Semi-Gloss Paint: Highly resilient to moisture, mildew, and stains, making it excellent for high-moisture areas.
• High-Gloss Paint: Excels on trim and cabinets due to extreme moisture resistance and durability.

Select a sheen based on your bathroom’s specifics such as traffic levels, humidity, aesthetic preference, and lighting needs. Specialty bathroom paints offer additional benefits.

Mildew Resistant Bathroom Primer

A high-quality option for a mildew-resistant bathroom primer is Dulux Wash&Wear +PLUS Kitchen&Bathroom Low Sheen. 

This primer is designed to withstand moist environments with its 101 Barrier Technology, developing a tough surface with a robust mold inhibitor and water-resistant character.

Is Dulux Wash & Wear adaptable to different surfaces?

Absolutely! It’s suitable for plasterboard, brick, cement sheets, bare timber, set plaster, fibrous plaster, plasterglass, and masonry. Versatility at its finest!

How should one prepare the surface before using it?

The surface must be clean and dry. Ensure it’s free from dust, oils, and grease. If glossy, lightly sand to a dull finish.

How effective is it against existing mold?

To address current mold problems, remove mold with Selleys Rapid Mould Killer or a bleach solution. Multiple applications might be needed for stubborn mold blooms.

What are the application instructions for this paint?

Stir thoroughly before use. First cut-in around edges followed by roll-up to the border while it’s still wet. Apply two coats for best results.

Any specific disposal instructions?

Note that unwanted paint should be brushed out on newspaper, left to dry out, and then disposed of in domestic waste collections.

Latex vs. Oil-Based Paint

Oil-based paints, using oil as a solvent, offer advantages over water-based variants. 

Their superior strength is perfect for baseboards, trim, doors, cabinets, and floors, resulting in a smoother, glossier finish. However, they take longer to dry, have strong odors, and have high VOCs, requiring solvents for cleanup.

Latex paints are popular due to their quick-drying feature and easy cleanup with water. They are flexible, resist cracking, and are ideal for walls, ceilings, and exterior surfaces, especially in areas prone to moisture or humidity.

• Oil-Based Paint Usage: Trim and molding, furniture and woodwork, doors and cabinets, floors, and baseboards.
• Latex Paint Usage: Walls and ceilings, exterior surfaces, moist or humid areas.

The choice between latex and oil-based paint depends on project requirements. Evaluate the surface to determine the best finish option.

Best Bathroom Paint Finishes

Eggshell Enamel Sheen

Eggshell enamel sheen creates a soft appearance that resists dirt, grime, and mildew. Being durable and easy to clean, it’s perfect for bathrooms.

Size and Lighting

The size and lighting of your bathroom play a crucial role in selecting paint colors. Lighter shades make small bathrooms appear brighter, while darker ones add depth.

Popular Bathroom Paint Colors

Choose trendy bathroom colors like Quietude, copper green, or lavender for an exquisite touch. Gray or tan can establish a soothing spa-like vibe.

Durability and Resistance

Durability is key for bathroom paints due to high traffic. Opt for paints offering excellent durability, stain-blocking properties, and resistance against mildew.

Color Inspiration Galleries

For more inspiration, Behr’s Bathroom Inspiration Gallery provides color combinations tailored to different moods and styles.

Semi-Gloss for Bathroom Walls

Semi-gloss paint is advocated for bathroom walls due to its resistance to mold and mildew, ease of cleaning, and unmatched resilience under high humidity levels.

Repelling Moisture Effectively

Glossy finishes, particularly semi-gloss and high-gloss, effectively repel moisture, reducing the risk of mold development.

Alternatives to Semi-Gloss Paints

Satin finishes can be suitable for well-ventilated bathrooms. These paints are easier to clean and durable but may lack the moisture resistance of semi-gloss paints.

Recommended Products

Benjamin Moore offers products suitable for bathroom walls, including Kitchen & Bath (satin) and Aura Bath & Spa (matte) known for their moisture-resistant properties.

Preparation Process

For optimal results, surface preparation is key. Remove any existing mold and mildew with a bleach solution, ensuring proper ventilation during the painting process.

Beneficial Properties of Semi-Gloss

Semi-gloss finishes are versatile, water-resistant, and excellent for bathroom walls. However, they can reveal small imperfections quite clearly.

Preventing Mold and Mildew

To avoid mold and mildew, use moisture-resistant paint, especially in humid bathrooms. Semi-gloss paint offers durability and cleanliness that other finishes don’t.

Avoid Ordinary Flat Paint

Avoid regular flat paint in bathrooms. Use satin or semi-gloss finishes instead for long-term durability without rusting or peeling.

Top Bathroom Paint Colors

Never underestimate the power of color in transforming your bathroom’s ambiance. The right hue can make a significant impact on your space. 

Designers employ an array of intriguing colors to rejuvenate bathrooms, each fulfilling a unique purpose in the design scheme.

• Purple Plaster: Stunning plaster finishes displaying a magical color gradient effect breathe fresh life into your bathroom décor.
• Glossy Green: Ideal for small spaces, bringing depth and creating an illusion of spaciousness when applied in a glossy finish.
• Light Orange: Vibrant tangerine for bathroom cabinets, a perfect match for pink stone vanity toppers and coordinating floor tiles.
• Rich Blue: Beautifully accentuates countertops, providing a striking choice without overwhelming the space.

Other options include fashionable Black Lacquer and elegant Sleek Black paired with Bright White. More inspirational choices like peaceful Soft White and mysterious Deep Charcoal allow you to find the perfect shade to personify your style and taste accurately.

Final Thoughts

Your bathroom deserves quality paint. Opt for Aura® Bath & Spa Paint for a smooth finish, consider the sheen, and pick mildew-resistant primers. Contemplate latex versus oil-based options, and decide on a semi-gloss finish. Finally, choose a color that matches your style.

Photo: Houzz

A fresh coat of paint is a great way to make it the bathroom that you’ve always wanted. Below are six factors to take into consideration when selecting a new paint colour for your bathroom.

Bathroom Size

The size of any room must be taken into account when considering a new paint job. It is one of the easiest and most impactful methods to drastically alter the look and feel of a bathroom, but careful consideration of colour needs to be made as a result.

Photo: Black Lacquer Design

Light Colours

This is the first option people turn to when they have a small bathroom to work with. Light colours and tones are known to open a space up and make it feel airy, making it ideal in these cases. They have the same effect on larger spaces too though, and can be effectively utilized in these cases.

Bright Colours

Bathrooms are a great place to experiment with the use of bright colours. Leave the neutral tones for the relaxing and entertainment rooms, so that the bathroom can offer a bright pop of colour. Have fun with it.

Photo: GIA Bathrooms & Kitchens

Dark Colours

Dark colours can create a relaxing atmosphere. In washrooms in particular they can be a statement colour: think black walls with white accessories. It is suggested that dark colours are only used in medium to large bathrooms though. They can make a small room seem even smaller.

Cabinet & Furniture Colour

When selecting new colours for your walls for your bathroom remodelling make sure to take the colour of cabinets and furniture into account. No one wants to go through the trouble of repainting the entire room only to realize that the colour clashes with components of the room.

Planning in advance will help you to avoid this. To test out how potential wall colours will look with the furniture and fixtures go to your local paint or hardware store and go through the paint chips. Select your favourites, bring them home with you, and place them in the bathroom. Hold them next to everything in the room to get a feel for how it will look. Even if you are good at visualizing how colours will look together, this is still a valuable process because no one can be sure until they see it in real life.

Photo: LDA Architecture & Interiors

Tiles

Similarly to furniture and fixtures, you should take tiles into account when repainting your bathroom. The floors and the walls are the most significant visual space and should be treated as such. This can be difficult during a bathroom remodel when the new tiles haven’t been installed, but there are still ways around this. Using sample swatches for matching is the easiest method, but if you are adept with computers you can place all of it into photoshop to see how the room will look. This is the most accurate way to see the final outcome.

Lighting

Take into consideration what the lighting is like in the bathroom. Does it get a lot of natural light? Is it relient on fluorescent lighting? Or is it a dark space? Lighting can completely change the look of a colour. For instance, dark colours look cozy in a room which gets a lot of natural light but can look drab in a room with little lighting. Take paint chips and leave them on the wall for a day to see how it looks over the course of the day to see how it is altered with light. This will aid in the final decision.

Paint

It is always tempting to go with the least expensive option, but don’t give into this instinct. The cheapest option is rarely the best one. There are a lot of factors that come into play when pricing paint, so do your research. This is especially important when it comes to bathrooms because they deal with such a large amount of water and steam. Don’t hesitate to ask the experts at your local paint store.

Creating the bathroom of your dreams can be as easy as giving it a fresh coat of paint. Or at the very least, this is the starting point of your bathroom remodelling. Taking the lighting, colour, tiles, and furniture into account will help you find the best colour for your room.