8 Paint Colors You Should Never Use in Your Bathroom, According to Interior Designers

We put a lot of pressure on our bathrooms. We want them to be clinical enough so we can see what we're doing in the mirror but cozy enough so we can properly enjoy a warm bubble bath. The problem is that bathrooms are essentially echo chambers for light. Without sofas, curtains, or rugs to soften things, your color palette has nowhere to hide. If you go too dark, it feels like a cave; go too bright, and reflections off the porcelain will make you squint.

So which paint colors should you avoid entirely? To help you get it right the first time, we spoke to interior designers about the bathroom hues they advise against.

Cherry Red

If there's one shade that tends to overstay its welcome in a small room, it's a high-octane red—especially in a personal space like a bathroom.

Cherry red is an aggressive color that can change how you see yourself. "I would never use dominant colors that cast us in an unfavorable light," says Jan Sikora, CEO of Sikora Studios. In a room full of mirrors, that vivid red bounces back onto your skin, often highlighting imperfections rather than giving you a soft, healthy glow.

Instead: Consider the sun-baked tiles of a Mediterranean villa. A soft, earthy terracotta or a dirty peach adds incredible warmth and soul to a bathroom.

Butter Yellow

According to Alex Alonso, creative principal and founder of design studio Mr. Alex Tate, yellow is one of the trickiest hues to get right in a bathroom. "This shade competes with the temperature of your artificial lighting, clashing with warm bulbs and reading sickly under cooler ones," he says.

Instead: Tate recommends reaching for a soft, creamy off-white that leans warm without competing with your light source. “It's a sophisticated compromise that captures the light without turning the room into a lemon-tinted box,” he says.

Pale Blue

We often reach for pale blue when we want a spa-like retreat, but Tate warns that it can actually look clinical and unflattering. “These icy tones lack the backbone to stand up to bathroom lighting. To get that serene feeling without the chilly side effects, you need a blue that has some atmospheric weight to it,” he says.

Instead: Tate suggests trying out a few different blues before settling on just one. “Before you commit, paint a large sample and look at it in the corners. If the color dies in the shadows and looks muddy, keep looking," he says.

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Modern Steel Gray

Gray has a sneaky way of turning on you. Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.

Instead: “To keep that sophisticated, modern edge, the secret is to look for a gray that has been warmed up with a hint of beige or brown," says Tate. A greige is the perfect example.

Anything Neon

Neons, whether it's a zesty yellow or a vibrant pink, are notoriously difficult to pull off in any corner of the home—but especially in the bathroom. “The very concentrated combination of ambient and task lighting only amplifies the harshness of neons,” says Joyce Huston, co-founder and lead interior designer at Decorilla.

Instead: She suggests looking toward the softer side of the spectrum. Pastels are a much safer bet, including soft mint, pale apricot, or powdery lavender.

Orange

You may be tempted by the high-octane energy of orange, but Huston warns against it. “Because orange is so pigment-heavy, when that warm orange light bounces off the walls and onto your face, it can make skin tones look overly flushed or even sallow," she says. “It's not exactly the fresh-faced look most of us are going for in the morning.”

Instead: Try a terracotta hue, which will warm up the space without creating an unflattering ambience.

Azure Blue

Azure blue also clashes with the warm, 3000K, soft white bulb that most of us prefer for a relaxing soak. “The two don't harmonize," Sikora says. "Instead, they create a muddy, discordant atmosphere.”

Instead: Avoid colors with heavy blue or violet undertones. These will always look slightly off under warm bulbs. When sampling colors, hold your hand up against the color under your bathroom lights. If your skin looks lively and warm, then you've found a winner.