We've all heard of colour drenching, but there's a new paint trend on the block, and it's perfect for small bathroom ideas. Colour capping is a slightly more subtle version of the statement colour trend, and it's perfect for making small spaces look larger and ceilings taller.
Small bathrooms are notoriously difficult to decorate. A practical space, such as a bathroom, must feel sanitary and include easy-to-clean surfaces, but it shouldn't be void of personality. Paint is the easiest and most affordable way of injecting character into a compact room, and this trend of graduating the colour to the top of the room creates a tonal look that is light-enhancing and effortlessly stylish.
Here's how to make the colour capping trend work in your bathroom.
Why you should try colour capping in small bathrooms
You might be wondering what colour capping is, exactly. It feels like the sibling of the bathroom colour-drenching trend, which involves painting a whole room (ceilings, architraves and skirting boards included) in one shade - often a dramatic dark colour or a fun, playful primary shade. The effect is that it feels enveloping, inviting and full of character, but understandably it can feel like a big commitment to some people.
The ceiling colour of this bathroom ever so slightly differs from that on the walls.
'Colour capping is quickly becoming a key decorating technique in bathrooms, as it offers a way to manipulate how a room feels. By continuing the wall colour onto the ceiling in a lighter or deeper tone, you can elongate the walls and create the illusion of greater height, which is particularly effective in smaller or more enclosed bathrooms,' explains Louise Ashdown, head of design at West One Bathrooms.
Colour capping uses the same shade with a tonal variation and graduates it up the length of the wall. It can be graduated to a light or dark shade, but doing so makes the walls feel longer and adds lighter tones into the look.
'Using paint in this way almost tricks the eye, creating the illusion of height and space, it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to transform a small bathroom,' adds Tash Bradley, director of interior design at Lick.
There are, however, some mistakes to avoid if you're looking to try out colour capping in your bathroom.
'What you don’t want to do is leave the ceiling brilliant white, because that actually draws attention to the ceiling height and can make the room feel lower. By wrapping colour onto the ceiling or shifting tones near the top of the wall, you blur the edges, open the space up and instantly make it feel taller and less boxed in,' Tash continues.
While bright white often feels like a safe choice, particularly in a bathroom where sanitary design choices are key, it doesn't always actually make a room feel larger.
Instead, opting for more 'out-there' bathroom colour schemes will make a small bathroom look interesting and feel joyful on a daily basis.
'What I love most is that colour capping lets you be braver with colour in a small space. You can bring in personality and contrast, but because the tones are working together it still feels calm, timeless and serene rather than too busy or trend-led,' says Tash.
While paint is an easy design choice that enables you to switch up a small bathroom colour scheme with limited faff, it's not the only way to embrace colour capping.
'In the bathroom, colour capping doesn’t have to stop at paint, bathroom tile ideas can be used in exactly the same way to create definition and atmosphere. By running a single colour or finish up the wall and across the ceiling, you envelop the space and draw the eye upwards, while a change of border or decorative band creates the ‘cap’ that frames the room,' explains Keeley Sutcliffe, design manager at BC Designs.
'It’s also incredibly practical in a bathroom, since tiles are moisture-resistant and long-lasting. Using a tonal variation, or mixing a plain field tile with a patterned frieze, allows you to play with proportion and detail in ways that paint alone can’t.'
Shop bathroom paint
Claybrook 'Terrazzo' is a warm beige shade that will work well as an alternative neutral to pure white.
Dulux's bathroom range is specially formulated for high humidity spaces so you won't have to worry about your paint choice wearing badly.
Somewhere in between green, brown and grey, this olive-y hue from Lick will suit any size or shape of bathroom.
Will you be trying out this trend or sticking firmly to colour drenching?
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