In every neighborhood, there’s always one house that can just never seem to get it right. Over the years, you’ll watch it change from mint green to burnt orange, maybe even fuschia. If you’ve put in all the time and money into remodeling your bathroom, you don’t want it to become ‘that house’. But how do you avoid picking a bad color? To make sure you don’t end up in a painting predicament, we’ve done the legwork and found out exactly which colors you should never paint your bathroom.

Tip #1: Don’t Use the Worst Color

Now, this may seem both vague and self explanatory, but as it turns out, the world’s ugliest color does exist. It’s called Pantone 448c, and it’s ugly for a reason. This pukey, browny green was discovered by an Australian research agency in 2012, when they were tasked to design the packaging for tobacco products with one goal in mind: to make them as unappealing as possible. What they settled on was Pantone 448c, also known as Opaque Couche. So, unless you want your bathroom to match tobacco products, we’d suggest staying away from this particular shade.

Tip #2:Don’t Go Dark

On a slightly more serious note, the second type of color scheme you’ll want to avoid are darker shades in general. This is especially true if you’re painting your guest bathroom or even smaller powder room. Dark colors make small spaces look even smaller, and you don’t want your guests feeling like their trapped as soon as they walk inside.

While this may seem a little limiting, you don’t have to rule out vibrate tones entirely. Just scale it small. Incorporating shades such as rich blue hues into small tiling projects, home decor or linens will make an otherwise simple design pop, without being overpowering.

Bye Bye Brights

Step away from the Pepto Bismol Pinks. These colors don’t belong in your home, and most certainly don’t go in your bathrooms. Bright colors like this can be extremely overwhelming on such a large scale.

If you just can’t part with your popping purples and laser lemons, consider more muted variations. This way you can still have a subtle nod to your favorite shades.

What Should You Choose Instead?

Air on the side of caution, and choose lighter colors. Paint almost always looks a little darker on your walls than it did in the can. Additionally, bathrooms are the one area in homes that often receive the least amount of natural light, making this space dangerously susceptible to feeling smaller than it actually is.

Picking a lighter shade such as a pale blue or light taupe can make the space look as expansive as possible. Regardless of the color family you’d like to stick too, we highly recommend coming up with a few options and swatching them so you can get an idea as to what the whole room may look like in a particular shade.

Have any painting horror stories? Leave us a comment below with your biggest regrets and successes when choosing a paint color for you home.