Beautiful Color Schemes for This Year’s Bathroom Designs
By McDaniels Kitchens and Bath|Kitchen Design
Color is a key element of daily life, from your choice of clothes to the color of your car. The colors you surround yourself with make a statement about your personal style and also influence your mood. This impact of colors on mood and motivation is evident in everything from the colors chosen for a doctor’s office décor to shades picked by marketing experts for company logos and advertising. Some colors are more calming, while others are more motivating.
Color also features throughout home design, and is an important element in determining your style and influencing your mood within your own home. Your bathroom designs are no exception, where your vanity cabinet, tile, plumbing fixtures, and accessories are all opportunities to define your room with color. Even if you are sticking to a mainly neutral color palette, the shade you select sets the tone for your room, from crisp white to soft mushroom.
This year sees color schemes for bathroom designs that blend style and functionality, and enhance the tranquility of the room. The top color palettes include classic neutrals, nature inspired tones, and warm wood. When completing your design, choose complementary materials that pull together your color scheme, and accent your room’s style with accessories.
Nature-Inspired Neutrals Offer a Timeless Foundation
Color schemes inspired by nature top the list of this year’s popular color palettes. They work perfectly for small and large bathrooms, and go with almost any style. These colors also help your space to feel connected to the outdoors and grounded in nature, giving your bath designs a naturally calming effect. From warm neutrals to dreamy blues, here are some of the top nature-inspired color schemes for your bathroom design:
- Soft, earthy tones like beige, taupe, mushroom, and greige bring natural warmth to a bath design.
- Blues include deep navy and soft coastal tones that give your bathroom design a calming effect.
- Greens focus on muted sage and olive greens that bring a natural, organic feel to your space.
Pair your neutral tones with white fixtures and warm metallics, such as brass, gold, or black hardware. For a truly natural feel, combine soft neutral with natural materials like wood, stone, and textured tiles. The combination gives your bathroom design a serene, spa-like atmosphere that creates a tranquil retreat in your own home.
Add Warmth with Natural Wood
Natural wood is an extension of this trend to include nature-inspired color schemes. Warm wood works perfectly in a bathroom design for a vanity cabinet or floating shelves. Go for a modern look with slab cabinet doors or a traditional style with more ornate cabinetry. Wood finishes can be seen in a variety of shades in today’s bathroom designs, from light, natural shades that let the wood grain show through to darker wood finishes. For floating shelves, you could go with a finish that matches your natural wood cabinetry or use wood shelves to add warmth to a classic white bathroom design. For a truly natural appeal choose a live edge or reclaimed wood shelf.
Bold and Dramatic Dark Tones
If you prefer a more dramatic, sophisticated look for your bathroom, why not make a style statement with this year’s bold, dark tones. Go for eye-catching shades like charcoal, espresso, black, midnight blue, and deep plum that define your room’s style. Balance dark colors with light design accents, such as white countertops, tubs, and sinks, bright lighting, and eye-catching metallic features. These moody, high contrast bathroom design color schemes are on trend and give your space a luxurious feel.
Soft Pastels are a Refreshing Take on a Retro Style
Soft pastels have made a comeback in updated tones that fit a modern bathroom design. If you love these soft, breezy tones, consider including subtle hues like blush pink, powder blue, and lavender for a fresh aesthetic that looks anything but outdated. Pastels bring a light, airy feel, and work especially well in small bathrooms. They combine beautifully with warm wood, matte black accessories, and crisp white fixtures to add contrast. If you love these shades but don’t want to commit, consider adding accessories or painting a wall to bring pastels to your bathroom design without committing to something more fixed like a pastel vanity or shower tile.
Go Sleek and Modern with Monochrome Minimalism
Black and white bathrooms have a powerful impact on your home’s style and create a timeless look, so it makes sense that they are a top choice for bathroom remodeling color schemes. Go for a black vanity cabinet paired with white countertops and fixtures, include a black and white patterned floor tile, include a striking countertop with bold black veining, or add accessories that help you achieve this sophisticated look. Use texture and pattern to add depth to a minimalist design, such as herringbone tiles, a contrast of matte and glossy finishes, or textured wave tiles. Monochrome designs work well with minimalist and industrial styles, but elements of a monochrome color scheme can fit almost any bathroom design style.
Accents and Accessories That Bring Your Color Scheme to Life
There are many ways to impact your bathroom’s style with color. You may decide to be more cautious with fixed items like the vanity, shower tile, and other key fixtures. These items are an investment in your home’s style and functionality, and you want to make sure you choose a style you will be happy with for the lifespan of the remodel. If you have always loved a particular shade of blue, then go for it with a bold blue vanity cabinet. However, if you want to add this color in design elements that are more easily updated over time, then consider including it in accessories.
No matter what you choose for your base color scheme, accessories are an ideal way to accent your bathroom’s style and bring together your design in a cohesive manner. Here are a few ways to make your chosen color palette pop with accessories and decorative accents.
- Towels, rugs, window treatments, and other soft textiles are more easily changed over time and ideal for enhancing a color scheme.
- Choose metallics that complement your palette, such as brass, chrome, or black. You can go for one shade throughout your bathroom design, or choose a two-tone metallic style, for example with one shade for cabinet hardware and other for faucets and showerheads.
- Tile is a fixed item but can be an ideal way to up your bathroom’s style game. You could either include a colorful tile feature in your shower or backsplash, or stick to your base color palette but get creative by including geometric, textured, or mosaic tile designs.
- Consider your room’s décor and choose accessories that bring a personal touch to your space. For example, include floating shelves in a material that accents your room and use this space to display candles, photos, or decorative storage containers that bring color and texture to your room.
- Finally, don’t forget to look at how lighting affects color perception in your bathroom design. Consider how much natural light your room gets and then look at your lighting design, from overhead lights to backlit mirrors. Including the placement of light fixtures and your ability to control light levels with dimmer switches or smart controls when planning your bathroom lighting design.
Find Your Ideal Bathroom Design Color Palette
Is this your year to update your bathroom design and finally create a retreat in your home that reflects your style and matches your functional requirements? 2025’s top bathroom color trends offer something for everyone. First, consider your preferred style and then choose a color scheme that fits your needs. Use the latest color scheme trends to inspire your bathroom remodel, but make sure you select a color scheme that works for your home. Your final choice may also be influenced by which bathroom design you are planning. For example, you could go for a bolder color scheme in a small powder room while your master or guest bathroom may work better with a soft, neutral color palette.
Still not sure which color scheme is right for you? Visit our bathroom remodeling gallery to see more examples of top bath designs completed by our team. You can also visit our full-service design showroom conveniently located in Lansing. Or, contact the McDaniels team to schedule a consultation and start planning your new bathroom!
