A new look for the bathroom with a sunburst faux finish ceiling

I've been tired of the walls in the bathroom for a while, and have longed for a deeper shade of blue there that would transition with the paler blue tone I had on the adjoining bedroom walls.  I'd put off redoing it because I'd originally painted the ceiling a faded pink, back when the walls were a deep chocolate brown. 

And that pink ceiling, while a subtle tone next to brown or cream, looked like cotton candy when I held up any blue paint chips near it.

And I hate, hate, hate to paint ceilings.  Especially white. Not only do I get a neck crick, I become snow blind, miss spots, and am constantly up and down the ladder to double check and see where I have skips.

So, I decided to make the existing pink work with a faux finish. I lazily thought this might be quicker, and actually it was.  It was not any harder than washing the ceiling with a rag, there was no cutting in, rolling, or going over it with multiple coats.

I poured some of the blue paint into a cup of clear glaze, and did the same with white paint .

Then took a damp rag, and heavily covered the outside edges of the ceiling near the walls with the blue, blending in a washing motion as I went. As I got further into the center of the ceiling and away from the walls, I added the white, also washing the color on with an old rag, and also rubbed white over some of the blue I'd already laid down.

 Away from the walls, I added paint and glaze with a much lighter application, so more pink showed through.  

Around the chandelier, I wanted the pink to shine through like a sun burst, so stopped using any blue at all when I got close to the light fixture. 

My neck hardly got bent out of shape at all, but I still I celebrated finishing the job with a nice, long soak in the tub.

My view of the finished room while soaking was exactly what I wanted. I'm loving the blue walls, and the cloudy ceiling makes me happy. (the curtain doesn't fit well, but that is another day's worry, for now it will do-)

While I had the walls bare, I'd taken the opportunity to change things around to a more springy look, with roses and little bird pictures.

I dug through the studio to see what I could bring in. I'm not sure it is all just as I want it, but for now, it is working. And I'm pleased with the colors.

Here is a before. While I am a fan of white on white, I always felt this room just looked washed out.  Though, "washed out" is probably fitting for a bathroom,  it just wasn't quite right.

This was the original color, and I always liked it.  A deep color makes the cabinets and wood work stand out more than the tone on tone version I thought was washed out looking.  

Changing a paint color can certainly change a room, even when everything else stays the same.  

The color is Valspar, April Rain, but I had it mixed in Behr, because I prefer working with that brand.

Do you ever have a room that bugs you, and while there is nothing "wrong" with it, you just aren't satisfied? That is how I'd been feeling about this bathroom.  I've been busy prepping for the remodel we have planned, and am slowly but surely making the Farewell to Downton journals, but this was something that I had a nagging itch to do, and squeezed the painting job in even though it wasn't necessary, and other issues had a higher priority.

Because I'd had enough of being bugged by it and decided that it needed to be done.

NOW.

And I'm glad I did.  Other things will still get accomplished as needed and will be easier to face since I took time to do a project that I'd really wanted to tackle. 

Well, at least I hope so…  But for now, I'm very pleased with the new look.