Paint colors for your home, inside and out
North-facing · Bathroom · colors from 6 paintings
A north-facing bathroom gets cool, indirect light, so warm wall colors with a fairly high LRV work best. Four light tans keep the room soft, and two deep colors suit a darker, enclosed look.
Quick answer
Paint the walls #E0D1AF for the brightest result, or #DABEA0 for more warmth. Use #3C584F or #482E1E for a vanity, a door or a deliberately dark room.
A light wall at LRV 65 with a warm yellow undertone, from Gozzoli's Saint Peter and Simon Magus. It is the brightest option and works hardest against cool light.
From Saint Peter and Simon Magus, Benozzo Gozzoli (Benozzo di Lese di Sandro)
A light wall at LRV 54, from Cecilia Beaux's Dorothea and Francesca. It adds more warmth than the straw and suits a bathroom with white fixtures.
From Dorothea and Francesca, Cecilia Beaux
A light-to-mid wall at LRV 50, from de Keuninck's A Mountainous Landscape with a Waterfall. It reads more earthy and hides water marks better than paler tans.
From A Mountainous Landscape with a Waterfall, Kerstiaen de Keuninck
A light neutral at LRV 47 with a slight warm undertone, from Pissarro's Rue de l'Epicerie, Rouen. It is the quietest of the four and suits gray or stone tile.
From Rue de l'Epicerie, Rouen (Effect of Sunlight), Camille Pissarro
A very dark brown at LRV 3 with a warm red-orange undertone, from Testa's Alexander the Great Rescued from the River Cydnus. Use it for a deep, embrace-the-dark bathroom or a vanity.
From Alexander the Great Rescued from the River Cydnus, Pietro Testa
A deep green at LRV 9, from Gauguin's Tahitian Landscape. In cool north light it looks calm and stays green rather than turning gray.
From Tahitian Landscape, Paul Gauguin
The same paint reads differently in cool north light, warm south sun and under evening lamps. Find the column closest to your room.
| Color | Neutral daylight | North light | South light | Evening lamps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pale Straw | ||||
| Warm Biscuit | ||||
| Soft Wheat | ||||
| Stone Greige |
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is Saint Peter and Simon Magus.
North light is cool and steady, so it pulls colors toward blue and gray. The four wall colors on this page all have a warm yellow undertone to balance that.
Pale straw #E0D1AF has the highest LRV at 65 and is the best choice for a small bathroom with one window, because it reflects the most light. Warm biscuit #DABEA0 at 54 gives a slightly richer tone. Soft wheat #CBB996 at 50 and stone greige #BFB6A6 at 47 are calmer and more neutral.
If your tile is cool white or gray, the warm tans will stop the room from feeling cold. If your tile is already beige, choose the stone greige so the room does not turn yellow.
A lower LRV also hides splashes better, so the wheat and greige are practical for a family bath.
Keep the ceiling a soft white so it bounces light down. In a bathroom, a satin or semi-gloss finish on trim and ceiling resists moisture, and a plain white or warm white looks clean beside the tans.
For the floor, tile in white, warm gray or natural stone suits all four walls. A dark floor looks good with pale straw because the contrast keeps the room from looking washed out.
The two deep colors work as accents. Billiard green #3C584F suits a vanity, a cabinet or a door. Roasted cocoa #482E1E suits wood trim, a mirror frame or a ceiling in a small powder room.
The suggested roles are walls in pale straw, main furniture in billiard green, wood in a mid-brown and textiles in warm biscuit. Towels in the biscuit tone tie the room together.
You can. The two deep colors here have LRV of 3 and 9, so they absorb most of the light. In a north-facing bathroom with no direct sun, the room will look moodier and more enclosed, which suits a powder room you use mostly in the evening.
The advantage of going dark is that the cool light stops being a problem. The walls no longer look flat, and the green or brown reads as one rich color.
If you use a deep color, plan good artificial light. Warm bulbs around the mirror keep skin tones natural and stop the room from feeling like a cave.
If the bathroom is also small and has a low ceiling, a deep color on only the vanity wall is a safer first step than painting the whole room.
Paint a large sample, at least two feet wide, on the wall where you will notice it most, usually the one behind the vanity. Put a second sample on a different wall.
Check it in the morning, at midday and at night with the light on. North light barely changes during the day, so the biggest difference is between daylight and your bulbs.
Hold the sample beside your tile, towels and fixtures. Warm tans can look pink next to cool white tile and yellow next to beige.
Leave the samples up for at least a day and a night. Steam changes how paint looks, so check the color again after a hot shower.
A warm light tan such as #E0D1AF at LRV 65. Its warm undertone offsets the cool north light and its high LRV keeps the room bright.
The greige #BFB6A6 is the closest to gray here. It has a slight warm undertone, which keeps it from turning cold in north light.
Yes, if you want a moody room. Billiard green #3C584F at LRV 9 and roasted cocoa #482E1E at LRV 3 both suit small, enclosed bathrooms.
Moisture-resistant paint in satin or semi-gloss is common for trim and ceilings. Ask the paint maker which product suits bathroom walls.
Each color lists its closest measured match, such as Sherwin-Williams SW 6134 Netsuke for pale straw. Test the paint in your own bathroom.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
North Facing Hallway Colors for Cool, Dim Light
North Facing Dining Room Colors That Warm Up Cool Light
Small Bathroom Paint Colors with No Windows
Peach Bathroom Paint Colors
Paint Colors for a Small Living Room with Brown Furniture
North West Facing Living Room Colors for Cool Mornings and Warm Evenings
Painting images: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
