i am just about to move into a house in Bali with a semi outdoor bathroom. the house is rather 'bland' in colours, so i want to brighten it up a bit. at the moment the walls are white, the shelving is pretty crappy (which i am thinking of replacing with dark wood cupboards or shelves) and the floor, from memory, is 'beige'.

wanting to create a 'tropical' atmosphere in the bathroom (i will throw some plants in there etc) i was thinking of some bright colour for the walls such as red or yellow. has anyone done this and can you give me some tips? any pics that you can show me?

ive never renovated anything in my life, but think that slapping on a bit of paint wont be too hard, and i can 'get a man in' for the shelving bit (walls are concrete so will need someone who knows what they are doing).

so...who has some good ideas for me to copy (or borrow)?

Presumably the walls will be getting wet? You'll want to primer first, and then, if possible in Bali, find some mildew resistant outdoor paint.

...we borrowed ideas from a selection of hotels we have stayed in over the years. Natural colors, IMHO, are the order of the day; sand washes (non-slip) and stone slabs for the floor and sunset oranges and sandy yellows for the walls. Avoiding the blue water pipes is a good idea! Indirect lighting reflecting from lighter sections of the wall's upper curved surfaces works well. When planning/building avoid all tight corners, smooth open curves are so much easier to keep clean. (Important if it is to be a wet room.) This is the tropics so expect bugs, frogs etc. if you leave them a place to hide they will do so -> no places to hide = no surpises.

Solid chunky wooden furniture fittings works IMHO. Consider just painting what you have if you are limited on budget, marbling or rag rolling can be OK. Spend some time in a hardware store looking at the paints availible these days, some spray can stuff is really good now - I'm thinking in particular about chrome and gold effects.

There are lots of Thai/Bali house design books availible from Bookazine etc.

I see you are in Phuket, take a look at The Blue Marine Resort's bathrooms for the orange marbling effect I liked. Our room had an observation corner off of the main living area which we have used on our own house, however the view isn't quite as good I'm sorry to say.