Joanna Gaines Shares Her Favorite Colors For A Classic Bathroom That Won't Age

Bathrooms can be one of the most fun rooms in your house to renovate, especially if there is a ton of room for a clawfoot tub, a huge vanity, and other nice amenities. But when it comes to choosing a paint color? Well, that is a task that often ends up stumping (or overwhelming) homeowners. Thankfully, though, home design maven Joanna Gaines knows how designers pick the perfect shade of paint and often uses this tasteful trio of colors in the bathroom: white, gray, and navy blue.

The "Fixer Upper" star's logic behind using these colors is twofold. First, the complementary tones work super well together, offering up a calm yet chic end product. And second, they are timeless and safe. You can put them in a bathroom today and know that the room will look terrific for decades to come. Gaines has been using this lovely combination for years, and we have to agree — this is a classic palette.

The easiest way to use this palette is to go white for your tub and toilet, gray on the walls, and navy for any accents. Feel free to change things up if you can find gray or navy fixtures, but keep in mind that white tubs and toilets are much easier to clean, and will always look tidy.

Fortunately, navy blue works incredibly well as a way to tie white and gray together, and is best utilized here in elements like rugs, towels, bath mats, and other decor. And because this is a fairly neutral color palette overall, you can easily add in textural elements like a wicker basket, brushed gold or matte black fixtures, an antique chandelier, or even a muted stone vase for more visual dimension. The overall idea is to create a fresh and clean gray and white bathroom design, a la Gaines, and to use navy for splashes of color (which you can always easily switch up if the mood strikes, giving the room a quick new look without a total remodel).

If you feel a bit more bold, however, we have another option to shake up this trio. Limit gray to the floor with stone, tile, or wood laminate options, and even your shower tiles. Then add some dark navy paint for an expensive look, and pair it with thick white molding and ceilings.

Gray is the obvious wall paint choice if you want to keep the room's vibe calming, but picking the perfect shade can be harder than it seems. To really uphold Gaines' vision here, you will want to stick with a lighter color in your bathroom rather than going with a dark one. Going light helps give the room a bright, airy, and serene aesthetic, and keeps it from feeling too gloomy or foreboding.

Gray options with silver or even stone tones for your wall offer a more modern and chic look. Alternatively, going just slightly darker with a (light) French gray keeps things low key, and might hide dust or dirt a little better. But no matter how you paint it, this harmonious blend of white, gray, and navy blue will help your bathroom develop a classic look that will stand the test of time.