Hi Diane....

What a wonderful idea! And so bold and daring!

This is going to take some thought. That said, if I was going to take this much time and effort on a painting project, I would make a sample and put it in the bathroom to see how it faired.

Oil or water based paint would work over your wall paint. As I mainly paint in water based paints I don't know about any metallic paints in oil....but I don't think they make them. Water based paint shouldn't run in a steamy bathroom and should take minor cleaning, clean, damp, soft cloth. If you were to use most spray sealers you would see the difference in your wall paint around your dots, but you might try to paint each dot with a liquid sealer....wow! what a task. You might also try on your sample, to add a small amount of sealer to your metallic paint before putting it on your walls, but here again...it would be "trial and error" or "trial and success"

Hope this help and please post a picture when you are done!

Belle

Belle, thanks for your input. What kind/where would I get the paint? Craft store? I probably don't need massive quantities, and what about brands? You've thought it through more than I had - the idea about a sample is a very good one.

Diane,

As to the brands and where to find them....Ceramcoat put out what are called Gleams. And I know that DecoArt also has metallics although I don't know their name. As to the where to....any craft store that sell paints, like Michaels. You can also do a website search of the two brands named here, that would give you an idea of what is available. Your choice of colors might be very limited.

Hope these help...............
http://www.deltacreative.com/Resource-Center/

http://www.decoart.com/

Belle

Diane, you could also use stencil paint and stencils. It would go faster that way. I've had designs stenciled onto my bathroom for at least ten years with no problem. We do have a fan/vent in the bathroom.

Hi Diane. Check out this site for Delta Ceramcoat Paints. They have several metallic colors and quite a few Pearlized colors. Just might be what you are looking for.
http://www.deltacreative.com/uploads/media/documents/1351_CMC_Color_Chart_0308.pdf

Clarice

If the basecoat on the wall is waterbased you can use either waterbased or oil based paint on top of it.

All acrylic decorative painting lines make metallics. The FolkArt brand by Plaid has a great line of metallics.

Decorative acrylics are a latex paint so you would have to seal them. You can actually mix clear sealant into the paint instead of having to seal it after you have painted.

There are several outdoor paints that would probably stand up to the steamy conditions of a bath. One that comes to mind is Patio Paint. I'm not sure if they make metallic colors but they are a weather resistant acrylic for the outdoors and should hold up well in a bath. More info:

http://www.decoart.com/cgi-bin/Products.cgi?Patio_Paint

If you need to make your colors metallic you can mix Pearl-Ex pigment powders into your paint to create the metallic look you want. More info on those here:

http://www.jacquardproducts.com/products/pearlex/

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=pc0006

Thank you all so much for all the great info and ideas! Now I'm going to have to actually follow through on this project o-:
I'll start researching paints and colors this week.
Diane

Well, months later I'm reporting in. I did the river of dots and it's a neat effect. I used a q-tip for a nice round dot and started with copper, then moved on to silver, gold, metallic brown and a few colors. As neat at the effect is, it just doesn't work for the bathroom and the existing "art", which is a clock I made from a modernistic plaque. So, I'll be painting over it. I would recommend it though for a little girl's room. It'd be really pretty with the right combination of colors. And not hard to do, either!