Am I Hurting My Chances Of A Successful Potty Training?

So my 17 month old son has discovered the joys of how the potty works. He wants to flush it, taste it, put things in it, pull things out of it, pull the tank lid off ( try) and use it as a tool to get on the countertop. For the last few months I have been telling him the potty is a no no, bad, yucky ect.. And he is too young to really understand that it is only bad when he misuses it.
Is this sending him the wrong message?
I try to have him avoid the bathroom as much as possible
Does anyone have some ways they got a toddler away from the potty without making it a negative place to them?