Make your small bathroom look bigger with these 6 tips.
The global rise in urbanisation has caused the size of the average living space to shrink significantly. Bathrooms have been hard-hit by this trend, and they’ve got smaller and smaller in recent years. Fortunately, there are several simple techniques and tricks you can use to make your bathroom look and feel more spacious, even if it’s on the tiny side.
This article will help you add value to your home and guide you through six easy ways to create the feeling and illusion of space in a small bathroom.
- Use Colour Efficiently
Many homeowners are unaware of the power of colour to alter not only the aesthetic but also the perceived spaciousness of a room. Warmer and darker colours will cause a room to feel much smaller than it actually is. While warm colours help lighten the mood of a space, they will likely make your small bathroom feel more like a cupboard with a shower in it.
Using bright, cool, earthy coloured tiles, accents, and paint will lend the bathroom the illusion of spaciousness as well as a calming ambience. Shades of white, light blue, sea green, and beige are extremely effective space enhancers. Plus, they’ll immediately show if there’s any mould that needs to be tackled. Gloss paint is also a clever way to add a feeling of space, as it reflects the light far better than matte paint does. Matte paint tends to absorb the light, making the room look smaller.
Try your best to keep your whole bathroom in sync with your chosen colour scheme by shopping for items like towels and soap dispensers after painting or tiling your bathroom. This will make it easier to match your accessories to the rest of the room, thereby creating a pleasant, coherent atmosphere.
- Bring In Natural Light
A sure-fire way to turn any bathroom into a dingy, uninviting space is to cut off its source of natural light. Heavy blinds, thick curtains, small windows, and obstructive accessories will all contribute to the room feeling darker and more enclosed.
Using opaque, light coloured curtains or blinds will ensure that you have privacy from any prying eyes while simultaneously allowing daylight into the room. Unfortunately, some flats and homes have bathrooms with extremely small windows or, in rare cases, no windows at all.
If you have recently bought a flat or a house with a small bathroom window, consider knocking out some of the surrounding brickwork and installing a larger one. Not only will this let in more natural light, it will extend your view outdoors which also ameliorates the sensation of being cramped.
If you aren’t able to extend your window, there is a lot you can do with indoor lighting to open up the space a bit more. Installing multiple light sources helps eliminate shadow, making the room appear bigger. Combining overhead lighting, lamps, and wall fixtures is a great way to achieve this effect.
Another simple lighting trick involves using upward-facing light fixtures to create extra height in the room. Wall fixtures and lamps with shades that direct the light upwards reduces the uncomfortable effect created by low ceilings.
- Make Use of Mirrors
Mirrors are fantastic for two purposes: checking your appearance and creating space.
Instead of hanging one small vanity mirror above your sink, consider tiling an entire wall with mirrors. This technique gives you ample room to admire yourself from every angle, as well as seemingly doubling the volume of your bathroom.
If a whole wall of mirrors seems a little excessive, hanging a large mirror on the wall opposite to the door will reduce any feelings of claustrophobia upon entering your bathroom.
- Choose the Right Shower Door
Translucent shower doors are excellent for privacy, but they can make a small bathroom feel even smaller. Creating space is all about visibility—the more of the room you can see, the less cramped it feels.
By installing a glass shower door, the walls that would otherwise be obstructed become visible once again. If your home came with a semi-opaque shower door or a shower curtain, you might wish to invest in a glass shower door, or alternatively remove it altogether. If you plan on omitting the shower door entirely, first make sure that your shower has an efficient drainage system and a sloping floor, or you may find yourself slightly more moisturised than planned!
- Avoid Too Many Accents
Decorating your bathroom is an exciting task, but when it comes to smaller spaces, less is more. Try to avoid clogging up the floor space with too many unnecessary accessories and decorations like plants, chairs, tables, or shelves.
Wherever possible, use hooks or hanging storage for your towels and bath products to avoid taking up more floor space than is necessary. The busier the room is to the eye, the more cramped it will feel.
Keeping visible accessories and furniture to a minimum will stop your bathroom from appearing too cluttered. It will also encourage you to keep your space organised and clean. If you have already purged your bathroom of unnecessary items and still feel too cramped, investing in some closed storage might help make the space a little easier on the eye. Cabinets with doors and baskets with lids are ideal for this purpose.
- Use Custom Containers for Your Toiletries
Most home stores will have sets of matching dispenser bottles for products like hand soap, body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. You should easily find a set that matches the colour scheme of your bathroom. This will help keep your bathroom from appearing too busy by becoming overloaded with large, oversized bottles.
A set of dispenser bottles that match the tiling or paint in your bathroom will also help them blend into the background, giving the space a more polished and stylish aesthetic. While you’re at it, search the shelves at your local home store for other bathroom necessities that match your colour scheme. Colour matching your towels, shelves, cabinets, facecloths, picture frames, and other accessories will preserve spaciousness and reduce clutter.
The size of our homes, from our mindsets to our relationships. But having a small bathroom isn’t the end of the world. Even the smallest bathroom can look spacious if you follow these tips. It’s all about how you plan the room, reduce clutter and choose colour schemes that are lighter and brighter.
