Decorate with Uniform Colors
Decorating a small bathroom can be a big challenge. There are many tricks, however, to visually enlarge and enhance the space through decorating.
Begin by keeping to a simple color palette. Use the same colors repeatedly through the space by using one tile on the floor and walls and the same color for all the paint. Finish up with accessories like mirrors and sconces that match the predominate color in the room to visually widen the space. This looks works in nearly any style bathroom; just change up the materials and style.
Add an Accent Wall
Accent walls pull your vision toward one area of the room, visually elongating the space. This works particularly well when using cooler toned colors, which recede from the eye.
Enhance this look by using textures like leather look tiles, tile mosaic wall paper or faux paint finishes to suit any bathroom style.
Lift Things Up
Create space by putting some air beneath your vanity, sink, toilet and other furnishings. Use a tall table with legs as a vanity to show off the area below it and create space in the room for traditional design styles, or wall mount the sink or vanity for a more modern look. Add extra storage by mounting glass shelves on the wall that blend in with their surroundings.
Draw the Eye Up
If your bathroom is really tight on space, draw the eye up instead. Stripes can elongate the room by drawing the eye upwards. For traditional bathrooms, use a wainscot for the lower half of the walls and wall paper stripes above. More contemporary bathrooms can use tile to stripe the floor and walls together.
Melt Into the Walls
Keeping the bathroom one color helps to blend things like shelves and towel rails right into the walls. This keeps them from appearing to jut out into the room and what little space there is. Built in shelves are particularly nice in small bathrooms, because they move in rather than out.
Add Mirrors
Mirrors are great at producing the illusion of extra space. Use plenty of mirrors in small bathrooms to open up the room. Opt for one large, framed mirror that fills a wall in traditional baths, or get funky with multiple sizes of mirrors for more contemporary looks. Don't be afraid to use mirrors in unusual places as well to help double the visual space in the room.
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Put Accessories in the Walls
Small bathrooms usually have small sinks to accompany them. Reduce the clutter that often goes hand in hand with small sinks by placing your accessories right on the walls. Wall mounted soap dishes and toothbrush holders save lots of counter space. In the shower, use a recessed niche instead to keep the soaps from intruding in a small showering space.
Build Them Into the Room
Can't find a vanity, sink or mirror that is the perfect size for your small bathroom? Consider building them right into the room. Frame out a flat mirror in tiled trim to avoid a bulky frame, and build a vanity that comes straight out of the wall. Tile it in the same colors as the wall tile to help it fade into the background, rather than intruding in the visual space.
For more bathroom inspirations and ideas, check out these bathroom galleries.