Bathroom layouts can be challenging, but a small, dark and uninspiring bathroom can be particularly frustrating. Are you ready to finally give yours an overhaul? Well, if your bathroom is short on space, there’s no better time to give it a fresh, updated look.

Whether it’s a tiny powder room, a cramped up en-suite or a shower stall with barely enough room, it’s time to step outside of your comfort zone and give this room the love it deserves. From clever storage options to smart finishes, a compact space can be stylish, practical and, with the right know-how, space-efficient.

We have put together a few tips and tricks for designing a perfect small bathroom space!

Be smart with storage

A compact bathroom space doesn’t have to look cluttered or cramped when you incorporate the right storage. Instead of filling the room with large traditional cabinets, opt for wall-mounted open shelving to save floor space and make your small bathroom appear more open.

Even better, open shelves allow you to showcase your colourful, textured towels and bathroom accessories. This not only adds warmth and playful colours to your interior but will turn the most modest of bathrooms into an enviable space in minutes.

Ideally, you may want to opt for glass shelving to add brightness and lightness to space and avoid cutting off the room in the way regular shelving would. Floating glass shelves offer storage for your everyday bathroom essentials without drawing the eye away from the overall décor scheme.

Think stylish but functional

When you have a tiny bathroom layout, it’s easy to feel frustrated trying to create a functional space without compromising on style. But the good news is that a well-thought-out small bath space can be both gorgeous and practical.

Knowing how to eliminate unnecessary clutter and adding only design elements that are functional is key to achieving the desired décor scheme. Architecturally and visually, it is best to keep things simple and choose furniture and accessories with clean lines to create a feeling of space.

Plan your colour palette

There’s no doubt that the colours you choose for a small bathroom interior will have a huge impact on the look and feel. Hence, when it’s time to paint, make sure to have planned your colour scheme to suit the size of the room.

In a tight bathroom space, white and neutral greys are often a reasonable pick to make the room seem bright and airy as possible. While conventional neutral colours are best for small spaces, bright and bold hues in a tiny bathroom can really bring the interior together and give a small, drab room energy and personality.

More importantly, how you paint your bathroom can also help give an illusion of height. For instance, painting a darker shade halfway up a wall creates a distance from the upper portion of the wall. Whereas if the wall was all one shade of colour, the room wouldn’t have as much dimension and depth.

Alternatively, you may add a dark colour of choice to your ceiling and keep the rest of the room lighter. This helps draw the eye up and give the room an illusion of height. These clever, yet simple paint tricks are a great way to make a small space appear larger than it really is.

Characterise with an unusual accent

To create a real wow factor, despite a small square-footage, add a hearty dose of colour or unexpected metal finishes to inject charm and personality into a bathroom interior otherwise at risk of feeling clinical and characterless.

Try to transform the fixtures, like the door handle, knobs and even drain, into a brass or gold colour for a unique, yet elegant touch to the bathroom. This will give the space a new vibe and allow the room design as a whole to feel clean and open (but not overwhelming).

Make use of corner spaces

When working with compact bathroom design, it can really make a significant difference to make use of every available inch of space without ever sacrificing on aesthetics. And when you’re working with a tight space, those desolate corners can come in handy indeed.

An obvious choice will be to transform an empty corner into a practical storage area with a specially designed corner vanity. But an offset quadrant shower enclosure has become a worthy contemporary design statement in most homes — or if you prefer a bath then you might want to consider a corner bathtub instead.

Incorporating a corner bathtub can break visual monotony in tiny contemporary bathrooms, and their distinctive curves and unique style bring contrast to a space dominated by simple, straight lines. Both corner showers and bathtubs can be large enough to create a more open and airy ambience while offering a totally luxurious experience.

Install a skylight

Many small bathroom ideas just toss out the whole idea of sufficient lighting. Natural light is the key to brighten the interior and significantly improve the look and comfort of the room. Skylights are a great option for when conventional windows aren’t enough.

A Skylight doesn’t have to be grand and dominating to have a great visual impact. A modest size is enough to open up a dull and dreary space into a cheerful, exciting room with a new lease on life. Opt for light, muted hues for the rest of your bathroom’s decor scheme so that the natural light is reflected around.

Swap sconces for pendants

Here is another best decor suggestion for small bathroom ideas, swap sconces for hanging light fixtures! Although in vogue right now, wall-mounted sconces can take up a lot of useful space. Simple pendants are a subtle accent with a big aesthetic impact.

If your bathroom is on the petite side, consider hanging a pair of handsome pendant lights on each side of your vanity and the whole room will feel more considered and complete. That way you’ll free up wall space for hand towel holders or larger wall mirrors.

An oversized pendant light over the bathtub creates visual interest and draws attention away from the compact feel of the room while highlighting a prominent bathroom feature. Look for a light fixture with an unexpected finish, preferably one with plenty of texture or geometric lines for a unique decor finish.

Trick the eye with tiles

As design experts know, the amount of floor footage you have and what the eye perceives isn’t necessarily the same thing. Play with the boundaries of perception by using the same tiles on the walls and around the edge of the bath — it makes it hard to distinguish when one begins and the other one ends, thereby making your space feel larger.

Another tile trick that will help open up your space is to blend the floor tiles with those on the wall — that is, pick tiles in the same colours across the floor and the walls to continue the seamless appearance throughout the entire space. This eliminates the dividing lines which can
occur as a result of breaks in colour or tile design and allows your eye to travel fluidly around the room.

Complement dark floors with lighter walls

With small bathrooms, you want to be strategic with your colour scheme. Using lots of different colours and patterns in your bathroom makes it appear cluttered. Soft hues reflect more light and make a tiny bathroom feel spacious. Dark, moody colours or bold graphic patterned tiles can be reserved for the floor as long as the overall scheme is kept light and simple.

For a bathroom interior space with wood floors, look for shower tiles that are slightly lighter than the wood in colour and tone. This will create a contemporary look without the jarring visual breaks to shrink your perception of the space.

Splurge on finishes

A smaller bathroom won’t cost as much to remodel, so if you have the cash, splurge a little for some higher-quality fixtures, tiles and finishes. It’s time to break out of thinking that a small bathroom isn’t worth the money.

Choose quality materials for your accent lighting fixtures, add a towel warmer, swap the toilet for a new floating style, upgrade to a glass shower door and see how this tiny space transforms into a million bucks’ sanctuary.

Wall-mount everything

In a tight bathroom space, float everything: toilet, cabinetry and basin, to allow the floor space to breathe. Not to mention, the peep of flooring underneath makes the area feel a notch more open.

Because our eye tends to judge space by analysing the floor area, the last thing you need are fixtures that further crowd your floor space. You also utilise valuable wall space, which is often left bare.

Opt for a seamless glass shower door

If space is at a premium, consider a modern walk-in shower surrounded by seamless glass. Seamless glass doors may be more expensive than a shower curtain, but will definitely win on durability, simplicity and openness.

Even better, a glass enclosure emphasises visual pass-through and brings natural lighting beautifully into the room.

Exaggerate space with a mirror

If there’s one item that does an incredible job at creating the illusion of more space, it’s a mirror. Splurge on an oversized mirror with a stunning frame, or go wall-to-wall with a custom-sized piece.

The effect can be so powerful that you need little else to make the room look perfectly finished. This can be particularly effective in solving design dilemmas in slim rooms with small walls and insufficient lighting.

Small Bathroom Design Ideas to Make The Most of Your Space by Mirabello Interiors