Small bathroom? It doesn’t have to feel cramped and cluttered.
A few tactical design tips can dramatically change the look and feel of your space, transforming it into the relaxation-inducing retreat you love to unwind and indulge in.
These bathroom renovation,
and design tips will help you brighten up, freshen up and open up your small bathroom space.
10 Small bathroom renovation & style tips to make your space feel bigger
Think plenty of natural light, neutral colours, seamless lines, consistent colour schemes, large mirrors, minimalistic accessories and maximising your use of space. Small changes can make a big difference.
1. Increase natural light
One of the most dramatic changes you can make to open up a small bathroom is to add natural light – and as much as possible.
If you have bathroom windows, there are some great options to let maximum light filter in, while protecting your privacy. We love frosted glass windows for a fresh and open feeling with plenty of light. Translucent cellular shades are another good option to let light in and maintain privacy from the outside world. If you prefer shutters, white shutters paired with white walls and bathroom fixtures can create a timelessly fresh, clean, and open look.
If your bathroom remodelling has scope for adding a ceiling skylight, this is a great way to create a feeling of openness.
2. Use consistent and minimalistic colour schemes
Having multiple patterns and colours within a small space can make it feel segmented and small, creating visual dividers between the elements that make up your bathroom, and resulting in a cluttered, chaotic feeling.
Keeping a consistent and minimalistic colour palette in your bathroom will help to create more space visually. Try to stick to the same few colours and shades. This includes matching your fixtures to the general colour scheme or choosing a contrast that adds a dramatic flair without crowding the space.
A great way to keep a spacious feeling colour scheme is to keep your walls and floor the same colour, or if using a few colours, to use these colours consistently across the walls and flooring. Matching wall and floor tiles looks great, as does matching all but a feature wall.
3. Opt for a focus on light or neutral colours
Picking colours that reflect light and enhance the space of a room makes a big difference in a small bathroom.
White and neutral colours, and stone greys, can create space in a small bathroom. Vanities that are the same colour as your walls (or a similar shade on the colour spectrum), will visually push them back into the wall, creating more space.
For paint, a high-gloss light colour such as white (or as close to white as possible for other colours), can amplify space and reflect light. For a stone look or tiled wall, light greys, stony greys and marbled grey walls can look stunning and help open up a space.
For ceilings, opt for the same shade of white, or lighter, than your wall colourings. Ceilings can appear darker than walls due to natural light and shade differences. A darker ceiling can make a room feel smaller, while a lighter ceiling feels higher and more expansive.
For a modern, non-conventional twist, windowless rooms painted in a high gloss, super dark colour such as black can be a great option. Opting for a dark, high-gloss paint, tile or a dark marbled effect, gives a space depth and the illusion of a larger space. This dark sky effect bounces light around a limited space and draws attention to light fixtures.
4. Keep tiles consistent, and choose tile size carefully
In a smaller bathroom, using large bathroom tiles or panel pieces can help to decrease the visual separating lines on your surfaces, and create a uniform, seamless look, as well as reducing the feeling of ‘clutter’ or being ‘closed in’.
Using consistent tiles is important – having too many variations on colour, size and pattern can make a space feel busy and closed in. Using the same tiles, or a couple of similar variations throughout your bathroom and shower creates a clear, tidy and open space with unbroken lines.
5. Reflect light and spaciousness with mirrors
Mirrors are a fantastic way to increase the spaciousness of a room, as they bounce light away. Large mirrors look fantastic, and full wall mirrors can look elegant and modern. If you don’t have the space to add one large mirror to your bathroom, the more mirrors you can add, the better. Minimal frames or no frames work best in smaller spaces.
Be sure to check what your mirror reflects when choosing your mirror placement – reflections of a plant or pot of flowers are much more visually appealing than reflecting the toilet or clutter.
If you have a vanity with cabinets above your basin, mirroring the front of the cabinetry is a stunning way to add reflective surfaces and reduce how much space your cabinets appear to fill.
Consider backlighting the mirror as well, drawing attention to this light-reflecting space in a modern way to amplify light.
6. Be mindful of separating lines
Defined lines that separate the different elements of your bathroom can create a segmented appearance, which reduces the openness of a space and creates a cluttered feel. Creating an unbroken surface that is consistent across your bathroom is ideal, with smooth, long lines.
You can create a consistent flow across your spaces by using the same tiling or flooring across the entirety of your bathroom floor, including your shower. Where you have tiled walls, using the same tiling on the walls helps to continue the unbroken surface and creates an open feel within your space. We love this design tactic to create more depth and make the entire room seem larger. Whether you carry the same tiles across to all walls or select walls, the result is a modern design look.
7. Reduce clutter, embrace minimalism
Covering the floor and walls can create a cramped, closed-in feeling. The more you can reduce clutter on the floor and on shelving, the better.
Storing away excess bottles of product out of sight is an excellent place to start. Using custom designer bottles in one colour (which matches the rest of the colour scheme) consistently across the space can help create a beautiful, minimalist look that appears organised and clean.
Reduce any coverings on the floor or blend them in with their surroundings to visually reduce them rather than being brought forward. For floor towels, select colours which are as close to a match as possible to that of your flooring.
Using pedestal and floating basins also help to keep the floor clear. If you have an option to, suspended bathroom fixtures create a luxury look and create space.
For storage, installing floating storage, a narrow ledge alongside one wall of the bathroom, or even better, installing recessed shelves, are great ways to keep the floor clear.
In your shower, shower niches are an easy addition that will look great stylistically and create more space.
8. Use glass shower walls or an open design shower
Glass shower walls in a small bathroom are ideal, as they help to keep the space open. Going without shower doors altogether, in an open-shower style bathroom is even better for creating a sense of space within the bathroom.
Going with shower curtains? If you have the option of choosing where to start the curtains from, extending shower curtains almost to the ceiling can help elongate the walls, creating a greater sense of space.
9. Choose your bathtub carefully
It’s important to maintain the luxury feel of your bathroom when looking at a redesign. After all, we spend a lot of time in our bathrooms, and they can be an indulgent space to relax, unwind, debrief, practice self-care and wash the day away. For this reason, if you love a good bath, there’s no reason to forgo your bath because of your bathroom size.
While it’s true that bathtubs can take up a lot of space, it’s important to consider what matters to you. If you never use your bathtub, opting to go without can give you plenty of floor space back. But if a long soak is a valuable part of your self-care routine, you can get the best of both worlds with a smarter bath option. Consider where your bath is best positioned, what size is best for your space, and ensure that you select a colour scheme for your bath and its fittings that blend into the surroundings rather than stand out, unless you would like it to stand out as a statement piece.
Freestanding tubs look modern and luxurious and can create an illusion of minimalism. Small designer tubs can become a design feature of your bathroom, making good use of the space they take up. For a great space-saving option, consider a Japanese soaking tub. These are often beautifully designed and a great compromise for the space versus indulgence playoff.
10. Blend unsightly elements into the wall
You don’t want your toilet to stand out visually for obvious reasons. Opting for white fixtures, fittings and other bits and pieces for your toilet will help it to blend into a white wall behind it. When selecting bathroom accessories, keeping the same colour as your general colour scheme, blending them into the walls, or storing them away neatly out of sight when not in use, will prevent them from drawing the eye and creating a cluttered feeling.
Light, bright, unbroken and spacious
We have no doubt that your small bathroom will look and feel clean, fresh, light and spacious in next to no time when you apply these design and small bathroom renovation tips.
Need help with your small bathroom makeover? At C&K Concepts, we have over 16 years of industry experience as expert design-focused bathroom renovators. We are committed to safe, stylish and luxurious bathroom remodels and can help you with your bathroom redesign and renovation. Get in touch with us today to discuss your space and vision.
At C&K Concepts, we absolutely love completing Brisbane bathroom renovations. Get in touch with us to discuss your transformation.
