How to Decor a Small Bathroom and Make It Feel Bigger

The bathroom (and in general rooms of your home) are some of the things you have no control over when it comes to size. Knowing how to decor a small bathroom can make all the difference, whether you’re working with a tight layout or just limited options. Sure, you could enlarge it if you have some storage nearby, so you can break a wall and make it bigger. But in most cases, you’ll have to work with what’s available.

Learning how to decor a small bathroom isn’t necessarily about the items that go in there. You’ll obviously need a toilet and a sink, as well as a bathtub or shower cabin. These are the main requirements.

How you arrange them, what kind of items you get and what colors you go for can make the difference.

After all, decorating a small room to make it look bigger isn’t always about the available space. There’s not much you can do about the space. Instead, it’s about how you perceive it. It’s about how to make it look bigger by tricking the eye into seeing more depth.

In the end, it’s how you feel there that really matters.

With these thoughts in mind, let’s find out how to decorate a small bathroom to make it more spacious without compromising on style or functionality.

The Three Main Elements

Overall, decorating a small bathroom to make it look better involves focusing on three major elements.

First, you have the light. More light means a bigger space. If your bathroom doesn’t have a window for natural light, it will inevitably look small and boxy. If you have a window, make sure that plenty of natural light can go in there.

Second, you have the open space idea. Indeed, your space is limited, but try to make it look like an open space.

And third, you have the clutter, which goes hand in hand with the open space idea. Too much clutter will kill the vibe, but it will also make the bathroom look even smaller because every stray bottle breaks up the visual continuity. Therefore, only stick to mandatory items.

Combining all these things is a matter of strategy.

Light and Reflection

Once again, natural light is a must. And the more of it, the better. Your window can only take that much light, but here comes the good news. You can easily reflect it all around the bathroom, so you can make it look even more spacious.

If you want a mirror above the sink, make sure it doesn’t have a frame. Opt for something simple. Cabinets? No problem, they’re needed. Gain, go for mirrored cabinets. Light bounces from one mirror to another.

Polished surfaces like glossy tiles will also add to the brightness.

Clear the Space

Back to the open space idea, here are a few useful tips:

So, what’s the point of these apparently inconvenient changes? To make the bathroom look bigger, you’ll need to see more of it when you get in. This change allows the eye to travel everywhere, so the room feels more expansive and less restricted.

Light and Large Tiles

When it comes to tiles, you have more options. Small tiles will make the bathroom feel crowded. Medium tiles are neutral, so they won’t make the bathroom look too big either. Large tiles are ideas. Larger and fewer tiles will make the space look bigger.

The idea is to reduce grout lines which significantly cuts down on visual noise. Also, rectangular tiles should be lined horizontally, so a narrow bathroom looks wider. On the other hand, if you want to draw the attention upwards to celebrate the ceiling height, line tiles vertically. It depends on what effect you want.

Float Everything

The more floating elements you get, the bigger the bathroom looks. Now, floating furniture could mean that you’ll lose the space underneath. You’d rather have a cabinet for storage under the sink. But if you could store all those things somewhere else, opt for a floating element.

Opt for a floating vanity and toilet too. When the floor underneath is exposed, the place sees more available footprint. In other words, the bathroom looks much more spacious.

Get Rid of Clutter

Countertops and other elements should be completely clear. While it’s convenient to store a few things in the bathrooms, try to find different storage. You don’t need 10 toilet paper rolls hanging around. Put them somewhere else.

Recessed niches help with important storage. And if you do need a cabinet, forget about the tiny ones that barely reach your waist. Instead, get a slimline storage cabinet that covers the area from the floor to the ceiling.

Colors Are Important Too

Last, but not least, when not sure how to decor a small bathroom to make it bigger, a simple change of color could be more than enough.

For maximum effectiveness, opt for light and monochromatic colors. Soft whites are great. Light grays also work well. If you want something more colorful, go for a pale cream palette or a soft, nature-inspired pastel.

From an artistic point of view, the idea is to come up with a canvas that has little to no boundaries. An accent wall would be nice to have. It’s a modern idea, but in this particular case, it creates some unnecessary boundaries that stunt the visual flow.

Bottom line, figuring out how to decor a small bathroom to make it look bigger isn’t very expensive, but you’ll have to plan everything in the smallest details. If you’re planning a full makeover, you have an empty canvas to customize according to your needs and design a perfectly balanced layout.