Small bathrooms and ensuites can be challenging to renovate or decorate, with the obvious challenges they present often putting a stopper in the flow of creative ideas.
Our collection of design ideas for small bathrooms aims to help you make more of your small space, and create a stunning bathroom with a wow factor larger than its size.
Explore how carefully considering layout, décor, fixtures, furniture, and accessories can help your small bathroom make a big impact.
7 Design Ideas for Small Bathrooms
1. Wet Room Vs Quadrant Shower Vs Small Freestanding Baths
There are a number of space saving shower and bath options to consider before starting your small bathroom renovation.
Wet Rooms – An excellent option for creating spa-like luxury in small spaces, wet rooms open up the room, creating an airy feel and a space dedicated entirely to the wonders and rejuvenating power of a great shower. Of course, waterproofing your space, and ensuring you have effective drainage is key, but if you’re up for a real project, wet rooms are one idea for small bathrooms you shouldn’t skip.
Quadrant Showers – Featuring curved corners, and designed to be tucked into a corner, quadrant showers are smaller than a standard shower, but don’t seem to minimise internal shower space, offering a space-saving option without compromise.
Small Freestanding Baths – While you might be surprised that any kind of bath would be on a list of design ideas for small bathrooms, small or “short” freestanding baths can be a stunning focal point in any bathroom where space is in short supply. There are many small, freestanding, roll top, claw foot, and slipper models on the market today, available in oval and square silhouettes, with lengths as short as 1200mm. Having a small bathroom doesn’t mean you’re stuck with a shower.
Speak to our team about sourcing the perfect bath or shower for your small bathroom or ensuite.
2. Spatial Design Tricks
Using any of the following interior design ideas for small bathrooms can help you to make your small bathroom feel much roomier.
Vertical Lines/Stripes – From wallpaper with vertical stripes, to wooden tongue and groove panelling, vertical lines provide the illusion of height, making your bathroom feel more spacious.
Contrasting Light & Dark Colours – Using dark colours for flooring, and light colours for walls is a tried and true spatial trick to make small rooms feel larger, and create a more airy sense of space.
Lighting – There is so much to say about the many spatial applications of lighting, that in a longer list of design ideas for small bathrooms, it would have its own dedicated, and likely rather lengthy section. However, a quick guide to lighting for small bathrooms and ensuites is to explore recessed ceiling downlights and wall lighting, to maximise both the height of the room, and the space around its perimeter.
Though it may not help to extend your space, adding texture, patterned wallpaper, tiles, and colour to your small bathroom is a great space-saving way to introduce attractive focal points to even the smallest space.
3. Wall Hung Vanity Units
Wall hung vanity units are an essential design idea for small bathrooms, combining functionality and practicality (marrying the wash basin and bathroom storage), and maximising your space.
As manufacturers of bespoke vanity units, we have a huge range of designs to choose from, which you can tailor to your most exacting tastes, and storage requirements. Also explore our wide range of luxury handles to provide your bespoke piece with its perfect final touches.
To make a big visual impact in a small space, opt for wall mounted taps to create a sleek, uncluttered aesthetic, paired with a statement countertop basin.
With taps from market leading brands like, Crosswater, Francone, BC Designs and London 1916, and basins from Crosswater, Victoria and Albert, Villeroy & Bosch and more, your dream vanity unit is a few clicks away.
4. Mirrors
Mirrors can be used to maximise the space in your small bathroom to great effect, by reflecting the room and its light back into the room.
- Tall, large mirrors draw the eye upwards, maximising the height of your walls and extending your space.
- Positioning mirrors in the path of natural light can help to accentuate the light reflected around the room.
- While a wall mounted vanity unit is an essential design idea for small bathrooms, installing a mirror above the vanity at eye level, is an excellent way to not only complete the look, but introduce the room expanding benefits mirrors provide in a way that highlights your bathroom’s focal point.
- Hanging your bathroom mirror opposite doors or transitional areas reflects the large room outside, into your bathroom, which lends its light and space.
- If space allows – because everybody has a different definition of what constitutes a small bathroom – floor mirrors are hugely effective in maximising your space, reflecting a whole room (or a significant part of one) back into your space.
Explore our range from top brands like Crosswater and Origins Living.
5. Short Projection Toilets
If you’re renovating your small bathroom, or creating one in a small cloakroom, under-stair space, or loft space, short projection toilets are an unmissable point on our list of design ideas for small bathrooms.
Featuring a narrower toilet pan, and a more shallow depth than a conventional toilet, short projection (or cloakroom toilets as they’re sometimes called), come in a range of models, including “close coupled” toilets, “back to wall” toilets, and “wall hung” toilets. These toilets are widely available in depths of between 500-620mm, so speak to our team today about finding the perfect short projection toilet for your small bathroom renovation.
6. Ladder Radiators Vs Underfloor Heating
Perhaps the most self-explanatory point on our list of design ideas for small bathrooms – opting for ladder radiators, or underfloor heating, helps you optimise what little space you have available.
Say no to clunky radiators protruding from the walls, and go low-profile, or invisible, with ladder raiders or underfloor heating.
7. Floating Shelving
While it may seem like a tiny detail when you have an entire small bathroom renovation or redecoration project ahead of you, be sure to consider floating shelving to tidy away your toiletries, accessories, and decorative ornaments, and free up floor space to create a more roomy feel.
We offer a range of stunning oak shelving, made from the same high-quality materials we use to manufacture our vanity units.
If our 7 design ideas for small bathrooms have inspired you, contact our team to discuss a bespoke wall hung vanity unit, mirror, or whole bathroom suite. We can bring your image of the perfect small bathroom to life.
