Ideas for Remodeling Small Bathrooms

If you want to maximize a small space, or give a cozy powder room a more refined look, try these ideas for remodeling small bathrooms. Petite areas can be a challenge, but they have something to offer too. No one ever called an auditorium charming, so there are some advantages to small-scale design. The knack is in retaining the intimate and comfy feel without feeling crowded or cramped.

One big gotcha in design is achieving the right scale for a room. Outsized cabinets, fixtures, lighting and wall art can make visitors feel cramped when there's really plenty of space. The eye evaluates objects relative to one another. If you place a large vanity with a very small light fixture, suddenly an average size vanity will seem huge and the room will look out of scale.

When addressing design elements in a small bathroom, go smaller and keep items in proportion with one another. Undersize towel racks or use hooks. Opt for a few small wall prints instead of one large one. When dressing windows, lose the fussy look and go for clean lines like mini-blinds or simple valances. Go for solid colors or small prints, and remember to choose clean, clear colors. Neutral colors and light woods are always good choices, but even if you go with something trendy and vivid, avoid too stark a contrast between the walls and the ceiling or floor. Remember that grouping decorative items in threes is a good design strategy, but keep the scale smaller. The one exception is mirrors. Using one large or a number of smaller mirrors in a small bathroom will make the space look larger and maximize the light without adding bulky fixtures.

In small bathrooms, a little clutter makes for a big mess. When designing your space, create as much storage as you can, and come up with a method to make your daily necessary items easy to access and put away. Over the commode and shower storage units are good, low cost solutions, but make sure that you buy units with concealing doors that will keep your stuff out of sight most of the time. Invest in wire shelving for the inside of your vanity doors, and replace a flat wall mirror with a medicine cabinet that has storage.

If you've come to hate that bulky door hogging the space in your small bathroom, consider a pocket door that slides into the wall when it's open. This is a good way to take back some space, make your bathroom more efficient, and show a little style. If you integrate the bathroom's design with that of an adjacent room, it will make both areas look roomier too.

While you're at it, rethink how much you really need that tub. If you swap a tub for a dedicated shower unit, the space you save will make that small bathroom look positively roomy. If this is your only bathroom, it's probably not a good idea, but if this is a second or third bathroom, it might solve your space problems and give you room for that nice heated towel rack or larger vanity you've been thinking about.

If you're starting to get tired of the boxy built-in cabinet look, a trim pedestal sink will really open up a small space and give your guests a great view of your floor tile design. There's a trade off here, though. A pedestal sink will make the most of the limited space, leaving a small footprint while adding to the charm of the room, but built-in cabinets provide lots of storage space, which is precious in a small bathroom. You might want to keep the storage if this is a primary bath and you use it daily to dress in. On the other hand, if this is a guest bathroom that's used intermittently, form over function may be just the solution you're looking for.

There are other ideas for remodeling small bathrooms that may interest you too. To create an illusion of height, try elongating the profile of a window or the height of a tub enclosure by lengthening the window treatments or shower curtains. Slightly offset two facing mirrors to make a room look wider than it is. Use tile treatments that have narrow grout lines on the floor and walls.

One of the most important rules when remodeling a bathroom is to ensure that it's easy and safe to use. Always leave 24 inches or more of floor space directly in front of the toilet, keep access to water shutoff valves clear, and keep access to tubs and showers easy to maneuver in and out of. Use design materials that can be kept clean, and make sure that all electrical components are covered and safe to use at all times.

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