Everything You Need to Build the Perfect Powder Room

In their most basic form, powder rooms are small water closets with a toilet and a sink. But they are so much more than that. Powder rooms are some of the most visible parts of your home. Most guests will come in here, and so your powder room will set the tone for the rest of your house. A clean and stylish powder room can be achieved with just a few tweaks and changes, and it will immediately set your home apart as a place where aesthetic and elegance matter. By contrast, a dark and stodgy water closet won’t be impressing anyone anytime soon. 

If you want your powder room to sparkle and pop with originality and style, there are some things you’ll need to get. Fortunately, upgrading to a modern powder room is on the easier side when it comes to home improvement projects. Here’s everything you need to build the perfect powder room that will wow guests with its functionality and aesthetics. 

The Classic Bidet

Many of us couldn’t imagine using anything other than toilet paper, but many of us haven’t tried a bidet. If it fits your budget and your powder room, putting in a bidet is a must. A bidet makes simple toilet paper look like a relic of some strange and dark past, and once you try it you won’t want to go back to the good old days. It is a night and day difference when compared to using toilet paper, and it is for that reason — but also for its cool vintage look — that it is one of the powder room essentials. Be kinder to your bum, accessorize your powder room, get a bidet. 

Things You Have to Have In Your Powder Room

A Floating Vanity 

Floating vanities are all the rage right now, and for good reason. The vanity is a central part of your powder room and can make a big difference in how it looks and feels. Floating vanities will make even the most cramped water closet feel more airy and spacious. Beyond being excellent space savers, they also just look really neat. Because they are wall-mounted, the sleek floating vanity design will give your powder room an ultra-minimalist look and modernist feel. Keep the floating vanity you choose on the small side and it will make your powder room feel even bigger.   

Space Saving Techniques for a Small Powder Room

Fitting Flooring

Even a small powder room needs some nice flooring to tie the look together. Your floor is one of the many places for art in your powder room and can be in all manner of colors, patterns, and styles. A classic tried and true style is to put in some black and white patterned tiles. These bring a retro and timeless feel to any powder room, especially when paired with the copper faucets and handles of your floating vanity. If you want to go for something more unconventional, consider something with a more scandi- aesthetic like hardwood floors. This will give your water closet a warm and cozy farmhouse powder room vibe.   

Choosing Flooring for Your Half Bathroom

Walls to Wow

You could go with the traditional white square tiles that are in every water closet, but if you want a unique powder room, you’ll need something different. One great way to make your powder room walls stand out is with two-tone or even three-tone tiling. This allows for different parts of the wall to feel like different layers of the same aesthetic. This way you can still have the clean look of white tiles, but put together with patterned and colored tiles. 

For some extra aesthetic elegance, you can even have the patterned tiles echo the patterns of your floor tiles. To give your powder room a more expansive look, choose bigger tiles. This will reduce the number of grout lines, and is great for opening up a small space such as a powder room. 

Choosing Walls for Your Powder that Charm Your Guests

But if you want to be really different, forgo the tiles and keep your walls bare with a smooth concrete surface that will give your powder room an industrial feel. If you’re in the market for something retro, a colorful wallpaper can do a lot to give the space more character and class.  

Sufficient Lighting

The more lighting your powder room has, the better. A brighter space is an airier space, as well as a warmer and more comfortable one. If your water closet has a window, take full advantage of the natural light it provides by putting in a frosted window. This will allow you to let in the light without having to worry about privacy issues. For lighting fixtures, you have a bunch of cool options, and these all depend on the aesthetic you’re going for. LEDs are a great choice since they are a sustainable, low-cost solution. If you find the white glow of LEDs to be too sterile, you can also get ones that glow in a classic warm yellow hue.  

Important Elements of the Perfect Powder Room - Don't Forget Lighting!

For a sleek look, installing recessed lighting in your powder room’s ceiling will give your water closet the smooth lines that are oh-so contemporary. But if you’re thinking of something classic, a small chandelier is a choice that is bold, eclectic, and excellent for bringing some old-world charm to your bathroom.  

Have a Theme 

You may have noticed a connection between all of these must-haves for your powder room. In your quest to revamp your powder room, having a coherent aesthetic is important. Every component, including the walls, floors, bidet, and floating vanity must be chosen to complement each other rather than clash with one another as far as style goes. In other words, another one of the things you need for the ultimate powder room is a theme. There are many different ones to choose from, and each has its own set of benefits. 

If you choose to go in a retro direction, emphasizing a more intricate decor is important, ergo copper faucets, brass door handles, bright colors, cast iron light fixtures, some wooden inserts here and there, maybe a wallpaper, etc. All of this effectively ties in many different design styles into one coherent style, which is positively bohemian. 

An Important Step In Building Your Powder Room Is Picking a Theme

For something more contemporary, minimalism is the name of the game. To achieve a trendy contemporary look, every part of your powder room needs to exude sleekness and simplicity. Colors should be neutral, and a Japandi “natural and simple” look is the ideal you’re aiming for. 

The Elegant Appeal of a Japandi Style Half Bathroom

For an all-out with the natural feel, wood is the answer. Well, wood and maybe a bit of stone. Wooden counters, bamboo wallpaper, and a stone sink are great places to start if you want to give your powder room a spa feel. 

Natural Tones, Textures, and Materials Perfect for a Powder Room

Smaller Powder Room Essentials for Your Guests

The small details are easy to overlook, but they’re no less important, and that’s even more so the case in a half bathroom. Since your powder room is also likely your guest bathroom, your facility must be functional as well as stylish. No one’s gonna give you props just for having nice wall tiles if you don’t even have toilet paper. So make sure your small powder room is well stocked with the essentials like toilet paper and liquid hand soap. 

Don't Forget These Smaller Powder Room Essentials for Your Guests

For a classier and more sustainable solution, avoid using paper towels for your guest bathroom, and instead get a set of guest towels. Don’t just use one though, because nobody likes using a hand towel that has been touched by others. Do have some tissues handy though, in case some of your guests get the sniffles. You should also have a little dustbin in your powder room for extra convenience and sophistication. 

A Modern Powder Room Is a Sustainable One

As we all know, bathrooms don’t tend to be the nicest smelling places, but there are ways to deal with that. There is the classic bathroom spray, which can be used by your guests to deodorize your water closet. However, these sprays can sometimes be unpleasant due to their strong chemical smell, so the ideal solution is a scented candle. Scented candles have a more natural and restrained smell which is both refreshing and deodorizing. 

Candles, Hand Towels, and Face Tissues Among the Pleasant Essentials to Have in Your Guest Bathroom

Looks are important when it comes to the small details. To avoid a sterile “public facility” feel in your powder room, consider putting in some fresh flowers. This will add some color and personality to your powder room especially if it is dominated by neutral colors. Don’t forget to put it in a mirror so that your guests can freshen up as they admire your good taste and great choice of flowers.