Expert Design Tips For Making a Small Bathroom Feel Bigger

It’s easy for a small bathroom to feel like a design dead end, but this doesn’t have to be true. Small bathrooms have a lot of potential because there is just so much you can do to change and improve them. You never have to settle for something dark and dingy. There are plenty of small bathroom ideas and tricks you can try to make a small water closet feel quite a bit bigger.

You may be wondering about where you would even start on your quest to make your small bathroom feel bigger, and the answer is anywhere. From the floors to the walls to the tiles to the lighting, there is no one place that you have to start with. Ultimately, the main determinant of where you start will have a lot more to do with your budget and tastes than anything else. Any one of the following simple small bathroom ideas is going to have a significant positive effect on the look and feel of your water closet, but there is no one “correct” decision here.

Some of the choices in this list will focus more on the practical layout of the bathroom itself, whereas others are going to be more cosmetically oriented. Read on to explore some expert insights that will transform your small bathroom for the better. 

Adding Personality to a Small Bathroom

Unique tile patterns will give your bathroom a design that sparkles and pops.

Making a bathroom design interesting means that the design will sparkle and pop, but it also imbues it with a sense of depth and complexity. For example, adding complex tile patterns and integrating multiple different materials into a small bathroom gives the space dimension. This allows for the bathroom to feel bigger and more interesting than your run-of-the-mill water closet.  

Mirrors, Mirrors, On The Wall

Mirrors reflect light, making a small bathroom feel airier.

One common small bathroom issue is a lack of ambient light. There are few better ways to give depth to any space than by adding mirrors that cover the walls. This has been a popular design trick for a long time. It was a favorite of royalty to make their large dance halls seem larger still, but it can also work in your small bathroom. Beyond the fact that they make it seem as if your bathroom stretches on forever, mirrors also reflect light, making your small bathroom feel brighter. 

Graphic Detail

A variety of materials is going to hugely increase your small bathroom’s character.

When it comes to remodeling a bathroom, every detail counts, and so a good design will account for this. A design with a lot of texture, various colors, and a diversity of materials is going to look a lot more interesting to the eye. It will also feel more spacious because the visual diversity of the design imparts a sense of a larger space filled with so many different details. In effect, getting the design right is about making good use of the little space and the few bathroom fixtures you do have.  

Keep It Colorful

Keep things trendy with colorful design accents in your water closet.

Another small bathroom idea for creating a bigger feeling design is to work on maximizing the colorfulness of your layout in a balanced way. Small spaces can sometimes feel overwhelming, but by keeping a coordinated color palette you can avoid this. A small bathroom with bright color accents can even have a calming effect since it keeps the bathroom layout from feeling too cramped. Combine this technique with a diversity of different materials if you want to fully reduce the cramped feeling of your remodeled small bathroom. 

Keep a Seamless Design 

Reduce clutter by letting the design flow seamlessly into different parts of the bathroom.

You might have already guessed this, but smart visual tricks are the name of the game in small bathroom design tips and tricks. There are plenty of ways to approach this challenge, and most likely you will make use of more than one. A seamless design is a technique that certainly should not be passed over.

Keeping your floor and wall designs seamless means that they are the same both inside and outside the shower, allowing the same design to flow throughout the entire bathroom. This might not seem like it would make a big difference, but it certainly does. By not imposing artificial borders between various parts of your small bathroom you keep things from feeling too cluttered. 

First Impressions 

A stylish sliding door is a great way to make a strong first impression as you enter the bathroom.

Common sense is going to tell you that you need a door for your bathroom. But why stick to something standard if it means reducing the functionality of your bathroom? This is one place where defying that common logic is going to help you out in the long run. A standard door takes up a lot of room and is bound to bump into things such as your toilet or sink. This is a design mistake that is unfortunately quite common because it’s easy to make.

The best way to avoid it is to abandon standard doors altogether. Instead, opt for a pocket door that slides into the wall and out of the way. Incorporating pocket doors for small bathroom storage space can save even more space.  Alternatively, you can forgo having a bathroom door at all and just install a beautiful door frame. While admittedly unconventional, it helps to open up a small bathroom and even increases the light that flows through.  

Say No To Shower Curtains

Glass shower doors look far nicer than your typical shower curtains.

Shower curtains are incredibly passe nowadays, and it’s not hard to see why. They are usually not that pretty, get dirty fast and they are not great as far as ideas for a small bathroom go. By contrast, a beautiful glass shower door looks a lot better and opens things up by increasing light permeation. Of course, you can also just go for a wet room configuration and remove doors altogether to hugely increase the airiness of your small bathroom.  

An Artistic Touch 

Convert your small bathroom into a unique art gallery.

When all else fails, adding artwork is another small bathroom idea to try. A vertical art gallery in your bathroom might be just the thing to add character to your small water closet. You might think a bunch of paintings on the wall would increase clutter, but actually, the opposite effect can be achieved with the right artwork. When you select paintings look for ones that emphasize light colors and feature bright landscapes and plenty of clear blue skies. This will give the desired effect by giving your bathroom artsy windows to the wide-open world.  

Let There Be Light 

Brighten the mood in your small bathroom with plenty of natural light thanks to a large skylight.

Speaking of light, it’s a pretty important detail and can make or break your small bathroom layout. Remodeling a bathroom is the easiest way to introduce some more light into your bathroom. We already touched on ways to help it better permeate through the space, but the quickest way to increase light is to add it. LED lighting is a great small bathroom idea on a budget. Nowadays you can do nearly anything with them for minimal cost. Stylish recessed lighting, backlit mirrors, and even neon-imitation displays are all possible for increasing brightness with style.

Natural light is also a good ally to have in your small bathroom design quest. If you have a window in your small bathroom, consider making it bigger. Otherwise, consider adding a small skylight in your bathroom. This vastly increases the natural light in the space in a way few other design tricks can.  

Get Smart Furniture And Fixtures

Smart choices make for less clutter and higher bathroom space efficiency.

In today’s world were all having to become a lot smarter with how we use increasingly limited space. Choosing your small bathroom layout is a perfect example of this truth because very often the problem with a cramped bathroom design isn’t a lack of space but poor usage of space.

To combat this means getting smart with how fixtures and furniture fit in your small bathroom. For instance, if you have empty corners, use them by installing a bathroom vanity or a small sink designed to fit snugly in a corner. If you can install recessed shelves or a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, we would highly recommend doing so. For the best results make sure that every square inch of the bathroom is being used well.