One of the biggest design challenges of a house is the compact bathroom. The smaller powder rooms and primary en-suites can easily become cramped, dark and cluttered, due to mandatory fixtures, odd layouts and plumbing limitations.
But comfort, style and luxury don’t have to suffer with a small footprint. By incorporating smart design elements and strategic planning, a small bathroom can become a functional and luxurious oasis. The key to achieving this is to optimize your sight lines, make use of vertical space and choose space-saving fixtures to make your room look larger and more functional.
Make maximum sight lines to maximize visual expansion.
One of the most important aspects of the size of a room is its visual perception. If the visual barriers are eliminated, the brain will see that the space is bigger and more fluid.
Use Frameless Glass in lieu of Heavy Enclosures
Frosted, shower curtains and framed frosted, sliding doors create a solid visual partition that can help to divide a small bathroom in half. Just replacing an opaque curtain/wall with a seamless, frameless glass panel instantly transforms the room into a new concept.A curtain or framed enclosure that is replaced with a seamless frameless glass panel instantly extends the line of sight to the farthest wall. If you want something that’s even more spacious, you can go with a walk-in shower without a curb. The bathroom floor tile is carried into the shower space continuously forming an uninterrupted surface plane that leads the eye to believe in the illusion of more square footage.
Use and install floating vanities and wall-mounted toilets.Use and install wall-mounted and floating toilets.
The limited space of little interiors is the top real estate. A traditional pedestal sink or floor mounted vanity is a break in the visual floor area and dust trapping corners. The “floating” type vanity mounted on a wall leaves the floor underneath completely exposed, creating a lighter, airier ambiance. The combination of this with a wall hung toilet (the water tank is concealed inside the wall framing) can save up to 10 to 12 inches of valuable floor space without disrupting the floor.
- Clever Storage – Make Wall Storage!
Building is spreading into the room, which leads to congestion when space is limited. But rather, search within walls for unused space.
Create recessed spaces and medicine cabinets.
The space between wall studs is a space that seems to go underutilized for lots of storage. Instead of a large exterior medicine cabinet that blocks the standing space, install a recessed medicine cabinet that is flat against the drywall. Likewise install deep recessed shower niches in between the studs to store shampoos, soaps and razors. This saves you from the need to awkwardly hang wire caddies or corner shelves that take up space that’s needed for elbow room.
Make use of real estate that’s vertical and over the toilet.
The only way out when horizontal space is limited, is to go up. Add custom open shelving or a low close cabinetry tower above the toilet. Folded towels, tissue boxes and decorative baskets can easily fill this space when it is empty. Keep shelves shallow, approximately 6 to 8 in. deep, to allow for good storage space without overhanging users’ heads.
- Strategies for an Open Feel in Light and Color and Tiles
Lighting and surface materials can have a huge impact, making a dark, narrow room a bright and airy room.
Avoid using small format tiles and wide grout lines.
One wrong assumption is that smaller rooms will need small-sized mosaic tiles. In fact, hundreds of tiny tiles make up a dense grid of dark grout lines, resulting in visual clutter and a busier, smaller looking wall. Large format tiles like 12×24 porcelain slabs drastically cut the number of grout joints. This process produces the clean and unified surface that creates a unified and expansive effect for walls and floors.
Install Lighting and Place large mirrors.
One overhead ceiling light can create some severe shadows and small rooms will feel dark and cave-like. Instead, mix and match illumination with soft perimeter recessed lighting, waterproof shower fixtures and lighting sconces at eye level vanities. You would be able to balance light and avoid unflattering shadows from your face with sconces mounted beside or built into the mirror. Pair this light with an oversized mirror: An oversized mirror (one that goes from the countertop to the ceiling) will reflect both natural and artificial light and create a sense of depth to the room.
- Space-Saving Fixtures and Architectural tweaks.
Space is precious in a small-plan layout, and with hardware and fixtures being essential, it’s important to get them to work effectively.
Make the transition from a sliding or pocket door to a Barn Door.
A regular interior door needs about $9\text{ sq ft}$ of clear swing space to open and shut. This swing path frequently uses vanity drawers or the toilet in a small bathroom. By replacing a standard swinging door with a pocket door that slides directly into the wall framing, this clearance can be recovered and full use may be made of the optimum layout of fixtures.
Select Wall-mounted Faucets and Compact Profiles
When using standard deck mounted faucets, the counter depth of the vanity behind the sink basin should be adequate. Choosing a wall-mounted faucet will allow you to save counter space and fit in a smaller, more space-efficient vanity that won’t lose out on basin space. For fixtures and tubs, opt for sleek, rounded designs to reduce the likelihood of sharp elbows and stop traffic from clogging up corners.
The next step is to create a functional space for your sanctuary.Final step: Design and make a sanctuary space.
The idea that luxury and efficiency depend on the size of the bathroom is debunked in renovating a small bathroom. The use of open sightlines, recessed storage space between the studs, added lighting to brighten surfaces, and compact, efficient fixtures, remove all unnecessary friction and clutter from your day-to-day life. Even the smallest of spaces can be one of the most rejuvenating and stylish spaces in your home, with an intentional design approach.
