I’m often working on smaller if not tiny bathroom spaces. Especially if we’re working on an existing home with an existing bathroom. We used to make bathrooms so small, this room just didn’t hold the same importance as it does today. Now we want spa like, spacious rooms with large showers and freestanding baths and storage for days. It wasn’t like that in the 80’s and 90’s or even the early 2000’s.
So here are my top tips if you are renovating a tiny bathroom to not only get the most out of the floor space but also to make it feel more spacious than it really is.
OPENING UP THE FLOOR SPACE
The main questions I ask for tiny bathrooms are around function. Do we really need a bath in this room? By removing the bath we can usually make the shower space more open and larger and if you have a bath in another room in the house then it’s likely we can remove and create more space:
AAD Mosman Project: Open shower space with no bath
Also a favourite trick for me is to use a wall hung basin like the one below and add in lots of eye height storage which is always far more useful in a bathroom anyway. Not only does this visually open up the floor space but it also provide more mirror opportunity which always makes a room feel bigger:
AAD Wahronga Project – Wall hung basin and in wall toilert
FIXTURES
In smaller spaces I like to reduce the amount of clutter. By using simple heated towel rails either single verticals or single horizontals and not ladders you tidy up this area. Also none-rail showers look neater too like the shower below:
AAD Wahroonga Project: None rail shower
If you can accommodate an inwall cistern as well even better (like the image above)
TILE DESIGN
This is really important. Try and choose either only one simple tile for all walls and floors or a simple base tile and then a feature. Never use 3 differetn tiles in a smaller bathroom, it clutters the space up. If you’re a fan of pattern use that on the floor, it’s less in your face and works well in a smaller bathroom:
AAD Project: Pattern tiled floor
LIGHTING
And lastly don’t forget about great lighting. Not only your ceiling lights but think about your under cabinetry lighting or a feature light such as a wall light. None of this takes up space and can add so much ambience to your beautiful tiny bathroom!
AAD Forestville project: Clever lighting behind mirror
Happy designing!
Reach out if you’re looking for help when designing your bathrooms, let’s have a chat about how I can assist. [email protected]