The Right Way To Make A Bath Room Feel Larger

A cramped bathroom is not fun for anyone, but especially for families that share the space. In addition to organizing the room, there are other ways that you can successfully make your bathroom feel larger than it really is! Here are our top three suggestions:

As a maximalist, I love the look of "stuff" in a room, so these wire storage baskets were the move. They come in three metallic shades and two sizes, and all the choices are understated enough to work well with anything else you have going on in your bathroom. They also have the added bonus of being lightweight, making them easy to move around and reorganize if needed.

Bathroom decor can go a long way toward livening up a space and making it feel larger. If your floor is darker, a pale gray or blue rug can help open up the space and tie the room together. If the floor is light, darker shades can create a focal point for the rest of the room.

The Phantom of the Opera proved that everything is clearer with a little illumination, and the same is true in small bathrooms. Lighting matters, especially if multiple people are trying to get ready in there at once.

I live with two guys and one other woman, so creating separate, individual space in the bathroom is important not only for our sanity but also to avoid losing your hairbrush to the abyss of cleaning supplies and deodorant. Under-the-sink storage bins have been incredibly helpful for creating personal space in our small bathroom, and they've ultimately kept the room cleaner, as well.

These two-tier storage baskets sit on top of one another, and they're available in a variety of colors. The baskets can be removed from the racks, making for easy cleaning and reorganizing. In our bathroom, we stacked two similar models under the sink with plenty of room leftover.

Hiding your bulky towels behind the door will help give the illusion of space in your bathroom, while helping the linens dry out. This over-the-door towel rack has staggered hooks to allow for even more storage space, and it comes in both chrome and bronze to match your existing fixtures. The rack also comes in two sizes, so make sure to measure your door before purchasing.

When maximizing space on a budget, a little creativity, elbow grease, and some frugal yard sale and thrift store searching all become a top priority. Below are several ways to increase space in a small bathroom while saving money.

Small bathrooms typically have little space for storage, so your best option will be adding storage. Search for storage that is flexible and removable, such as storage totes. Our favorites are woven baskets that can be stacked if necessary. They are beautiful and inexpensive.

An over-the-toilet shelving unit is a great way to save space for any small bathroom, and they come in a variety of styles and prices. Or squeeze a trendy, narrow shelf in a small space along the wall.

A very good way to save space is to get rid of the bathtub and only have a shower space. Changing your bathroom from tub to shower is also trending your house in the right direction for resale or rental. A freestanding shower will also give the advantage of more room and storage space.

Working with a small bathroom is a relative problem for many people. Unless you have built a new home or have purchased a large home, small bathrooms seem to be a common struggle for a large portion of the population. Apartment or condo living generally has at least one small bathroom. Find out how to better utilize space and give the appearance of a larger bathroom.

Do not overdo the use of bright colors. Using bright or dramatic colors makes a space feel more closed in. When working with a small space, stick to using neutral paint colors and materials. When working with neutrals be more conscientious about using textures. Layering textures allows you to add interest to a space without creating a dramatic look that tends to make a small space look cramped.

Utilize bathroom tools for storing toiletries and other items. There is a wide selection of attractive shower caddies and tub trays that fit right to the shower or tub. This instantly gives you more storage for toiletries. Shallow floating shelves are great for storing everyday items you use as well as adding interest to the walls.

Draw the eye upwards by painting the frame of a window a contrasting color to the wall. Add a chair rail to the wall and paint it a slightly more contrasting color than the wall. By using a contrasting paint color on a window or chair rail, the focus of the room is instantly drawn upward and makes the space feel larger. You can also add art to the walls to draw the eye upwards. Be careful not to add too many pieces or oversized frames. Keep artwork simple and proportionate for the room.

Keep shower curtains light. In a small bathroom avoid using a bold shower curtain. Use a light colored fabric, such as linen or get a translucent clear curtain that has a texturing effect that makes the curtain seem translucent while maintaining privacy.

Finally, use only large tile on the floor of the bathroom. Large tiles on the floor will open the space while small tiles seem to close the space. The change between the two sizes is dramatic! For a small demonstration of this effect, look at the left and right side of the image above.

The small-bathroom dilemma creates good reason to delve a little more deeply than a simple paint job or new fixtures. There are many tips, tricks and elements of design that can transform a small, drab bathroom into a pleasant space that looks bigger than it is.

So what colors make a bathroom look bigger? According to basic design principles, light colors such as white, crème, pastel blue, gray or yellow will visually expand a room, while dark colors such as a deep red, green or brown, will make a room feel smaller. The light colors reflect light, especially white, while dark colors tend to absorb light and lend the small bathroom a closed-in feel.

This may seem plain and unappealing to those who want lots of color in the bathroom, but you can add pops of color and different contrasts through accessories such as linens, artwork, small furniture and plants. The light colors create a long-lasting, room-expanding background that you can use for years while you make color and style changes elsewhere, and avoid the labor-intensive job of emptying and repainting the room as often.

Even those that master all those elements might still spend considerable time analyzing all the illusions and effects that light creates. It all points to the widely accepted fact that the color, texture and pattern or design on the walls and floor directly affect the overall look and feel of a room.

Patterned wallpaper may seem like the thing to do in order to distract from the fact that a bathroom is small, but a smooth, one-toned color creates an expanse of wall and floor that appears bigger than its dark and intricate counterparts do. For example, a patterned paint job or wallpaper lends a feeling of clutter and crowdedness, while a clean, non-patterned, non-textured paint job or tile will immediately make your bathroom space seem bigger.

3. Take Advantage of TileTile has featured in bathrooms and other wet areas for thousands of years because it works so well with moisture and has endless design and color possibilities. It makes the perfect non-porous material to have in a bathroom, where too much moisture can create detrimental problems such as mold and mildew. Many design guidelines advise using a small tile in a small bathroom, which makes sense initially. However, this technique actually creates a pattern with its grout lines that makes the bathroom seem smaller.

Nearly the same elements of design apply to tile in small bathrooms as do apply to the paint on the walls. Light, subtle pastel colors in the spectrum of white-beige-yellow, light blue and gray. Moreover, if you want to go wild with tile, it can create a decorative accent wall on the bathroom or shower. A small shower, for example, with a colored-tile wall and clear-glass doors will create a sense of depth.

A tiled shower or shower/tub combination can also have built-in, recessed cubbyholes and nooks to store bathing supplies, and some people consider that a high priority so they can get rid of the various gadgets made to add storage in small bathrooms such as suction-cup baskets or hooks and caddies that hang around the showerhead.

Tile works anywhere in the bathroom: As a sink backsplash, for the floor, in the shower and around the tub. Some builders and contractors will stop the tile an inch or more short of the ceiling and then cap the tile with some type of molding, but placing the shower-wall tile all the way to ceiling or right up to a window as its sill is another design trick to eliminate lines that segment the room. Some people go with all the same tile for the floor and walls to make that long, clean, uninterrupted line that makes a room seem bigger.4. Wall Mount the Basin and Toilet

The color guideline of light also applies to toilets, tubs, shower stalls, sinks and vanities, but the majority of people replace the toilet more often than any other object in the bathroom. Toilets age, break, change technologically and sometimes are swapped for the sake of design.

Some people want or need both a tub and a shower, so combine the two and add some kind of feature to the shower wall, perhaps a dazzling color on one or two walls and a clear-glass enclosure or shower curtain. There are different-sized bathtubs designed with the small-bathroom user in mind and for the purpose of saving space.6. Elevate Your StorageIn the same way that wall-mounted toilets and sinks save floor space and create a bigger look, so do wall-mounted shelves and skinny rails where you can set supplies. You can incorporate certain colors or materials to accessorize, or choose a glass or clear material to create clean-line continuity. Besides clean, continuous lines, it will help to get stuff off the floor and to re-organize to clear clutter. 2b1af7f3a8