Small Bathroom Ideas

Most designers jump at the chance to renovate a small bathroom because it offers a great opportunity to test their skills at utilizing space. Making a small room look bigger is a challenging prospect. But with the proper ideas and creativity, a small bathroom can turn into a giant space filled with opportunity.

The most important aspect of remodeling a small bathroom is storage and organization. Careful planning in this area can literally double the space of your bathroom, and add to its unique design in the process.

Nothing makes a bathroom look smaller than clutter. Such things as towels on the counter, a magazine rack next to the toilet, statues, and bulky pictures should be reserved for larger rooms in the home. This also includes the bathtub itself. Shampoo bottles and soaps should be kept off the showers edges and instead stored in an accessible place that's out of view.

One of the best solutions for storage is cabinets, especially recessed cabinets that are imbedded directly into the wall. This gives the bathroom extra space because it utilizes the area behind the bathroom itself. Cabinets and vanities that stick out are huge space wasters, so replacing those alone will do wonders for the perceived spacial elements of your bathroom.

Adding a small closet can also help. For example, if you can store your towels in the closet rather than hanging them on a towel rack it will make the bathroom seem more open and accessible.

This also applies to the actual amenities of your bathroom like the toilet and sink, whose sizes can vary widely depending on the home owners personal tastes. Selecting a smaller sink and toilet will do wonders for the width of a bathroom. When working in small spaces like this, little differences here and there can really add up. Remember this when selecting your amenities.

Mirrors can literally double the perceived space of a room, so a big mirror is absolutely essential for a small bathroom. This is the only case where bigger is better, so look for a mirror whose size borders on being excessive to the space allotted to it.

The color of the walls is also extremely important. Dark colors prevent light from reaching the corners of the wall, so it is best to select light colors whenever possible. For a small bathroom, white is ideal. But certain shades of blue, yellow, and lavender also offer an element of depth not possible with darker colors.