6 Clever Ways To Make Your Bathroom Look Bigger

Jun 21, 2023

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Follow these design tips and tricks to make a small bathroom appear more spacious.

Bathrooms, and especially cloakrooms, are usually the smallest rooms in the home, and they are frequently placed in areas without much natural light or with limited ceiling height, like underneath the stairs.

If you're stuck with a small bathroom, there are several design tricks to have in your wheelhouse to make your room appear larger – and all of these tips can be used in big bathrooms too, to really make the most of your space.

Much like any other room in your home, light and colour play a huge role in how spacious a bathroom feels, but there are several vital fixtures – your toilet and sink, shower or bath, mirrors, radiators, and storage – that require a bit more consideration to fit and function correctly.

Richard Roberts, Director at Sanctuary Bathrooms, shares some insider knowledge on the design features that can make a bathroom appear lighter, brighter, and larger. Read on for six small bathroom ideas to help maximise your space.

If floor space is at a premium, make the most of your vertical space and mount larger fixtures onto your walls. Richard says: 'Traditionally in bathrooms a lot of space is taken up by having fixtures and fittings floor-mounted or freestanding. However, many features – from the toilet and basin to accessories like toilet roll holders and toilet brushes – now come in wall-mounted styles. Lifting everything up off the ground provides extra space and extends your floor outwards, making it look bigger.' If you're working with a truly tiny bathroom, use the extra floor space for storage baskets.

Explore the House Beautiful collection of wall-hung bathroom furniture at Homebase.

Look at reducing the size of your toilet, bath and basin into more compact versions, specifically designed to fit smaller bathrooms.

'Cloakroom basins are generally anything less than 700mm in size, compared to standard basins,' says Richard. 'Baths vary in size with the largest being up to two metres long but you can get smaller baths, if you've got a cramped space. Compact toilets also come in a variety of styles including wall-hung and back to wall, providing flexibility in design and fixing.'

Light and natural colours are key in small spaces – go for a base of white with splashes of pale blush, taupe and soft blues or greens. One paint trick that never fails is to use the same colour across walls, ceiling, and doors to give the impression of space.

Lucy Ackroyd, Head of Design at Christy, says: 'Often smaller bathrooms have limited light or smaller windows and can feel quite dark. Avoid that dingy and drab feeling by coordinating bright, colourful hand towels and bath mats with other accessories such as plant pots, soap and shampoo bottles.'

Clutter will make a small room feel even smaller, so give everything, from makeup and cleaning products to towels and spare loo rolls a home. Use smart storage solutions, like drawer inserts, wall-mounted rails, and shelves over your door, and corral every day essentials onto trays to keep them tidy, and at your fingertips. A favourite storage hack of our is to use magnetic strips in cupboards to hang tweezers, razors, and other easy-to-lose bits and pieces.

'You will have to weigh up the pros and cons of removing a bath from a personal perspective, as they're great for family households and those with dogs, too. The other consideration is that if you're renovating to sell the home, a bath is a potential buying benefit,' says Richard.

'If you're looking to just have a shower in your space, consider a walk-in. The fact they are built for easier accessibility makes them advantageous when it comes to extending the room so it looks bigger, compared to a standard shower enclosure, which blocks out an area of the room.'

'Light is important to bring out the best of your bathroom, if you're limited in terms of natural light – or don't have a window at all – then enhance your space by bringing in more lights,' says Richard. 'This doesn't have to be more wall lights or ceiling lights, but investing in something like an illuminated bathroom mirror or LED bathroom mirror, can really improve the ambience of the space.'

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