Small Bathroom Design

The key to small bathroom design, as you might imagine, is creativity. One key to creativity is a little brainstorming, and so it would probably be a good idea if you could do this visually. Of course you could use some nice home-designing software if you have it available to you. But if not, the old-fashioned way will work just as well. Get out a nice big pad of paper and diagram out what you have to start with. From here, you can determine where you'd like to go.

Of course we don't know what you're starting with - whether you are at the very initial planning stages of construction and you can do almost anything you like, or whether you already have a bathroom that you're dealing with and you like to redign it or simply try to add some decorating touches to spice it up. In either case, it might be a good idea to sketch out a few rough ideas, put it away, and then do another one completely from scratch again.

A few things to think about in this process are the differnt elements available to you. One that you will surely want to keep in mind is mirrors. Mirrors are always great for giving the impression of more space, and in a small bathroom your mirrors may just turn out to be your best friend. You'll notice that we said "mirrors" - plural. If you have the space, you may want to include more than your typical, singe vanity mirror. Even if you simply add small mirrors along the side of the shower or over the toilet, anywhere that you can put a mirror may help open up the overall feel of the space.

Another trick for designing a small bathroom is to scale down the size of almost anything and everything where possible. Of course you will want to take into consideration how much you'll actually be using this bathroom on a regular basis. If it won't see much use, then you can really miniturize. However if it's a room that will actually see a fair amount of use, then you will need to make decisions based on exactly what type of use it will see.

An example of perhaps scaling down would be to replace a regular vanity and sink with a slimmer pedestal sink. This will open up the look and feel of the space immediately. But again, if you will actually need the storage space that a regular vanity offers, then you might just go with a slimmed down version. The same is true for cabinets. Depending on your intended use for the room, you may be able to eliminate something like cabinets altogether.

Another area where you may be able to slim down on design is with the fixtures. You can easily cut down on fixture size and without losing any functionality, of course. And by "fixture" we also include light fixtures with that.

And finally, a very important an aspect of any small bathroom design is color. The color you choose can make all the differnce in the world. In general it's probably a good idea to stay with simple, soft, light colors. Stay away from the darks and stay away from any busy designs. Plenty of mirrors, as mentioned before, along with the right colors, and your small bathroom design, while challenging, can still be a success.