Optical illusions and storage hacks, coming right up.
Small bathrooms can have so much untapped potential. It's easy to feel limited by the bite-size square footage, and unless your very small bathroom is a sweet powder room with no purpose save for handwashing before dinner time, it can also be extremely tricky to design, especially if you don't have professional help. The best small bathroom design ideas answer a lot of questions, like: Where do clean towels go? What about hooks for wet ones? Can a freestanding bathtub and separate shower fit, or will it look and feel too crowded?
There are so many crucial decisions to make when designing or renovating your bathroom, from plumbing fixtures and tile choices to paint colors and lighting. When you have a small space, you can either embrace it or work your hardest to make it feel bigger. Both are honorable pursuits. A small bathroom renovation is still a big job, no doubt. Done well, however, small spaces can be case studies in ease and efficiency, with personality to spare. You just need some inspiration and advice from design pros to start rethinking yours. Don't let the limited space stop you from living large!
So before you throw in the bath towel and call a broker to help you find a new place, consider the following bathroom storage ideas, plus floor plan, window treatment, and styling solutions that will help your small bathroom look as good (and work as hard) as a big jack-and-jill or primary ensuite. Make every inch count with inspiration from these small bathroom design ideas, and you'll forget how miniature your bathroom actually is.
1
Enlist Portable Storage
Susannah Charbin, founder and creative director of the multidisciplinary creative studio The Beaux Arts, chose to forego traditional storage pieces in this bathroom. Instead, she opted for a vintage stool to blend with the family's vintage bathtub. Towels can stay off the floor without the need for any too-large furniture.
Tour the Entire Home
2
Let Light In
In this floating home renovated by Colleen Dowd Saglimbeni of CDS Interiors, the door mimics a traditional porthole of a ship. The glass pane is not only a nod to the home's nautical nature, but it also allows more light to enter the small space.
Tour the Entire Home
3
Mirror the Entire Wall
In House Beautiful's 2023 Whole Home, Marita Simmons and Krysta Gibbons of Kipling House chose a floor-to-ceiling wall mirror for this bathroom in the ladies' lounge to make the tiny space feel that much bigger. Not only does the mirror create an optical illusion, but it also works to reflect light around the small room.
Tour the Entire Space
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
4
Install Sconces on the Mirror
Three traditional sconces were mounted on the mirrors of this small bathroom—designed by Sara Swabb of Storie Collective and Tanya Smith-Shiflett of Unique Kitchens & Baths—to direct light where it’s needed. The mirror came from a creative solution: "While we originally envisioned one single mirror with hand-finished brass trim, it would have been too large to even get into the house," says Swabb. "Instead, we decided to save a little money by doing four separate mirrors with beveled edges, which turned out to be one of our favorite design details."
Tour the Entire Home
5
Go for Pearly White
Create a sense of openness by drenching a small bathroom in white, as Toledo Geller did in this bathroom. The varying white marble tiles, white ceiling, and off-white window shade provide a bright yet soft atmosphere. Glass shower doors make the space feel larger, while the small brass table adds a pop of elegance.
Tour the Entire Home
6
Use Furniture for Counter Space
To make up for the lack of counter space and storage in the bathroom of her Los Angeles home, designer Francesca Grace placed a small cabinet next to the sink. A simple wall hook holds a single hand towel, while the wide mirror reflects light and makes the space feel bigger.
Tour the Entire Home
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
7
Source Vintage Statement Pieces
If you don't have a ton of room to make a statement, do so with small vintage pieces. In the bathroom of a 1960s West Palm Beach, Florida, bungalow, Gillian Segal placed a delicate vintage sconce in between curved mirrors sourced from Mecox for a romantic touch.
Tour the Entire Home
8
Put a Skirt on the Vanity
Chintz brings a touch of the garden into the bathroom of this Southampton retreat, where Justine Cushing managed to fit in a dressing table and a matching chair that tucks underneath it thanks to a clever layout. The skirt hides other essential toiletries too.
Tour the Entire Home
9
Select Translucent Shades
Ensure privacy without sacrificing light by picking out window shades that are translucent. The rattan shade in this bathroom by Becca Casey balances those needs while adding texture and warmth to the space.
Tour the Entire Home
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
10
Personalize It With Your Monogram
Alexander Reid personalized this small rental bathroom with a monogrammed shower curtain that also features a classic border. Pretty framed prints and a garden stool take up little space but go a long way as far as making it feel formal and polished.
Tour the Entire Home
11
Work Around the Roofline
Don't let a quirky floor plan block your creativity or your dream small bathroom layout. In the primary bath of her home (a former church), designer Nathalie Chong set a tub in the dormer windows and squeezed in a double vanity. She emphasized the drama of the ceiling by using different size mirrors, making the slanted roofline work for her and dabbling in asymmetry.
Tour the Entire Home
12
Keep Millwork Minimal
Design firm Studio Shamshiri "chose minimal finishes and millwork that didn't distract from the nature outside" and used vertical space to play up the height of this bathroom. They also added sneaky storage via a floating custom cubby that spans the length of the double vanity and installed an equally long towel bar beneath it.
Tour the Entire Home
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
13
Soften the Lights
"Everything feels sort of candlelit," says Jae Joo of this Boston home. The elegant powder room is no exception. Ambient lighting radiates a soft glow, wood finishes emit warmth, and the green floral wallpaper brings the entire room to life; together, these elements have a cocooning effect.
Tour the Entire Home
14
Add a Skylight
So your small bathroom doesn't have any wall space for windows—but what about a skylight? Studio DIAA opted for a Crystalite one to flood the space with sunlight and maintains privacy.
Tour the Entire Home
15
Use Fewer Materials
Use the same materials on the shower stall and sink vanity, as Nina Barbiras of Fig NYC did in this bathroom. It makes a strong case for rich marbled veining and unpolished brass.
Tour the Entire Home
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
16
Hang a Mirror Gallery Wall
Besides looking incredibly charming, this collection of vintage mirrors in a Boston home by Cecilia Casagrande is also a great small-space solution: The mirrors move sunlight into every nook and cranny of the room. By painting the frames all in Farrow & Ball Pitch Black, the homeowner unified the quirky collection to feel cohesive. The Grow House Grow wallcovering adds flair.
Tour the Entire Home
17
Choose a Freestanding Tub
"The bathroom is really long and narrow, so it forced me to really find the right bathtub to fit in it," says Delia Kenza of a small bathroom she renovated for clients in Brooklyn. She had the former bathtub surround demolished, gaining back several valuable inches, and replaced it with a freestanding Signature Hardware tub on an elevated platform.
Tour the Entire Home
18
Build in the Vanity
The spacious drawers under the floating vanity help keep things tidy and maximize every spare inch in this small bathroom (in a cool Seattle treehouse) by Andy Beers of Ore Studios. Deep red walls, fun graphic floor tile, and a modern pendant add personality.
Tour the Entire Home
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
19
Hide the Bathroom With a Jib Door
"I watched a lot of period piece murder mysteries, and I knew I wanted a secret door," says Michelle L. Morby, the occupant of this fun powder room by Landed Interiors & Home. Hiding any room behind a Murphy door (no matter how small it is) is guaranteed to make it the most exciting place in the house.
Tour the Entire Home
20
Stick to a Tight Palette
Elizabeth Cooper brought out the rich blue veining of the marble surfaces in this small bathroom by using an icy blue paint color on the vanity. Leaving some of the wall blank has a calming effect; it offsets the patterns and prevents them from feeling overwhelming.
Tour the Entire Home
