Whether you live in an apartment, a tiny house, or a Harry Potter closet, small bathrooms can be a challenge, especially when you’re living with roommates, a significant other, or little ones.
Not only do you have to coordinate shower and bath times, but storing away all your toiletries can get tricky. So before you resort to throwing out all your stuff or getting frustrated with your loved ones, consider some of our small bathroom ideas to keep everybody happy (and sane).
1. Add A Small Bathroom Vanity
If you don’t have a vanity sink in your small bathroom, you need one. Adding in a smaller, narrower vanity will offer plenty of space while still leaving a minimal footprint. Here are some of our favorite small bathroom vanities from Wayfair:
19″ Single Vanity Set
24″ Rustic Bathroom Vanity
24″ Farmhouse-Style Bathroom Vanity
Wall-Mounted Bathroom Vanity
Space-Saving 16″ Bathroom Vanity
2. Invest In Floating Shelves
Floating shelves are a great option for when you’re short on floor space but have all the space in the world on your walls. They’re available in just about any style and design, so they’ll fit whatever your current decor is. Here are some of our favorite floating shelves available online.
Floating Pipe Shelf Towel Rack
Triangular Floating Shelves
Honeycomb Floating Shelf
3-Piece Walnut Floating Shelf
Minimalist Black & Gold Floating Shelves
3. Opt For Lighter Paint Tones
Any interior designer will tell you that light, neutral colors will brighten and open up a space that is small or dark. Lighter paint tones also bring a simple and clean feel to your bathroom, and who doesn’t love a clean bathroom?!
4. Take Advantage Of Natural Light
Another way to open up your space is by letting natural light in. Fluorescent bulbs can make a bathroom feel dark and dingy while a small window with natural light flowing in makes the space—no matter how small—feel much larger. Not to mention, you’ll save a bit of money on your electricity bill by letting mother nature do the lighting!
5. Clean Up Your Counter Top
Regardless of whether your bathroom is small or large, a cluttered counter top not only stresses you out in the morning, but it can make your space feel smaller, too. Invest in some counter top storage solutions like the ones below:
Apothecary Jars
Counter Top Caddy Organizer
Bamboo Cosmetics Organizer
6. Hang Up A Large Mirror
Large mirrors are almost magical in the way they’re able to make a small space look huge. You’re going to need a mirror anyways, so why not go with something that will completely change your space (in the best way possible)?
7. Install Built-Ins
Maybe you don’t have floor space or a ton of vertical wall space for a bunch of floating shelves. Consider built-ins! They’re space-saving and may just take advantage of that random space in your bathroom that’s not serving a purpose.
8. Consider Over-the-Toilet Storage
The area over the toilet is one of the spaces that serves no purpose! Make it useful with an over-the-toilet storage shelf. Store away your toilet paper and stashed lotions, hair products, and whatever else you’ve been shoving under the sink!
Bamboo Over-the-Toilet Cabinet
Over-the-Toilet Ladder Storage
Over-the-Toilet Storage With X-Shaped Accents
9. Take Advantage Of Shower Space
If you’ve got a small bathroom, chances are you don’t have an enormous shower. By utilizing wall mounted shelves and a showerhead caddy, you can optimize the space that you do have. And if you’re doing an entire bathroom overhaul, consider installing built-in shelves.
10. Greenery Is Key
There’s something about indoor plants that add coziness and a homey feeling to a space. Especially the bathroom! The presence of live plants makes the room feel alive and open as well as clean and bright. Some of the best houseplants for the bathroom include peace lily, spider plants, pothos, and devil’s ivy. Not to mention, indoor plants are great for your mental health, too.
To optimize the space you have, consider utilizing hanging planters to take advantage of unused vertical space. You can also add tropical plants to your shower!
11. Add An Eye-Catching Accent Wall
Accent walls are definitely on-trend and having a small bathroom is a great excuse to add that stick-and-peel wallpaper you’ve had your eye on to your space.
12. Keep Your Decorations Minimalist
More stuff means more space being taken up. And that includes trinkets, wall art, and baskets of decorative bamboo balls. While you don’t have to completely rid your space of any semblance of interior decoration, limiting the amount of items in your bathroom will certainly open the space up.
13. Consider A Vertical Shiplap Wall
Focusing on the vertical of your space makes the horizontal space look bigger and makes the room feel taller, too! Traditionally, shiplap is horizontal, but the vertical shiplap in this bathroom is perfect for a smaller-sized room.
How great that you say that a vanity sink is needed! My husband and I are moving into a new home this summer. We will find a great bathroom cabinetry service to help us as well.