It’s possible to make your small bathroom look large, it doesn’t need to be the tiny space encroaching room you’re probably used to. Here are 7 small tips you can use to make your small bathroom look larger.

Lighter Colours Make the Room Look Larger

Using a lighter colour scheme, particularly for the wall tiles, will help make your small bathroom look large. As a general rule of thumb, lighter shades make the room feel more open and inviting, while darker colours trade the illusion of space to create more of a bolder statement.

Avoid “breaks” in the tile design to make the tightest space look spacious

When laying your tiles, if you have a tight space, its advised to avoid using too many vertical feature lines (also known as breaks) running up the wall. Each time one is used, it breaks up the room a little more. Another common “break” is the top of the bathroom walls being painted, whilst the tiling only goes to a certain level. Especially in a tight space, tiling to the ceiling will make the room look larger. While these breaks are great for larger bathrooms, they will tend to make an already small bathroom look smaller.

Use larger tiles, this will create the illusion of a larger bathroom

There is a common myth that large tiles do not suit small spaces, this is only true to the extent that some large format tiles may cause too much cuts to be needed on a small wall. Try going with tiles as large as you can get away with before the cuts look silly, as larger tiles will make your bathroom look suggestively larger.

Tile horizontally, and to the ceiling

When tiles are laid horizontally, and to the ceiling, the bathroom looks wider and more spacious. Compare this to a vertical laid tile, which tends to make the ceilings look taller but the space tighter.

A minimalist design will make the room look larger

The more “filled” a room is, the more cramped and tight it looks. Avoid filling out your bathroom with too many things, find ways to fit less in your bathroom rather than more and the larger looking bathroom effect will be visible instantly! Some examples might include avoiding using a long tallboy in your already small room, or using a corner shelf in the shower rather than a side shelf.

Fit out your bathroom with items designed to save space

This will have a big impact, some examples of products designed to save space include: toilet pans with in-wall cisterns, freestanding baths, shower panel screens, wall hung vanities, building niches in the shower to prevent needing on-wall shelves and recessing shaving mirror cabinets. The more of these items you are able to use, the larger your bathroom will look.

Store more of your bathroom essentials in concealed places or outside the bathroom

One of the biggest culprits for an already small bathroom looking even smaller is clutter. When towels are stored on visible shelves, shampoo’s, soaps and toothbrushes are left out and the spare toilet rolls are sitting on the window sill, the small bathroom will look even smaller. You can make your small bathroom look large by concealing as much of these as possible, or even storing some items outside the bathroom. An example might be leaving only one or two towels in the bathroom and storing the rest in another room.

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