Bathrooms are often a somewhat confined, small space. But, we don’t want them to feel this way. A larger, more open feel in a bathroom feels more luxurious. Unfortunately we don’t all have the floor plan to actually build out a larger bathroom. However, we do have some great tips, which are all decently practical, easy and budget friendly. Whatever your budget or bathroom layout is, you’re bound to be able to utilize some of these tips to make your bathroom feel bigger.
Select an Optimal Mirror
Mirrors are immensely important in affecting the perceived size of a space. Check out our blog post called Mirror Guide; Selecting the Right Size, Shape & Quality for some specifics on selecting the right mirror for your bathroom. Ultimately, when there are two mirrors above two sinks, those mirrors each need to be longer than the sink. When there is one mirror above one or more sinks, it should nearly span the length of their countertop. This will optimize the amount of light and space reflected, making the bathroom feel larger.
Utilize Specific Colors to Visually Open The Space Up
First and foremost, you want to this light and airy! Try sticking to neutral and light colors that will reflect light in your bathroom. As a base color; whites, creams, and greys are popular modern choices. If you want to incorporate pops of color, soft blues and light sage greens are great choices! These touches of color are reminiscent of nature, and with a light, neutral base color, the room with reflect light and feel more open.
Select The Right Rug
Both print/pattern, weave, and rug size are of major importance in selecting a rug to make your bathroom look bigger. To create the appearance of a larger bathroom, opt for a monochromatic, single colored or low contrast, subtle print/pattern. Instead of a bold print or color that contrasts the bathroom, try to find one that melts into the space. It’s ideal for the rug color to be similar to the floor color to create a nice blend. As far as weave goes, a lower pile height opens up the space while more shaggy rugs can make the room feel tight, so opt for a flat weave when possible. When it comes to size, you’re likely using too small of a bathroom rug, test out with painters tape some different rug dimensions, bigger is ideally better for enlarging the space.
Double Curtains Instead of Single Curtain
Often times, we don’t realize what makes hotel showers look so luxurious is use of a double curtain instead of one curtain. This is an easy swap any once can do! You can still keep the curtain rod you have, but double up on curtains, shower liners and curtain hooks/grommets. This can create the illusion of more depth in the room and even make the shower appear wider and taller. This also elevated your bathrooms elegance, so it’s a win win! Check out the beautiful example of this down below from ashleykane.com.
Keep Glass Mirrors & Shower Doors Sparkly Clean
If your bathroom has a glass shower door, keep it extremely clean to appear as a larger extension of the space. Minerals from your water can build up surprisingly fast and create a film or crust like substance on the glass. The best approach to maintaining your shower glass well is consistent daily maintenance with a squeegee and use a proper shower glass cleaner at least once a week to prevent this mineral build up.
Dirty mirrors with smudges, finger prints and hard water stains can give the illusion of a smaller room. As so, the opposite is true, a clean mirror can help create an illusion of a larger room. Like your glass shower door, your bathroom mirror also requires a minimum of once a week maintenance. Pro-tip, microfiber towels can be a very helpful tool to completely remove the grime.
Maximize Natural Light
If you’re lucky enough to have a window in your bathroom, use it to your advantage. Natural daylight organically gives the appearance that your space is larger than it is. Maximize natural lighting from bathroom windows by strategically selecting a lower transparency privacy curtain or privacy glass cover. In certain bathroom layouts, mirrors can even be strategically placed to help enhance the natural light in the room.
Takeaway
Hopefully these ideas will inspire you and give you actionable tools to make your bathroom feel larger. The best part is, these tips are budget friendly and even pretty quick fixes. Whether you choose to focus on your, mirrors, color palette, rugs, curtains, shower doors, or natural lighting, or all of the above, we hope you find these tips helpful in creating a larger feeling bathroom.
