Here’s a variety of bathroom renovation ideas to help you come up with a pleasing design for your new bathroom.

Have a theme

This may be a topic theme (e.g. beach or spa) which is mostly carried out in decorative items and surface finishes, but you can also have a theme that’s carried out more subtly in the shapes and directions of your fixtures and permanent decorations. A rounded theme may be carried out by a curved-edge tub, rounded sink, curved shower rail, curved or rounded ends to towel rails, and curved backsplash edges, for example. A diagonal theme might show up as diagonally laid floor and/or wall tile, wallcovering with a diagonal motif or stripes, and diagonal patterned fabric.

Don’t be afraid to use COLOR

It makes sense for your fixtures and tile to be white or neutral, so they don’t date (pink tub, anyone?), but that means you have plenty of scope to use color elsewhere. In a small bathroom, painting the walls takes little time and less paint, so you can experiment and it’s no big deal to paint over it if you hate it. The door is also a good opportunity for a burst of color. Accessories are even easier to use for color themes.

Consider a monochromatic color scheme

If everything in the background is white, the colored towels and shower curtain make even more of a statement – and you can change colors every so often quite easily.

Try Out Expensive or Labor-Intensive Finishes

In a small area you can use labor-intensive paint finishes that might take too long in a larger room, or expensive wall-covering, or beaded board, or paneling, or anything else which you’d like to try out on a small scale. Just make sure what you choose is, or can be made, water resistant.

Focus on Storage

Most small bathroom designs have a hard time squeezing in enough storage. Consider high storage: a shelf 1ft below ceiling hight along one entire wall will hold a lot of towels and they’ll look decorative too.

Don’t do what a previous owner of my house did though, and install cabinets so low over the tub that they make it impossible for anyone taller than 5 feet to stand up and take a shower!

In-the wall storage is also a possibility: if you have some wall space in an internal wall that doesn’t have plumbing or wirirng in it, but you can’t have anything there that sticks out into the room very far, recessing a cabinet into the wall between the studs may be an option. Not just medicine cabinets, either: a tall cabinet works just as well and can hold a lot.

Improve Ventilation

Improving ventilation is often one of more the neglected bathroom renovation ideas but it can make a surprising amount of diference to your enjoyment of the space. The critical factor here is where the duct to the outside will run: between joists in the ceiling? Through the attic? It absolutely must exit to the outside, not just into the attic.

Size your fan so it’s big enough for the room, but not too big; quiet; and consider installing a timer so the fan doesn’t accidentally get left on for hours. I f you have major moisture problems in the bath (or family that doesn’t turn the fan on) you can hook the fan to a humidistat which measures moisture in the air and automatically turns on the fan whenever needed.

If your bathroom is a standard 5′ x 7′ shoebox surrounded by stairs, kitchens, and other non-grabbable areas so you can’t make it any bigger, your problems are of a different kind than those of the person designing the 10′ x 16′ master bath.

Small bathroom designs come with a limited number of possible layouts, depending on the size of the room, location of doors and windows, location of exterior walls and existing plumbing, and what you want to squeeze into the room.

Let’s look at a few small bathroom floor plans and discuss pros and cons of each.

Small Bathroom Designs example 1

In this 5′ 6′ x 7′ 6″ room, the bathtub/shower combo occupies one complete end of the room, and the toilet and vanity occupy the rest of the long wall.

Pros:

• no plumbing in exterior wall (good in cold climates)
• all plumbing in the same wall – makes vents and drains easy, supply lines short.
• tub in its own niche – easy to waterproof all 3 walls and install shower curtain rail
• space for a towel hook between the tub and the door

Cons:

• toilet in full view through door
• shower and bath faucets are harder to reach past the vanity/sink
• door may bang against tub
• window right by toilet (OK if it’s high, otherwise may need curtain or obscured glass)
• required floorspace for all 3 fixtures overlaps, hard to have multiple people using the space unless they are VERY close friends
• Little storage space: mainly wall cabinets over the toilet and sink, sink vanity cabinet. Could add a high shelf over the window.

Small bathroom designs: example 2

This room is square rather than rectangular, and a tub would make the whole room very cramped. This design uses a corner shower instead of a tub.

Pros:

• toilet protected by door, instead the vanity is the view through the door
• no plumbing in exterior wall
• corner shower is attractive and easy to install

Cons:

• door may bang against toilet, or even a person using the toilet
• required floorspace for all 3 fixtures overlaps, hard to have multiple people using the space
• Little storage space: mainly wall cabinets over the toilet and sink, sink vanity cabinet. Could add a high shelf over the window.
• nowhere convenient to hang a towel ready for when you’re done in the shower

Small bathroom designs: example 3

This alternative layout for a 7.5 x 5.5 foot room shows the toilet and sink on the wall at the far end of the room from the tub. This assumes a door which is no wider than normal, and a pedestal sink that doesn’t stick out too far.

Pros:

• required floorspace for all 3 fixtures overlaps, but the area feels a little more spacious than in the other layouts.
• tub in its own niche – easy to waterproof all 3 walls and install shower curtain rail

Cons:

• toilet in partial view through door
• door may bang against tub
• Little storage space: mainly wall cabinets over the toilet and sink. Pedestal sink doesn’t provide storage underneath. High shelf is possible on the sink/toilet wall, or the long wall from toilet to bathtub.

Some of the factors to take into account when you’re designing your small bathroom are:

• Existing plumbing locations, if any: while it’s cheaper to keep locations as they are (and perhaps means you don’t need to get a plumbing permit), if the bathroom is small anyway the cost of moving the tub or sink may not be very much. Moving the toilet is a much more expensive and complex proposition.
• External wall location: in a cold climate it’s better to keep water supply lines, at least, away from cold exterior walls.
• Door location: in a rectangular room a door is better in the middle of a long wall, giving you more options for fixture locations. Worst is right in a corner, which blocks off the wall next to it completely. In a small square room the corner location may be better.
• Type of door: while a pocket door saves space inside the room, my experience is that the water vapor from the bathroom gets into the wall pocket, condenses there, and then you get mold. In a very tight space an outward-opening door may be the only solution.
• View into the room: if you can work it so that the view through the open door is of the vanity area or a pretty shower curtain, do so. If your only option is a view of the toilet, maybe you’ll just need to get into the habit of leaving the door closed.
• Required floor space for fixtures: there are minimum standards for the amount of floor space next to each fixture to make it possible and comfortable to use. In a small bathroom design these will almost always overlap to some extent. If you know that more than one person will use the bath at a time, try to make the free floorspace long and narrow rather than square, making it easier for 2 people to be in the room at once.
• Storage space: while a pedestal sink leaves more floor in view and can make the room feel larger, a vanity cabinet gives you storage. In a small bath your best bet is usually wall storage as there’s no floor space for freestanding cabinets. Storage set into the wall studs (not just medicine cabinets but full height storage) is a good option where a door opens against a wall so you can’t project into the room much, and storage above head height, such as a wall to wall shelf for towels, can take a surprising amount of stuff.
• Fixture choices: do you have to have a tub? Replacing a tub with a shower can give you a better shower experience and more space in the room, maybe even enough for a double vanity.

As you can see, there’s a lot to think about and many options for improving the layout, comfort and function of your small bathroom.

So, what kind of bathroom decorations can you use to perk up the room?

Fabric items

There are the obvious fabric pieces like towels, shower curtains, window curtains and bathmat or rug, but you might also consider a curtain below a pedestal sink, lampshade covers, toilet seat and tank covers, a valance above a bath or shower alcove, waste basket cover or liner, or curtains in glass-door cabinets. Using all of these at once, especially in a small bathroom, would be overkill, so pick and choose what works best for you.

Sink, Shower and Tub Accessories

These include things like soap dispensers and soap dishes, tissue box holders, toothbrush holders, and waste baskets. You could change out all of these items at once for another matched set, or you could keep some of them in a plain solid color and just change out the others. Shower curtain rings come under this heading, too, and are an easy and cheap update.

Fixture Parts

Faucet handles can often be changed out, or can have decorative panels or parts which can be changed. Light fixtures might have standard size holders which will take different shades, or different colors of the same shape shade. Even changing bulbs can make a surprising amount of difference. Covers for shower curtain rods are an easy change which makes an older rod look much classier.

Semi-Permanent Bathroom Decorations

Some decorations are a little more work to install or remove, but are not as permanent as repainting. For example, wallpaper borders come in removable types, and can be used at the ceiling, picture rail or chair rail height, or to frame a tub alcove. Self-stick tile stickers or transfers can be added to your plain tiles for a whole new look, and removed when you tire of them. Painting tiles with ceramic paints, but not firing them in the oven, also results in a semi-permanent finish which can be scrubbed off with some effort.

Ornaments, Pictures and Knick-Knacks

Finally there is a huge range of decorative items which culd be used anywhere in the house, but which can be used in the bathroom as long as they won’t be damaged by moisture. Posters and postcards, framed or not; china or glass ornaments; wicker and rattan (which do better anyway in an atmosphere which is not too dry); even a collection of rubber duckies, all look great and make a complete change in the atmosphere and feel of a room.

Have fun with your bathroom decorations!

Given the basics of a bathroom which is structurally and plumbing-wise functional and safe, there are many bathroom decor ideas which can help your cheer up even a small space and improve the start and end of your day.

Bathroom decor idea - pale yellow and white

First and foremost, color makes the biggest difference. There are many books and magazines to tell you which colors give a certain mood, or are trendy this year, but the most important point is – which color or colors make YOU feel good?

I like yellow, and my newly-painted (but not quite completely remodeled) bathroom is a pale sandy yellow which feels fresh, warm and cheerful without being overpowering in the small space. Plenty of white in the form of fixtures and cabinets help make it feel more spacious and open, and colorful towels add pizazz and can change the mood instantly if I feel the desire.

Try taking your own favorite color and playing with variations of it, from dark to light, jewel to pastel, cooler or warmer hues, subdued or bright. Combine different shades of the same color in one room to give a monochromatic color scheme which can be lively, using definite contrasts, or soothing, with colors that blend together.

Style can also make a big difference in bathroom decor. While your basic fixtures and their locations stay the same, you can completely change the style using paint and accessories. The big advantage of doing this in the bathroom is that the room itself is usually fairly small and there are no or few furniture pieces to buy, so you can do it easily, quickly and inexpensively.

A few examples…

• Arts and Crafts bathroom decor idea – use period colors like greens and olives on the walls, oak and ceramic accessories, and perhaps an art nouveau style border at the ceiling. Arts and Crafts bathrooms often featured amazing tilework – colorful and extensive – so this would be a rather more expensive style to pull off if you wanted to go the whole hog.
• Country bathroom decor ideas – pastel or muted colors, jolly fabric on the window and anywhere else possible, wood or ceramic accessories, cute decorative items
• Tuscan bathroom – roughened plaster finish on the walls (go easy on this, it can be hard to clean!), natural stone surfaces, wood furnishings, wrought iron accessories. Colors include golden yellow, terrcotta, brick, ochre, and greens.
• Japanese bathroom: natural wood and stone finishes, shoji screens, plants, trickling waterfall, metal and wood accessories.

Your bathroom is an important room, even if it’s small. Suitable bathroom decor ideas can help make you feel better at the start and end of the day, and are worth looking for and applying to your bathroom.