The following contribution is from another author.
It might not have quite occurred to you, but you’ve probably only been in a handful of spacious bathrooms over your lifetime. Most bathrooms are small, cozy, and intimate spaces.
They don’t get the same square footage as the bedroom, kitchen, or living room – and sometimes, it’s like the bathroom was an afterthought and shoved into the only available space that was left.
And if you’re living in a home with a bathroom like this, it makes it a real struggle to try and enjoy using the bathroom.
If you want to have a long and relaxing soak, you’re more likely to feel like you’re being pressed up between two walls. And if you want to have a nice hot shower in the morning, you can’t even spin around to grab your shampoo without knocking everything else off!
But when it comes to creating space in the bathroom, there just doesn’t seem to be much you can do to maximize the available arm and leg room.
However, there are a few things you can try to upgrade your bathroom’s size and comfort, and we’ve listed them down below for you.
Some are simple, others are a bit more structural, but altogether, they should give you a few more square feet of space to use your bath, shower, and toilet.
Hide as Much of the Plumbing as Possible
Did you know it was possible to get the bulky plumbing parts of the bathroom out of the way?
A lot of people don’t really know they’re even able to try, but it can save a lot of unsightly plumbing from getting in the way of a good bathroom experience.
Here’s just a couple of smart ways to start hiding the space-wasting parts of your bathroom fixtures.
Fit a concealed cistern
Yes, you really can fit the cistern into the wall – and then only have a flush button pad above the toilet to indicate where the cistern is.
This’ll free up some great tile space, and if you want to, you can even mount a wall cabinet in its place.
Fit the shower box into the wall
Again, if you have a shower box that juts out from the tile and makes your cramped, tiny shower unit feel even more claustrophobic, you can just open up the wall and push it inside.
You can then just fit a shower panel into the tile, where you can turn on the water and change the heat and pressure in the same way as usual.
Think about a wetroom floor
When your bathroom is a wetroom, water can go wherever it wants. It’s not going to soak into anything, escape into the hallway outside, or cause any damp or molding if it’s left to sit.
Wetroom flooring makes sure you can use as much of a bathroom as possible, and don’t have to have shower glass or a shower door cutting the space in two.
Of course, if you’ve just fitted a new self-contained shower unit into your bathroom, this isn’t going to be a suitable upgrade for you.
But if you’ve got older plumbing fixtures, and space is the number one thing you need right now, a wetroom floor conversion might just be the perfect remodeling job to think about.
Go for a Free Standing Bath
Got a massive bathtub in your otherwise tiny bathroom? Is it shoved into the wall, encased in tile, and takes up more than its fair share of space? Then you’re going to want to take it out and opt for a free standing bath instead.
A bathtub remodel is usually always essential to creating more space within a small bathroom area. After all, bathtubs need to be spacious themselves, so both a person and water can safely and comfortably fit in together.
But in doing so, a lot of the surrounding space gets sacrificed. A free standing bath doesn’t have this problem, and at the very least, frees up the wall it used to be joined to.
You can now use that vertical space to your own advantage, and even drill into it to create an in-wall shelf and storage area.
Decorate in Warm Yet Neutral Tones
This is the best trick for both windowless bathrooms, and those that have plenty of natural light. You need the light to make its way around the room, and not get stuck in just the one place.
When something feels light, it feels airy – and that makes it feel larger and more open.
It’s why shades like off white, light beige, light pinks, and coastal blues are all very popular in bathroom spaces. They’re on the warmer side of the spectrum, which makes the bathroom feel less ‘clinical’ with all that tile going on.
However, they’re still quite neutral, and let the light bounce around as it really should. And that’s what makes a bathroom feel bigger than it really is. No structural work needed!
Keep Storage Up High
When your storage is off the floor, you can’t bump into it, stub your toe, or knock it over. And in most bathrooms, there’s more unused wall space than there is floor space!
Use drawer sorters too
If you have drawers under the sink, separate them out with some drawer sorters. That’ll let you pack more things into the same space.
Build Yourself a More Spacious Bathroom
If you’re in need of a more spacious bathroom, it is possible to build one for yourself! It’ll take a bit of fine tweaking, tuning, and even knocking into the walls, but it’s possible.
Get your plumbing hiding behind the plaster, opt for a wetroom that lets you create a seamless space, and make sure your decor improves the size perception when you walk inside.
And as far as your bathroom storage goes, make sure it’s off the floor. You don’t want cabinets and under-units getting in the way, especially when there’s plenty of usable wall space just sitting empty above it!
