CR5 Issue 156 May 2018

Home & Interiors: Make The Most Of A Small Bathroom
Even a tiny bathroom can function
brilliantly and look gorgeous. Our
top ten tricks of the trade will help
make the most of your space.
The perfect bathroom – whether it’s
a shared family affair or an en suite
shower and WC – is a great blend of
comfort, good looks and functional
efficiency, all achievable even in a
small space.
1 Choose subtle colours
Maintaining a pale, neutral colour
palette will automatically open up
a small bathroom, giving it a clean,
sophisticated, contemporary feel. If
you can’t live without colour, watery
blues and greens have a cool,
clear quality that help the room
feel light and airy. Add texture to
avoid an overly clinical feel – think
timber shelving, wicker baskets,
waffle towels and linen blinds, for
example.
2 Fit excellent storage
Nothing makes a room feel small
as much as too much clutter. The
simple answer is to minimise what
you keep in your bathroom and
then find clever spaces to store
it. Cupboards do take up valuable
floor space but, because cleaning
products and toiletries are pretty
small, slimline storage will suffice.
If renovating, you can build false
walls to conceal pipework and set
cupboards or niches within them;
otherwise, look for anywhere that
storage could be added, from above
the door to below the basin, even
behind the bath panel or a rack
inside the shower.
3 Make the most of natural
light
Enhance the space by getting
the most light possible through
the windows – make sure
nothing on the sills is blocking
it, and that window treatments
do not cover any part of the
glass. Then bounce the light
around the room by using
mirrors and glossy tiles.
4 Select fittings wisely
Bathroom fittings designed
for small bathrooms don’t
compromise on looks or
function, including short-projection
WCs, shower-baths, thin-but-tall
towel rails and ultra-slim basins. For
awkward spaces, consider corner
showers, basins and WCs. Wall or
mixer taps create room on a small
basin, and if space is tight add a
wall-mounted soap dispenser.
5 Raise it off the floor
Even without using smaller-thanaverage
or ingeniously shaped
fittings, it is possible to make a
bathroom appear more spacious
than it really is by installing wallmounted
pieces. Not only do they
look modern and sophisticated,
but they also show off the floor
space beneath, and the more floor
you can see, the bigger the room
appears.
6 Lighting is vital
Try to create a suitably bright and
breezy bathroom lighting scheme
that meets all your requirements,
from putting on make-up to reading
in the bath. Avoid lights that
dangle or protrude too much, as
they will interrupt the impression
of smooth-flowing space; instead,
choose recessed spotlights, or
neat directional lights mounted on
a slender track. As a hidden light
source you could fit LED strips
beneath wall units, with a baffle
board in front to avoid glare, and
don’t forget an illuminated mirror.
Bear in mind that fittings will need
to be IP-rated for safety (ask advice
from your electrician).
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7 Two-in-one is best
Multifunction is the solution.
Choose towel radiators, storage
seats, mirrored cabinets and
basins with cupboards beneath, for
example.
8 Consider underfloor heating
If you are renovating, installing
underfloor heating is relatively easy
and inexpensive, and saves the floor
space taken up by a radiator.
9 Employ visual tricks
It may seem counter-intuitive, but
large-format tiles (wall or floor) can
work better in compact bathrooms
than smaller tiles, which may
appear fussy. With fewer grout
lines, large tiles look sleek and are
also easier to maintain.
10 Assess your window options
Curtains in a bathroom make
a pleasant change to the hard
surfaces elsewhere, but in a small
room it is best to avoid anything
too flouncy. Floaty sheers in simple
gathers are better than dark, heavy
fabrics – a flat panel of muslin
threaded onto a pole or wire across
the bottom half of the window
could work well. Alternatively,
try a neat Roman or roller blind,
waterproof louvre shutters or
simple frosted glass.
Image Top: A large mirror, a pale,
neutral colour palette and raising
fittings off the floor all promote
a feeling of spaciousness in this
compact bathroom by Ikea
(www.ikea.com/gb).
Image Above: Slimline storage is
ideal for a small space. Essentials
Jax ladder rail, £59; Jax wall unit,
£69; both Made (www.made.com).
By Katherine Sorrell