How To Decorate A Small Bathroom: 10 Small Budget Decorating Ideas

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10 Small Bathroom Budget Decorating Ideas

Getting through your morning routine seems extra challenging when you’re dealing with a small bathroom, and even more so when you have to share that space with a partner, roommates, or family. Small bathrooms don’t have to feel cramped, however, and with a little bit of thoughtful decorating you can make your tiny bathroom feel luxurious and more spacious. Keep reading for ten of our favorite tips and ideas on how to decorate a small bathroom, with ideas and inspiration that can be adapted to any budget and style.

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1. Add a Large Mirror

Mirrors are one of the oldest tricks in the interior design playbook, and are a simple and easy way to add dimension and depth, especially to small spaces. In bathrooms, mirrors are of course also an inherent and functional element, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be used as an element of décor as well. It may seem counterintuitive, but when choosing a mirror for your small bathroom, opt for the biggest mirror your bathroom can accommodate. A larger mirror will add an element of depth to your small bathroom, and create a visually larger space.

2. Install Appropriate Lighting

Small spaces have a tendency to feel cramped, and this feeling is compounded by poor lighting. When choosing lighting for your small bathroom make sure that the lighting is installed in such a way that sufficiently and evenly lights up the room. Don’t install your lighting in a way that could create harsh shadows, and select the color temperature warm white for the most flattering light that is closest to natural sunlight – between 2700K-3000K is generally closest to daylight.

3. Choose Light-Colored Tiles

Light colors immediately create feelings of openness and space, so what better way to make your small bathroom feel more spacious than with light-colored tiles? An overall light color scheme, and especially light-colored tiles, are a great way to make your small bathroom feel much more spacious. When paired with lighting in the right color and brightness, you almost wouldn’t know you were in a tiny little bathroom at all.

4. Take Advantage Of Vertical Space

One of the main problems with small bathrooms isn’t so much lack of room to move around – it’s storage space. When you’re decorating a small bathroom, you need to get a bit creative when it comes to combining décor and storage. With limited floor space and limited built-in cabinet space, you’ll need to take advantage of your small bathroom’s vertical space to its fullest potential. This goes for storage as well as design – take full advantage of vertical storage with shelves or ladders, and utilize any leftover wall space for design by hanging small, simple art prints or pictures.

Simple live edge shelves for bathroom storage above toilet. from r/woodworking

5. Install Floating Shelves

A perfect choice for bathroom nooks and walls alike, floating shelves are always a great idea for small bathroom design. They are a great way to boost storage space, and can also be a great place to display decorative items such as small trinkets or indoor plants. Make sure to install them somewhere where they can be both useful and stay out of your way – nothing ruins a morning quite like bumping your head on the corner of a shelf as you’re getting ready for the day.

6. Choose Glass Shower Doors

A good rule of thumb for small spaces in general and small bathrooms in particular is to keep the space as open as possible. When decorating a small bathroom, one of the most common mistakes people make is to choose a curtain instead of a clear glass shower door. Glass shower doors may be a bit pricier, but they are certainly worth the extra cost – they will not only last much longer, but they also keep an unbroken line of sight across the entirety of your small bathroom space. As opposed to shower curtains, which divide the room and block light, clear glass shower doors allow the eye to take in the whole room without breaking up the line of sight, thereby giving an airier and more spacious feel to your small bathroom.

7. Use Baskets For Storage

Storage baskets are an elegant, versatile, and unbeatably budget-friendly way to store all your small bathroom needs in a neat and tidy way. Baskets are sturdy and inexpensive, and are particularly easy to match into an aesthetically pleasing set, even if you don’t actually have a matching set. Use storage baskets anywhere in the bathroom to keep anything from hair brushes under the sink to spare rolls of toilet paper on a floating shelf above the toilet.

8. Install A Coat Rack

Small bathrooms have a wealth of storage space if you know where to look. One of the most commonly overlooked potential storage spots is the space behind your bathroom door. That empty three-foot-wide strip of wall is a great place to install a sleek wall-mounted coat rack. These types of racks offer sturdy vertical hanging storage for anything from towels to loofahs, and are a great way to take advantage of otherwise unusable space in your small bathroom. They take up no floor space, are neatly tucked away when the door is ajar, and offer a wealth of storage space to boot; what’s not to love?

9. Keep It Minimalist

When decorating a small bathroom, it is important to remember that less is definitely more. Be very careful not to overwhelm your small bathroom with too much stuff, and avoid design schemes that combine too many colors and textures. Choose a single accent color, and, as mentioned above, opt for a light and bright color scheme that will not dampen and shrink the space. Finally, make sure to store away anything you can to keep your bathroom counter as bare as possible. Keeping surfaces clean and organized goes a long way towards avoiding visual clutter in your limited bathroom space.

10. Freshen The Air With Some Plants

Indoor plants are not only beautiful, they have also been proven to clean the air in your home. Bathrooms are a great place for a potted plant (or three… or four…), as they provide a uniquely warm and humid environment that other rooms in your home do not. If you live in a particularly dry area but have a fondness for more tropical greenery, your bathroom is the perfect place to put a small humidity-loving Rubber Tree or Fiddle Leaf Fig.