Make Your Small Bathroom Bigger

If you took the time to ask homeowners about the size of their bathrooms, most of them would say they were too small. However, since it's time consuming, expensive and a major hassle to actually enlarge a home's bathroom most people decide to just live with their small bathrooms. However, by using a few visual tricks and some practical choices virtually everyone can make their small bathroom appear larger. Here's some ideas of how you can make your small bathroom "bigger".

Color is important

• Dark colors tend to make a space feel smaller while lighter colors create the feeling of space, so choose lighter shades of colors such as blues, greens or grays that visually recede from the eye and make a room seem larger.
• Light colored ceramic wall tiles laid from floor to ceiling also help create the illusion of space that  can be enhanced if you use larger tiles (12" X 12") rather than smaller ones (6" X 6") that visually seem to visually "close in".

Mirrors expand walls

• The old designer trick of using mirrors in a small space room to make it feel larger works just as well in a bathroom as in other rooms in the house. However you do need to be careful not to have too many mirrors because when mirrors catch reflections from each other, it tends to create the visual effect of the walls closing in.

Natural light

• Natural light not only makes a room feel more inviting it also gives a feeling of openness. If your windows are located high enough to ensure privacy, leave them uncovered so natural light can flood in. If they're lower, covering only the bottom half will leave lots of room for natural light to come in while still providing privacy.
• Some more costly options for getting natural light into your bathroom include expanding the size of your bathroom windows, adding a skylight or even installing a Solatube through your roof to bring light into your bathroom.

Pedestal sinks

• Removing a vanity and replacing it with a pedestal or wall mounted sink will give you  more floor space as well as giving your bathroom more floor space.
• Wall mounted cabinets, or even cabinets designed to be installed between the studs of your bathroom walls, will give you the storage space you need in a bathroom without taking up any floor space.

Tub and shower

• If you have a tub and shower combination your small bathroom, consider removing the tub and going with a shower enclosure only.  A shower enclosure with clear glass sides will make any room seem larger.

Doors

• In some homes it's possible to change a swinging door to one that slides (a pocket door). A sliding door will free up about 3 feet on the inside of your bathroom as you no longer need to allow space for the door to swing into the room.
• If you can't eliminate the swinging door, at least take advantage of the back side of it to hang towels and face cloths.  

Murray Anderson is an experienced freelance writer whose work has appeared on numerous web sites, as well as in newspapers and books  in both the US and Canada. He is regularly cited as an expert on home related topics and is a regular contributor to DoItYourself.com.