Designers Rely on This Trick to Make a Small Bathroom Feel Bigger (2024)

There are so many crucial decisions to make when designing or renovating your bathroom, from plumbing fixtures and tile choices to paint colors and lighting. When you have a small space, you can either embrace it or work your hardest to make it feel bigger. Both are honorable pursuits. A small bathroom renovation is still a big job, no doubt. Done well, however, small spaces can be case studies in ease and efficiency, with personality to spare. You just need some inspiration and advice from design pros to start rethinking yours. Don't let the limited space stop you from living large!

That's right, before you throw in the bath towel and call a broker to help you find a new place, consider the following bathroom storage ideas, plus floor plan, window treatment, and styling solutions that will help your small bathroom look as good (and work as hard) as a big jack-and-jill or primary ensuite. Make every inch count with inspiration from these 64 small bathroom designs, and you'll forget how small your bathroom actually is.

To make an odd powder room layout work, designer Chauncey Boothby designed a curved, wall-hung wood vanity (finished to look like walnut) and floated an Isabelle Home mirror from a brass hook using grosgrain ribbon.

In designer Courtney Petit's Dallas home, an under-the-stairs bath is a nod to her late mother's beloved blue-and-white china. The durable quartz countertop continues behind the toilet, creating a useful ledge.

In House Beautiful's 2023 Whole Home, designers Marita Simmons and Krysta Gibbons of Kipling House chose a floor-to-ceiling wall mirror for this bathroom in the ladies' lounge to make the tiny space feel that much bigger. Not only does the mirror create an optical illusion, but it also works to reflect light around the small room.

Three traditional sconces were mounted on the mirrors of this small bathroom—designed by Sara Swabb of Storie Collective and Tanya Smith-Shiflett of Unique Kitchens & Baths—to direct light where it’s needed. The mirror came from a creative solution: "While we originally envisioned one single mirror with hand-finished brass trim, it would have been too large to even get into the house," says Swabb. "Instead, we decided to save a little money by doing four separate mirrors with beveled edges, which turned out to be one of our favorite design details."

Create a sense of openness by drenching the room in white, as design firm Toledo Geller did in this bathroom. The varying white marble tiles, white ceiling, and off-white window shade provide a bright yet soft atmosphere. Glass shower doors make the space feel larger, while the small brass table adds a pop of elegance.

To make up for the lack of counter space and storage in the bathroom of her Los Angeles home, designer Francesca Grace placed a small cabinet next to the sink. A simple wall hook holds a single hand towel, while the wide mirror reflects light and makes the space feel bigger.

If you don't have a ton of room to make a statement, do so with small vintage pieces. In the bathroom of a 1960s West Palm Beach, Florida, bungalow, Gillian Segal placed a delicate vintage sconce in between curved mirrors sourced from Mecox for a romantic touch.

Ensure privacy without sacrificing light by picking out window shades that are translucent. The rattan shade in this bathroom by Becca Casey balances those needs while adding texture and warmth to the space.

Save space by installing a floating sink instead of a pedestal sink or vanity. In this bathroom, designer Hecker Guthrie went with a sleek black-and-white one for high contrast. If you ever need more storage, you can always add some underneath.

Craft a private oasis that's rooted in nature for optimal relaxation. If your home is blessed with natural elements like brick and stone, show them off. If not, introduce them where you can. Their textures can add so much dimension, as shown in this space by design firm Arent & Pyke with its floor-to-ceiling stone and mirror.

Chintz brings a touch of the garden into the bathroom of this Southampton retreat, where Justine Cushing managed to fit in a dressing table and a matching chair that tucks underneath it thanks to a clever layout. The skirt hides other essential toiletries too.

Alexander Reid personalized this small rental bathroom with a monogrammed shower curtain that also features a classic border. Pretty framed prints and a garden stool take up little space but go a long way as far as making it feel formal and polished.

Don't let a quirky floor plan block your creativity or your dream small bathroom layout. In the primary bath of her home (a former church), designer Nathalie Chong set a tub into the dormer windows and squeezed in a double vanity. She emphasized the drama of the ceiling by using different size mirrors, making the slanted roofline work for her and dabbling in asymmetry.

Natural light is too important in a cramped space to block with curtains. If you can afford to keep the windows bare (i.e., there's enough privacy), focus on incorporating rich materials elsewhere to do the visual heavy lifting and skip the window treatments. A stone and bronze vanity, geometric floor tiles, and plaster walls do the trick in this small bathroom by Brigette Romanek.

Design firm Studio Shamshiri "chose minimal finishes and millwork that didn't distract from the nature outside" and used vertical space to play up the height of this bathroom. They also added sneaky storage via a floating custom cubby that spans the length of the double vanity and installed an equally long towel bar beneath it.

"Everything feels sort of candlelit," says designer Jae Joo of this Boston home. The elegant powder room is no exception. Ambient lighting radiates a soft glow, wood finishes emit warmth, and the green floral wallpaper brings the entire room to life; together, these elements have a cocooning effect.

Use the same materials on the shower stall and sink vanity, as Nina Barbiras of Fig NYC did in this bathroom. It makes a strong case for rich marbled veining and unpolished brass.

So your small bathroom doesn't have any wall space for windows... but what about a skylight? Studio DIAA opted for a Crystalite one, which floods the space with sunlight and maintains privacy.

Besides looking incredibly charming, this collection of vintage mirrors in a Boston home by Cecilia Casagrande is also a great small-space solution: The mirrors move sunlight into every nook and cranny of the room. By painting the frames all in Farrow & Ball Pitch Black, the homeowner unified the quirky collection to feel cohesive. The Grow House Grow wallcovering adds flair.

"The bathroom is really long and narrow, so it forced me to really find the right bathtub to fit in it," says designer Delia Kenza of a small bathroom she renovated for clients in Brooklyn. She demo'd the former bathtub surround, which wasted valuable inches, and replaced it with a freestanding Signature Hardware tub on an elevated platform.