© Kallums Bathrooms All Rights Reserved 2025
1. Basins and Vanity Units
2. Small Baths
3. Corner shower enclosures
4. Small recessed shower doors
5. Wet room
6. Toilets
7. Mirrors and Mirror cabinets
8. Storage units
9. Accessories
1. Design Tricks
2. Colour Schemes
3. Using Glass
4. Using Bathroom Tiles
Small bathrooms normally have limited floor space and require vanity units and basins which have small projection but good functionality.
There are lots of different shapes, styles and sizes of small vanity units and the best test to check functionality is to try to ‘wash’ your face and see if the basin tap lets you do it without interruption.
Also, you should test how much elbow space is there and ‘imagine’ if any water would splash out of the basin.
Another characteristic of small vanity units which should be tested is the storage area. Have in mind that immediate area under the basin will be occupied by a bottle trap. Most vanity units with drawers will have top drawer cut out to accommodate waste trap and with the small vanity cupboards, you would have to remember that the space on the middle of the shelf is not going to be very much in use.
Using a ‘narrow end’ corner baths is a great small bathroom idea and it is a smart way of creating extra floor space in your small bathroom. This solution can help you decide between keeping the bath in the property or not. These small corner baths also come with narrow end towards the ‘legs’ side so they would be ideal to use as a shower baths with a shower screen on the side.
Small Free-standing baths are also great space savers providing you with good bathing volume and great design options.
With our modern life requiring quick use of our showering facilities, corner shower enclosures and smaller walk in wet rooms with a ‘flip’ glass panel at the end (for more protection) are great ideas for small bathrooms. As the bathroom spaces in modern apartments and flats becomes a premium, increasingly baths give a way to modern shower cubicles and wet rooms.
Often with flats and apartments, there is a possibility to convert a hall cupboard space into a small shower room and integrate it into the existing small bathroom, making it a fantastic addition to property. Depending of the width, there are possibilities to use inward, outward opening shower doors or if the opening is larger than one meter, possibly frameless sliding doors.
Having a Wet Room installed, the whole concept of floor space in the small bathroom would change. The continuous floor will extend into the shower area giving the impression that the floor space is larger than it is. The combination of tiled linear waste and good quality frameless glass panel with a recessed wall and floor profiles will add to a great bathroom look.
Choosing the correct toilet for the small bathroom will depend of few factors like the position of the soil pipe, structure of the back wall and space available.
For wall hung toilet, ideal solution is to have frame and cistern hidden inside the stud wall. In the case of back wall being solid, there is a possibility to opt for the slim frame with cistern to hold wall hung toilet and build the boxed section around it, or go for all in one, closed coupled toilet.
The most important factor is the front to back projection of the toilet having in mind the ‘legs’ space in front of it.
With technological advances in LED lighting, mirrors and mirror cabinets are increasingly becoming important features in the bathrooms. With ability to change the colour and temperature of lights and various options on position of lighting, bathroom mirrors and mirror cabinets not only help to create impressions that the bathrooms are larger, but guarantee that they will become a fantastic focal feature in the small bathrooms, providing you with more storage space and options to charge your electric toothbrush and your shaver. Also consider recessed mirror cabinets.
For small bathrooms with limited wall space, wall alcoves are great areas to use for extra bottles and everyday items. Apart from mirror cabinets and fitted bathroom furniture (where possible) great solution could be a multi-functional freestanding furniture units and freestanding racks. With this type of furniture it is possible to re-arrange and alter the look of the small bathroom as you wish.
Few accessories matching overall brassware colour, placed in strategic positions will make your small bathroom look great and provide you with useful and effective bathroom items. Also, for small bathrooms with monochrome bathroom colour scheme, accessories can add touch of colour and character.
Keeping the colour scheme simple with accessories and brassware hinting a different touch is good way of presenting the bathroom as a clean, tidy and airy space. Obviously, people have different styles and ideas for their bathrooms, but clean, tidy, light and without clutter works in most cases.
There are many suggestions on how to decorate walls and floors in the bathrooms but the simplest is to use darker shades on the floor and lighter on the walls to create illusion of depth.
Too many colours can confuse and over complicate small spaces, co monochrome colour scheme can sometimes be the best solution.
As we progress into 2020 bathroom colours are moving from grey undertones to more vibrant and colourful palette of tiles and specialised bathroom wall papers. Small bathrooms specifically benefit from the new found burst of colours and textures.
Increasingly, small bathroom designs incorporate crystal and glass ceiling hanged chandeliers which spread the twinkle of the lights to surrounding walls.
To make small bathroom feel larger, mirrors and clever use of glass will do the trick. Frameless wet room shower screens and inset mirror cabinets with clever positioning of bathroom lights and good choice of wall and floor tiles can help greatly in creation of the perfect bathroom.
By using the same range of tiles for the floor and walls, small bathrooms can get that seamless look. Having the continuous run of tiles creates a spacious feel and by smart choice of bathroom products and accessories small bathrooms can look much larger.
When choosing the right colour and size of the tile consider the size of the space and how the size of the tile will affect that space. Remember that the smaller pattern of tiles can make room appear more ‘busy’ and on the other hand, larger tiles can increase space sensation in the room.
© Kallums Bathrooms All Rights Reserved 2025