Bathrooms are the place you start and finish your day, so it’s important to create a special place that is practical yet provides the opportunity to relax. If you’re looking to renovate or design a small bathroom, this can seem a challenge, especially when designing to an existing footprint. However there are options! The space can be made to look bigger if the following is considered before finalising plans and layout.

A small bathroom can actually benefit from a large tile. With fewer grout lines the walls and floor are less cluttered and the room visually expands.

This concept is effective, because as our eyes see large tiles, our brain automatically associates them with a large space, in effect tricking it into thinking it is looking at a greater area than it really is. Large-format tiles also need less grout, less time to install, and require less maintenance.

Using smaller tiles, such as mosaics, will give you lots of grout lines, which can give the bathroom walls a grid-like appearance that can promote the feeling of being boxed in – making your bathroom feel smaller still.

This doesn’t mean you have to rule out small tiles, however. If you’ve fallen for some beautiful mosaics, you can mix it up a bit by using different sized tiles in different zones of your bathroom,

With smaller tiles being limited to the showering area, a larger format tile used in the majority of the room, and mosaic tiles in alcoves or recesses (spaces you don’t expect to feel generously-sized).

One can either use the same tile on the wall and floor or create a contrast with large square tiles on the floor and rectangular 300 x 600mm tiles on the walls. Depending on the direction laid, the rectangles will appear to either lengthen the room or increase the height.

However, don’t shy away from dark colours, especially on floors. A darker tile can be used effectively to add a sense of depth to a space, either throughout the room or flooring to give the impression of a wider and longer area.

Alternatively, dark or coloured grout lines can make a bit of design statement and can work well in small bathroom. Metro tiles or simple rectangular tiles are the perfect opportunity to chose a contrasting grout and even in a small bathroom, can look super stylish.

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Credit: Pinterest