Livinghouse

For many builders and architects the prime brief has been to get as much as possible into a space. This is mainly because the cost of land has been at a premium for years. This has meant a compromise on inside space for some new builds.

So if either your main family bathroom or your en-suite is small as a consequence of this space-saving strategy, there are a number of ways that you can make them feel more spacious.

Decorate for space

As much as we are loving some of the dark and vibrant colours that are fashionable for decorating right now; to maximise space it’s best to stay light and neutral. So keep your colour palette restrained throughout the bathroom to create a more spacious feeling.

Now for the lighting

If your bathroom is small then it certainly doesn’t need to be dark as well! Make the most of any natural light you have or consider adding a window. Make sure your window treatments let in as much light as possible too.

After that, consider a few tricks: Use reflective surfaces and mirrors to maximise the light and extend its ‘throw’ in the room.

Add good artificial lighting around your mirror for those important beauty moments. You don’t want smudged eye shadow or missed facial hair do you?

Creating storage space

Make sure you either build in storage or install furniture that includes storage spaces. Modern designed furniture comes in a number of shapes, sizes and finishes. It’s no longer just the standard medicine cabinet.

The essential things you need to keep in your bathroom include toilet rolls, bath and beauty products, and cleaning materials. The latter need a safe place out of sight and out of the reach of tiny hands.

Try to keep all of these to a minimum and get rid of empty containers as soon as they are finished with.

Many people also like to keep fresh towel in the bathroom, ready to replace the dirty ones. But if space is tight, just have one or two in the room and keep the rest in the airing cupboard.

Children’s bathrooms

In your family bathroom it maybe harder to keep everything out of sight. If your children love to share their bath time with numerous rubber or plastic toys, you will need to think of a clever way to keep these tidy.

Fortunately you aren’t the first parents to have this problem. IKEA do a great net kids’ toy tidier that can hang over your bath. There are also a number of ‘toy scoops’ now available on the market. These are designed to help you quickly scoop everything out of the bath. The scoop then sticks to your tiles as handy storage!