Creating the Illusion of More Bathroom Space

Once you have done everything possible to actually create more space, it's time to look at what can be done to make the available space seem roomier.

Add Natural Light

Photo: Solatube One 10" light tube delivers as much daylight as a typical bathroom window. Open up the room to the outdoors and let the sunshine in. Add windows if possible, and replace small windows with larger ones. We seldom see a bay, bow or box window in a bathroom (unless we put it in), yet these are very effective not only in fostering the illusion of more space, but actually providing more space — a wonderful space, indeed, for humidity- and sunshine-loving plants.

Eliminate heavy window treatments. Curtains and shutters undo all the good effects of windows. If privacy is an issue, use obscured glass or even glass blocks. But leave as much of the view as you can. Long views are another way of making a small room seem larger (see below).

If more windows is not an option, consider adding a skylight. A skylight not only lets in daylight, but can be opened to increase ventilation. However, if the bathroom is on the first floor of a multi-story house, a skylight may not be practical. In such case consider a light tube.

Light tubes are small, very reflective tubular skylights that can be installed where traditional skylights do not fit. A 14" tube, can be up to 15' long (to reach even a 2-1/2 story roof) and can snake around obstructions. A tube delivers about as much full-spectrum sunlight as a 36" x 36" window — more than enough for a small bath.

Well-Designed Artificial Lighting

Say good-bye to dark, room-shrinking shadows with well-placed and carefully designed artificial light. Even with natural light sources, a bathroom needs abundant artificial lighting. It is often most heavily used first thing in the morning and last thing at night when natural daylight is scarce in our part of the world. Bathrooms are often poorly lit with, at most, a central incandescent lamp and a vanity light of some sort — usually right overhead where it casts very harsh shadows.

The same general rules that govern the use of artificial light in kitchens (See: Designing Efficient and Effective Kitchen Lighting) apply to bathrooms. There needs to be a good source of overall (or ambient) light and bright, but not harsh, and shadowless lighting above each task area -- vanity, tub, shower, and cosmetics table.

Designer David Edrington prefers to light the lavatory area from the side. " I prefer a framed mirror above a lavatory with sconces on the side", he writes, "because they give the best light to the sides of the face and fewer shadows in the facial recesses than light from above the face."

For the most efficient lighting, fluorescent lamps should be used wherever possible. If fluorescents are not possible, then more efficient halogen or xenon lamps should be preferred to standard incandescent lights.

Reflective Surfaces

Reflective surfaces help this very small bath seem much larger. Reflective surfaces increase light and create the illusion of more space. Matte finished and opaque surfaces may make a small bathroom seem suffocating.

The worst sin is an opaque shower curtain. We don't know where the notion came from that the bath tub must be enclosed in perpetual twilight — but we wish it would go away. An opaque shower curtain cuts three feet out of the room. In a 5' x 9' bathroom, that's 1/3rd of the space. There is certainly a need for privacy in the bath, but come on, just lock the door. Get rid of that heavy curtain. Replace it, hopefully, with a full-height clear glass shower door or, at least, a transparent curtain.

An abundance of glass together with lots of light are what makes a small room bigger. While you need to be cautious about enclosing the room in a sea of mirrors — which can be disorienting: carefully placed mirrors can greatly enhance the impression of roominess and multiply the effects existing lighting many times over.

Unifying Design Theme

A cohesive design theme that repeats color, texture, and materials will visually unify a bathroom and make it seem larger by subtly blurring the boundaries between major fixture centers. For instance, if counters, floors, shower and tub surrounds are made of the same material - such as ceramic or stone tile - your eye perceives the elements as one rather than as separate parts.

Pink, the "hot" color of the 1950s and 60s. We replace a lot of these. The scary thing is they seem to be coming back. Your color palette should be light and monochromatic. Dark woodwork and cabinets close the room in. Light woods such as maple, hickory, alder or pine; or light paints make it appear larger. Abrupt changes in color from feature to feature stop the eye and break up the space visually. If there are to be color changes, they should be subtle, gradual and well blended. Using white in fixtures, tiles, flooring, and paint is a safe and sure design approach. Not only does it provide an expansive continuity' to the room, but it also brightens the space and serves as a neutral backdrop for color accents in towels, vases, and bands of decorative tiles.

Stay away from trendy colors for durable items such as fixtures and cabinets. That au courant, gotta have "organdy rose" sink that all the interior decorators are raving about is going to be outdated within 5 years and join the legions of avacado and hot pink sinks we have removed and replaced merely because the color is so, well, awful. Put trendy colors, if any, in paint, wallpaper and accessories that can be easily changed when the color becomes dated — and it will become dated.

Strong horizontal lines

Strong Horizontal lines make the room larger, vertical lines make it smaller. Wainscot is very effective in visually enlarging a small room, as is a horizontal band of darker tile in a light tile wall. Pillars, columns and heavy vertical stripes in wallpaper are to be shunned at all costs.

Long, clear sight lines

Photo: Charles Miller. Clear sight lines into adjacent space help enlarge this bath. Architect Sarah Susanka (whose book, The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live, has turned upside down the way many designers and builders think about housing) argues that well-designed and carefully appointed small, human-size rooms are preferable to the oversize galleries that make up too much of our new housing. But, she says, small rooms can be confining and cell-like unless they are designed to include long clear sight lines.

Long, clear sight lines are critical to creating the illusion of space. Get rid of the clutter on the floor and countertops. Stick the wastebasket in a corner, and store toiletries in cabinets and drawers — not on the counter top. A cluttered room just seems smaller. Allow nothing to interfere with clean and clear lines of sight.

Borrow long views, where possible, from other spaces or even from outdoors through a window, writes designer David Edrington, so the room you are in seems larger because you can see far spaces outside the room.

End

For an experienced designer's thoughtful insights on bathroom design, take a look at David Edrington's Ten Important Elements of a Good Bathroom. For the views of Better Homes and Garden magazine experts on the elements of a good bathroom design, see Planning Your Dream Bath.

For even more good reading, check out our complete articles index.