It is well known that that the UK has the smallest bathrooms in Europe

Whether you are using this room to wash or work (another survey found during the pandemic, 9% of people were using the bathroom as a temporary office), it can be a tricky space to get right.

Functions

While its functions are broadly fixed and the furniture essentially the same for everyone, every household will differ in the details of what is, on average, the size of two king size mattress (2.5 mx 2.5m). Some will need to get a family of four out of the door first thing, while others take a more leisurely approach to their morning routine. 

There are those who want a business like space at 7am (get washed, get dry, get out) and then a relaxed spa feeling at 7pm.

Issues

So, can you have it all? And if your bathroom is really tiny, should you be attempting to please all he people all of the time? The first thing to do is ask yourself some basic questions: who, what and when? This will help you work out your essential requirements for this space. These are also the sorts of questions and interior designer will ask in order to come up with solutions www.chameleondesignsinteriors.co.uk

Questions

Who is using it? By which I mean parents with small children, teenagers, pensioners or childfree adults and flat sharers? All will have different needs.

What is the purpose? Is the bath a necessity or a glorified towel rail?

When, what times? Can you fit in two basins or one long one for production line tooth brushing? Take a moment to ask yourself “how’ as well. How do you want to feel in here – energized and ready to go or relaxed and ready for bed? The chances are both and this where lighting and decoration come to the fore, and an interior designer comes into their own. 

Lets move on….

Once you have answered these questions, you can move onto equipment. If no one ever bathes, would it suit your family more to install one large shower? Perhaps even with two heads for rinsing off two kids at once.

If you want both and are fitting a shower over a bath, choose a bath with straighter ends, as this will give you more standing space. It is also worth investing in a steel bath, as an acrylic one will flex over time and pull away from the silicon and grouting around the edges, leading to leaks.

Wall-mounted loos and basins will allow you to see more floor, which makes the space look bigger. They are also easier to clean, and anyone with boys will know what I mean!

As a final design detail, look for curved designs. This might seem mere fashion, but curves are easier too clean than corners, where dust and dirt accumulate.

Now we have talk about storage (no, we haven’t yet got to the fun bits- paint or tiles). When you plan the room, you are no doubt envisaging rows of pretty bottles lined up on a shelf.  But where are you actually storing the jumbo pack of loo roll? Or the large bottle of supermarket shampoo that you decant into the expensive jar you finished six months ago? So think of the amount of storage you need, and double it.

Think vanity units with drawers, shelves over the cistern; when you run out of floor space use the walls. And don’t forget towels need a home too. Under floor heating will save some wall space. 

A word on lighting before we get to looks. A dimmer switch, which has to be located on the outside of the room from a safety perspective. Make sure the light fittings chosen are also dimmable, for bright light in the morning to softer light in the evening. Make sure down lighters are not directly overhead as you look in the mirror. This is the most unflattering light to see yourself in and you’ll never have the courage to leave the house again. Sidelight is faltering – put one either side of the mirror instead. 

Now the Décor…

The key point here is that a bathroom however functional, is still a room in your house and needs to look like it belongs. If you favour rich dark colours and lots of texture, don’t suddenly revert to cold hard white just because it is a bathroom. Natural shelves will soften all those hard edges and straight lines, will patterned towels bring personality to what might be a window less room. 

The floor is another decorative personality – it also won’t make the room feel smaller. Also large mirrors to bounce the light around – antique or distressed mirror all over a wall will soften the look and stop it feeling too ‘gym. There are some fabulous patterned shower curtains now too. 

One way to make a small room feel larger is to keep a restricted colour palette, so paint the walls where there aren’t tiles the ceiling and woodwork in the same shade to blur the edges. 

Finally….consider the future.

Bathrooms are disruptive to redo, so while small kids might want a bath now, will you want to be climbing over a high bath to reach a shower in ten years time? Installing a walk in shower with a tray flush to the floor avoids a tripping point – and don’t forget plugs for toothbrushes or razors.

Now you can reach for the paint chart and start choosing your pretty tiles. 

 More advice can be found at www.chameleondesignsinteriors.co.uk or if would like our input on this or any other project, email us at emile@chameleondesigninteriors.co.uk