When it comes to sprucing up our homes - which we are currently spending so much more time in - the smallest room is often the one we think about the least. However our bathrooms are also where we spend a great deal of our time. 

If your small bathroom currently feels more like a dormitory space than a luxurious spa, you need to think about upping your game and transforming your bathroom.

1. Use light colors!

You can create the illusion of added depth and size in your bathroom by using light, bright colours - there’s a reason why most bathrooms are white. If you have some natural light, the use of lighter colours will increase the feeling of space particularly well. 

The bathrooms of this Bishan Street apartment makes the most of the natural light that pours in through the high-set window. The while walls and tiles reflect the light around the space, while the pale timber vanity appears to float, making the floor space look larger - it’s also a great way to keep your floor clean. The mid-gray floor tiles anchor the room, as does the darker grout used on the tiles.

Images Credits: Fineline Design

In this Ang Mo Kio bathroom, the huge window is the most important feature. Using a palette of all white and touches of gold, the space appears twice as large. The shower area has been cleverly designed to use glass for the separation - it allows all the natural light to flood into the interior of the room and gives the impression of no walls, making the space feel much larger.

Image Credit: Arena Creation

If all-white-everything is a little too much, you can also add touches of black or gray to give dimension to your bathroom design. In this Park Green Condo bathroom the marble-look tile and the black and white tile floor are still light enough to give the illusion of more space thanks to the large window. Using a white floating vanity cabinet adds great storage without making the room feel too heavy or dark.

Images Credits: Meter Square

The design of this Ang Mo Kio bathroom makes the most of the very large window to bring lots of natural light into the space. The white walls and tub is offset by the use of black details and darker stone flooring. Although the vanity is also dark, again the use of a floating design makes the floor space appear larger.

Images Credits: Areana Creation

2. Smart storage solutions!

Small bathrooms tend to suffer from a lack of storage solutions, which is why they end up cluttered with lots of additional bits and pieces from additional cabinets to wall-hung holders in the shower. If you make clever design choices before you build your bathroom, you will end up with a more streamlined space.

Here are two examples of how you can add clever storage solutions in a small bathroom. First choose a vanity cabinet that offers a lot of drawers - they are great for storing your skincare and washing products. You can also choose a mirror that has storage behind it, doubling up the space you can use. 

Images Credits: Aiden T Pte Ltd

In this Tanglin Halt bathroom you can see that design issues have been turned into useful storage space. The toilet box can be used for displaying decorative items or useful ones like towels and toilet paper. The extra space next to the vanity has been turned into more shelves, and the vanity itself has additional storage.

Images Credits: Fineline Design

Open shelving has been used in this Ghim Moh Link bathroom in both the shower space, and near the vanity area to create spaces for bath products and decorative items. The mirror also has a small shelf that can be used.

Images Credits: Forefront Interior

This Parc Rosewood bathroom has a very clever use of space; the end of the floating vanity, next to the toilet, has a set of open shelves for additional storage. The large mirror acts as both a storage cabinet, and lighting, removing more clutter from the walls. 

Images Credits: Ark-hitecture

3. You can never have too many Mirrors

Everyone knows that adding mirrors and reflective surfaces to an interior space will create the illusion of more room. This is doubly true of a small bathroom. Large mirrors can reflect light around the room, as well as make the room look bigger.

In this rather small Bendemeer Light bathroom, you can see how the large mirror taking up most of one wall creates that illusion of size; the small window appears to be twice its actual size, allowing twice as much natural light into the room.

Images Credits: Mr Shopper Studio

This elegant marble bathroom certainly has a luxurious feel. The use of mirrors on the vanity cabinet in this Tanglin Halt bathroom not only appears to double the size of the room, but also adds a touch of luxury for a spa-like space.

Images Credits: Fineline Design

The full width mirror in this Hillbre bathroom reflects the natural light from the large window opposite it to make the space feel larger and brighter. The light toned walls are balanced by the warmer tones of the floating timber vanity cabinet.

Images Credits: Space Define Interior

4. Design a wet room style bathroom

You might imagine that a ‘wet room’ bathroom is like the old tiled box bathrooms of your parents, when the shower was over the toilet and everything was always wet! But fear not, the modern version of a wet room style bathroom is chic and stylish, and it’s not wet all the time. You simply remove the separating tiled thresholds on your shower space, and ensure that the drainage of the space keeps all the water where it should be. A flat floor like this is also great for the elderly and their helpers; you can use mobile washing chairs much easier.

The two bathrooms in this Jalan Membina home have been designed to have a modern wet room style; you can see that the floor appears to be entirely flat, but in fact there is enough of a slope for the water to stay in the shower area and not spill out to the rest of the room. You can add a shower curtain if you need it, but generally you don’t need one.

Images Credits: Aiden T Pte Ltd

This Ang Mo Kio bathroom has a version of the wet room style, with just a single piece of glass separating the wet area from the rest of the space. You can see how the lack of additional curbs and thresholds on the floor give the impression of a lot more space.

Image Credit: KDOT

This simple but luxurious Shunfu Road bathroom is a modern version of the old-fashioned bathrooms we grew up with. The use of a single floor, a vanity without storage and a large rose gold shower make this a very luxurious space dedicated just to getting clean.

Image Credit: 0932

Looking for more interior design inspiration? Check out our story about how to create the perfect work-from-home space; find out whether you prefer a light and airy home or a dark and moody design, or discover how to choose the right lighting for your home.