How to Make Your Bathroom Look Bigger — 5 Designer-Approved Tricks To Create a More Balanced Space
A capacious bathroom might be a pipedream for most of us, but you can still create the illusion of more space with a few genius design ideas
Our bathrooms might be one of the smallest rooms in our homes, but they definitely work the hardest. So much goes into them — a vanity, shower, storage, the toilet, a tub if you're lucky — but that inevitably means they end up cramped, especially if square footage is already more limited than you'd like. Although we can't wave a magic wand to create more space, it is possible to create the illusion of a bigger bathroom, and it's all thanks to some nifty designer tricks.
I often find myself lusting over small bathroom ideas, but it's not easy to design one that both looks good and functions well. The secret to a small bathroom that looks aesthetically pleasing isn't about using the next big tile trend or including a stylish modern shower. Instead, it's the all-important space that lies in between.
When a bathroom looks more spacious, it feels more balanced and harmonious. A tub is allowed room to breathe. A shower doesn't encroach on the vanity. The toilet doesn't dominate your eyeline. When each element can exist on its own without competing with others, everything just looks better. If you're not prepared to knock down walls, here are five designer-approved ways to open up your bathroom.
1. Use Large Format Tiles
When your bathroom is on the small side, it may seem like a good idea to shrink everything down. But, while a smaller shower or vanity is probably the best course of action, choosing smaller-format tiles is often one of the biggest small bathroom design mistakes you can make.
Tiles play a much bigger role in how a bathroom feels than we give them credit for, and Grazzie Wilson, tile expert and head of creative at Ca’ Pietra, says you should always scale up in a small bathroom. "Larger-format tiles tend to suit smaller bathrooms because they reduce the number of grout lines, creating broader, quieter surfaces that allow the eye to move more freely across walls and floors," she says.
Cathleen Gruver of the Northern Virginia-based Gruver Cooley agrees. "At Gruver Cooley, we often use oversized floor tile in compact bathrooms because fewer grout joints create a smooth, uninterrupted visual field," she says. "This instantly makes the room feel more expansive and refined, giving even a small footprint a sense of quiet luxury." Smaller tiles still have their uses, but they work best when used in tighter areas, such as a shower enclosure or in a recessed niche.
Cathleen has her M.A. in Interior Design from Marymount University, where she has served as an adjunct professor. She received ASID’s “Ones to Watch” Award and NKBA's prestigious "30 Under 30 Award". She received multiple Chrysalis Awards from Qualified Remodeler and Kitchen & Bath Design News, and she has been featured in The Washington Post and Forbes.
2. Run Wall Tile Horizontally
When space is at a premium, it's generally best to keep walls light, bright, and free from pattern. White walls are often the best for this, but we get it — they aren't the most exciting. Of course, you could always bring more personality to your bathroom by tiling the walls instead, but if you do, it's best to use a horizontal tile.
Where vertical tile layouts help stretch a room to give the illusion of higher ceilings, horizontal tiles do the opposite. "Horizontal tile layouts subtly widen a space," explains Cathleen. You don't necessarily have to choose a striped tile bathroom either (although they have been one of the biggest bathroom tile trends this year). Instead, you could simply use a stacked subway tile, as seen above, to help widen a narrow space and bounce light around the room.
"Whether it is a classic stack or a gentle offset, this orientation guides the eye from side to side and helps the bathroom read as broader than it is," Cathleen says. "It's a simple layout choice that delivers a big impact without altering the floor plan."
Grazzie has worked in the interiors industry for more than a decade. At Ca’ Pietra, one of the UK’s leading stone and tile brands, she heads up creative, overseeing product collections as well as the company’s distinctive brand, look and feel. Her stylists’ eye and passion for the technical side of tiling is unparalleled.
3. Use Color Intentionally
Color has incredible transformative effects. As with any small space, it's recommended that you keep the palette minimal in a bathroom with a compact footprint, but there are still ways to use color to your advantage.
"Warm neutrals, such as soft stone, chalky limestone, or gentle sand tones, tend to create a more relaxed sense of space than stark white, which can feel flat or overly clinical in smaller rooms," explains Grazzie. "These warmer palettes reflect light softly and help surfaces feel layered rather than harsh, particularly when paired with matt finishes and carefully matched grout." As a result, your space will feel more continuous and visually generous.
Prefer a more playful scheme? Instead of opting for a monotone bathroom color, consider a strategic pop of pigment instead. Take the powder blue backsplash pictured above, where the recessive color interrupts the otherwise neutral palette. "It draws the eye around the space and prevents it from feeling boxed in," Cathleen says. "This approach keeps the room feeling balanced, cohesive, and more open without requiring any structural changes."
BC Designs has been at the forefront of bathroom innovation and design for over thirty years, becoming the bathroom design house within the industry. They offer beautifully crafted products to all areas of the bathroom industry, for which they've won an award at The Designer Awards for their contribution.
Tissino is an Italian inspired brand of stylish and contemporary bathroom products serving boutique showrooms, architects and specialist bathroom contractors. They endow excellence in both value and service in all their relationships. Founded from the desire to join attention to detail with passion for the creative process, Tissino takes inspiration from the Italian love of water and design to produce stunning collections that create bathrooms to a standard never imagined before.
4. Choose A Floating Vanity (With a Generous Mirror)
Maximizing airflow is a simple way to make a compact space feel larger. It comes back to that all-important breathing space — when you choose less bulky furnishings or features, the space will look and feel more streamlined. A simple way to do that in a bathroom? Using a floating bathroom vanity.
"Wall-hung vanity units can transform how a bathroom feels because they lift visual weight away from the floor and allow the footprint of the room to remain visible," says Richard Eaton, design manager at bathroom supplier, Tissino. "When the floor line continues uninterrupted beneath the vanity, the space feels more open and less visually crowded, which is particularly important in compact layouts."
Richard adds that proportion plays a major role here, noting that slim-depth units often work better than deeper furniture, especially where circulation is tight. "Wall-hung designs also offer flexibility with installation height, which helps fittings sit more naturally within the architecture of the space rather than feeling imposed on it," he says.
Don't just stop there, either. Pair your vanity unit with a large bathroom mirror to help make the room feel more expansive. "A large mirror acts almost like an additional window," says Cathleen. "It reflects both light and architectural lines, doubling the visual depth of the room. When possible, we take the mirror close to the ceiling to stretch the height and create a polished, high-end effect."
5. Consider Sightlines and Focal Points
Finally, if you're remodeling a bathroom and changing the layout, you might want to sacrifice your bathtub for a shower enclosure if you haven't already. "This usually allows that element to be positioned more generously and with better clearances around it, which immediately improves how the space feels," says Keeley Sutcliffe, design manager at BC Designs.
Beyond that, think carefully about where the eyeline falls. Some clever configuration can have a huge impact on how spacious your bathroom feels. "Baths often feel more settled when placed along the longest wall or beneath a window, where their footprint feels intentional rather than intrusive, while walk-in showers tend to work well at the end of the room, helping to draw the eye through the space," Keeley continues.
In a similar vein, she says positioning the basin close to the entrance keeps the room feeling open, while larger elements should be pushed further away from the door. "Thinking about sightlines, circulation, and how the bathroom is entered can make a compact layout feel more composed and noticeably more spacious," Keeley concludes.
Wall-mounted storage is the workhorse of small bathrooms. I love the Scandi-inspired design of this slat-wood cabinet from John Lewis. It's sleek, practical, and stylish.
I love a gadget that makes it easier to store and display your everyday items. Take this genius cotton bud dispenser from H&M, for example. It promises to both organize your vanity and streamline your routine.
Storage solutions have to work extra hard in a bathroom, so choose options that serve a dual purpose, like this towel hanger. It comes with a simple shelf on top that's perfect for storing your cosmetics.
Making a bathroom look bigger is no mean feat, but you don't have to work miracles. From wall-mounting your vanity to re-tiling your floor, there are plenty of ways to give the illusion of greater space without having to knock down walls and redesign your floor plan.
Of course, to truly capitalize on your compact blueprint, you may want to reconsider the whole arrangement of your space, but be wary of common bathroom layout mistakes and always prioritize functionality above all else. The bottom line? Your bathroom should look good and work well, with enough breathing space to offer balance.
