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As we continue with our contemporary remodeling series, I’d really like to discuss the type of changes that we can make to your bathroom. Most of us in the D.C. Metro area live in Row Homes, small townhomes, and duplexes. With millions of people in our city, it’s no surprise that there is less property with large spaces available. I have 15 different ideas that will make your bathroom feel more spacious and comfortable.
It’s hard to give 15 ideas that can transform your bathroom if we don’t provide any context to what we consider a small bathroom. Normally for us a small bathroom is any bathroom smaller than 25 square feet. For example, most modern construction builds their smaller bathrooms in 3’x5’ or 6’x4’. The ideas that we discuss will work for any size bathroom, but we think you’ll get the most out of this blog if you have a 25 square bathroom or less.
Are you interested in learning about other ways to save space in your home? Read our blog Row Home Renovations | A beginners Guide to Bathroom and Kitchens
Anytime you’re trying to save room in your bathroom, the first thing you need to do is figure out how to limit cabinets and vanities from taking up too much room. Oftentimes, it’s the vanity that takes up the most space in your bathroom.If anyone is curious on what a floating sink is, it’s a sink that stands alone with cabinets attached. A floating sink is often much smaller and provides a lower-profile feel to the bathroom.
By replacing the vanity with cabinets and sink attached together with a floating sink can save a lot of room in your bathroom. Taking down a bathroom vanity can be one of the trickiest and most difficult things to do without the help of a professional. There are so many things that come into play due to the plumbing and electrical situation. Changing out sinks is not really a DIY project, unless you want to risk it with electrical outlets and water around you.
Floating shelving is normally done with painted hardwood boards cut in 30” shelves or bronze or gold bars for support and decoration. However, even if it’s only 30” across for most boards and 8-16” protruding out from the wall, there is a way to get the same capacity of storage without protruding more than 2-3”.
Hexagon floating shelves are the perfect solution to making a bathroom feel bigger than it is by decluttering the space. Using hexagon shelving keeps everything you need in your bathroom tight along the walls so the walking space in the bathroom is open and free of obstacles.
One thing I love to see is large-scale tiling in a small bathroom for both the floor and shower tile. Using a marble or granite tile in the bathroom is always a good decision, but the optical illusion of larger geometrical shapes makes a space look bigger than it really is. According to Home Advisor, you can get a small bathroom remodeled for just unde $4,000 for a 6’x4’ bathroom.
Grade 3 Granite Tiles (highest quality) can cost around $40 per square for the D.C. Metro area. Deciding between straight tiles versus diagonal tiles can be another way to add some personal touch or save money. Diagonal tiles look better and play into the optical illusion better, but straight tiles are easier to install and cost about 10% for our contractors to install.
Are you interested in learning about granite tile flooring? Read our blog, Choosing the Best Kitchen Flooring
My smallest bathroom in my house is a 6’x4’ bathroom with a sink vanity with cabinets attached to the sink and mirror in my bathroom. One of the easiest changes for me was removing my sink and buying a triangle sink to fit in the corner of the bathroom. This type of sink has to be custom made and will cost more money, but it makes a huge difference when it comes down to save a few feet of walking space in a tight bathroom.
Removing your towel rack and combining it with your vanity is another great way to save space that could be used for stretching out a little more. You’d be surprised how much space a towel rack takes up in your bathroom until you take one down and have an entire side of your wall to optimize your storage.
Having the proper light fixtures in your bathroom can be enough to change the feel of the room without any other feature or remodel. The way light reflects from windows, water, steam, flooring, and glass all impact how we perceive the room. There are many different things you can do to add the correct ambiance in your bathroom, but I think a skylight in your shower and near the entrance can add significant light and make the room feel bigger in the process.
Paint with the proper light in the bathroom can be the difference between a dark damp room to a bright room with zero dark spots for better clarity inside your bathroom. For example, most people use a satin in the hallways, bedrooms, and living room, but a satin finish will be counter productive in a bathroom because of the way artificial and natural light hit the satin. However, a high-gloss paint that properly reflects the skylight or wall sconce in your bathroom will make your bathroom look cleaner and bigger.
I know people think painting is such an easy thing, but if you do it yourself and don’t provide the same thickness of paint in each coat, throughout the room, you’ll end up with a bathroom that looks spotty and the reflection from the light will hit different spots of the walls in different tones. Our painters can get the job done for a very affordable price and use the best in modern technology to ensure that your paint is coated equally across your walls.
Pocket doors have been around forever, but most people just don’t know the name for them. Pocket doors are a great and inexpensive way to make your bathroom feel bigger by eliminating an in-swinging door.
Pocket doors slide into the door frame in a cavity cut by a contractor. So, instead of turning a handle or knob, you simply slide the door into the frame and it doesn’t take any room away from the hallway or inside of the bathroom. Pocket doors also add more wall space available for Hexagon Floating Shelves because you won’t have to worry about a door blocking the space behind the door.
Installing a shower instead of having a tub could be the remodel that saves the most space in your bathroom. A walk-in glass shower could save you as much as 5 feet in length and completely change the way your bathroom feels. You can expect to spend around $3,000-$7,000 in our region.
Demolition and clean up can run an additional $500-$1,000 and it would still depend on what type of material you chose. Personally, in my small bathroom, I’d use ceramic or granite tile in my shower. Remember to make sure the tile squares are bigger in size to make the room feel bigger and more spacious.
Installing a shower without a door frame could be a great way to save space, as well. Having a shower without a frame can be tricky to do, but we have contractors and tile professionals that have decades of experience installing showers and are confident they can get you a frameless shower set up for a great price.
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