Small Bathroom Checklist
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Anonymous
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Please help me think some of this through as I'm heading into the home stretch of making choices for remodeling our very small master bathroom. It measures 4' wide by 10' long (i.e. the shower stall occupies 3 feet out of the ten feet total, at one end).
I do not want or need a fancy bath, but I want it to look as spacious as it can given the measurements, and I want it to be functional as we use it every day. My plan is: Kohler almost-frameless sliding shower doors, which have towel bars. I love the aesthetics of real frameless ones, but they are expensive and perhaps more importantly, I need as much towel bar space as possible. There is so little wall space in the room, I need every hanging option possible. White subway tile for shower with white listel/rope trim around eye level. Niches for shampoo, etc. Black & white basketweave floor in the shower. 12" porcelain tile on the floor, I'm thinking laid on the diagonal (laid as diamond shapes looking into the room rather than parallel to the wall). I've chosen carrera marble-look tile, i.e. white w/black/grey veined effect. (No tile on the walls in the room.) 30" wooden vanity, e.g. medium-tone wood, simple style, with Cambria Torquay (like Silestone) carrera marble-effect countertop with undermount sink. QUESTION: Given the small size of the room, should the vanity have legs or a valance at the bottom, rather than a toekick? Beside the vanity, the contractor will build a storage cabinet into the wall between the studs, about five feet tall and 4" deep. Sort of like a medicine cabinet, but much taller and with a nice door on it (not a mirror) - he will install two doors on it (top and bottom) to coordinate with the vanity in terms of style/panels. QUESTION: I am thinking the doors should be painted white, the same color as the trim (and not be stained to match the vanity) - do you agree? Above the vanity, I plan to hang a tilting rectangular frameless mirror with beveled sides, which is slightly more narrow than the vanity. I don't want anything too detailed because of the small space and I like the tilting feature since DH and I are different heights. Light fixture over the mirror - QUESTION: Two bulbs or three in the fixture? Given the dimensions, three might be overkill even if they fit into the space. Thoughts? And another question: I'd like to eke out a bit of storage space over the toilet, but do not want to hang a cabinet because it occupies so much visual space. What about installing a couple of floating shelves there? Or should I ask for more storage between those studs, and install glass shelves there? I'd appreciate comments, experience, etc. |
Anonymous
| I don't know if you're playing with the layout at all, but at a recent home tour, one small bathroom had a toilet with a triangle shaped tank. This allowed the toilet to be situated in a corner and opened up a lot of space. Genius idea! |
Anonymous
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I'm not always the best at visualizing things, but what you're describing sounds like intelligent, attractive ways to maximize your space. I think I would have the doors to the cabinet be painted white.
I personally like the look of a vanity with legs rather than a toekick, but will every fuzzball in the world collect under there? Just a thought. I'll defer on the light fixture since there are so many different kinds out there. What are you thinking of storing above the toilet? Will floating shelves be sturdy enough? |
Anonymous
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something I would love to put in when we renovate our small baths is a charging station. A place to plug in my electric toothbrush, ultrasonic retainer cleaner, epilator, clarisonic, etc. If your tall cabinet is deep enough, that could be a great space for it.
I agree on lots of towel bars. And make sure you can reach a towel from inside the shower. Seems like so many hotel bathrooms forget that detail. Could you do a pocket door or a "barn" door? Eliminating the space required by the door swing will make the room feel more spacious. Alternative is to reverse the swing so it swings out of the bathroom. Do you have a good fan? Something to pull the humidity out makes the room much more comfortable. Did you consider making the floor contiguous with the shower floor? Some designs have a glass wall but no door to the shower. http://www.houzz.com/photos/584653/Subway-Tile-Shower-traditional-bathroom-minneapolis http://www.houzz.com/photos/625677/Master-Bath-traditional-bathroom-los-angeles http://www.houzz.com/photos/214299/Bathrooms-contemporary-bathroom-san-francisco http://www.houzz.com/photos/204602/Client-Photos-traditional-bathroom-los-angeles http://www.houzz.com/photos/2374971/Greenwood-Residence-contemporary-bathroom-other-metro http://www.houzz.com/photos/148874/-modern-bathroom-other-metro On that Greenwood photo: note the adjustable height shower head. It probably also is a hand-held, making it much easier to clean the shower. I also like the towel bars under the sinks. |
Anonymous
| I know that full wall mirrors are somewhat passe' but I've noted that most galley-style bathrooms look much bigger when you you have a large unframed mirror on the wall above the sink and/or toilet. It just makes the room look twice as wide even if it isn't. It also helps to bounce more light around since you have the shower at the end and no natural light in the room. |
Anonymous
| Not a big thing but our kids hall bathroom has a recessed light in the shower and it does wonders for making their tiny bathroom feel bigger when showering at least. |
Anonymous
OP here – thank you so much; this is terrific feedback!
Interesting – I will take a look. The toilet is next to the window, not sure how that would look/feel, but I will check it out.
You are right - I think I agree about painting the storage cabinet door white. RE the vanity with legs, I vastly prefer the aesthetics of it, but you are right that it could pose cleaning challenges. The clearance is 4.5” – is that enough to get under there with a Swiffer and/or mop? Floating shelves – I don’t have any definite ideas. I’m thinking that ugly stuff like hairspray, moisturizer, etc. would go behind the door in the storage closet and under the vanity, and that open shelves could have glass jars with e.g. cotton balls and the like in them – the stuff you don’t mind seeing.
Charging station – that is BRILLIANT! I am adding it to my list, thank you! The planned closet will be a couple of feet to the left of where there is lighting right now, so I don’t think it would be a big deal to put an outlet in there. Pocket door – we considered that, but it is complicated and expensive because of the layout. The door currently opens out, so functionally speaking, it works. Yes to a good fan – we are shopping for that now. Contiguous floor – I love those, love them, and if it were just me, that is what I would do. But DH is most definitely NOT on board, LOL. We plan on a hand-held, adjustable-height shower head. I figure that will make cleaning the glass shower doors easy, and as we age (we are in our 50s), we can put a seat in there if needed and having the handheld shower will make things easier.
I agree, and we have a full wall mirror now (very 50s), but we will have a built-in closet/cabinet on that wall, to the left of the vanity/right of the shower - so I think it is not possible.
Great point, thanks! We had wavered on the idea of a recessed light in the shower but will definitely do that now. |
Anonymous
I asked about this. I think that can be a very nice look. I will say that I used to have a glass and chrome etagere in my bathroom where I stored little knick-knacks like what you're describing, and they got very dusty.But I had a cat at the time, which may have added to the dust factor. I didn't suggest a charging station but boy is that a good idea. I'd love a place to stash stuff like my electric toothbrush -- who wants to see that out on the counter everyday? |
Anonymous
OP here - yes, that is an absolutely brilliant idea. In a bathroom this size, an electric toothbrush (which I like to use) is a pain in the neck from a storage point of view, but wow, if it could stay plugged in behind a closed door - fantastic! Thanks so much to you all! |
Anonymous
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OP here, one more question: What kind of window treatment for a bathroom? The window in question is the kind that slides from side to side to open.
We currently have mini-blinds which look dated and dull to me. We do need privacy. Frosted glass? |
Anonymous
| Not sure exactly what you are thinking about a semi-open shower but some people on this forum have commented that open showers are cold. Just FYI. |
Anonymous
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We remodeled a small bathroom in our last house and did some things that may or may not work for you. Here are some ideas:
Instead of a vanity, use a wall-hung sink (we used Duravit.) It makes the room seem much more open. You won't miss the storage because you have that built-in cabinet and because I also recommend . . . Robern recessed medicine cabinet above the sink. Holds a ton of stuff. Even the inside of the cabinet is mirrored, which is very useful. You can do a second one above the toilet if you need more space. If your wall is deep enough (6"), do a wall-hung toilet (we also used Duravit for this.) The tank is in the wall which frees up a lot of space in the room. Depending on the type of door, you might be able to hang two towel bars on the back. Just measure the height of your folded towels to make sure there is adequate clearance between the two. I think 12" tiles are way too big for this space. I'd use the 1" hexagonal porcelain tiles that go so well with the subway tile. I agree that your wall cabinet should match the white trim instead of the vanity. It would be too busy otherwise. No for the above-toilet shelves. You can put a towel bar there, but no exposed shelves. They will look too cluttered and busy, which you can't afford in a small space. Heated floor - my favorite option. Sounds like a fun project! |
Anonymous
OP here - thanks so much! |
Anonymous
| np here - so many great ideas from the pp's. only thing i can add is a vote for "no" to any shoeving above the toilet. we have free floating glass shelves there and as a pp mentioned, it is just a place for things to get dusty and cluttered looking (dh always drops stuff on the shelves that he doesn't feel like putting away). also, we have a towel bar behind toilet and i am always worried the towel will drop into the toilet. so i would put nothing immed adjacent to toilet. |
Anonymous
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depending on how your medicine cabinet doors are situated consider mirrors on the inside. We have that and they have come in handy.
agree on heated floors. I would probably go for a 3 light fixture. It really depends on scale. Agree not to do storage over the toilet. it will just look cluttered and you probably won't store anything there that you actually use. One option is to do a railroad style shelf (see Restoration Hardware) with towels stacked on it but that may look cluttered too. We got hinges on the shower door that swung in and out. You need out for building codes but I much prefer in because then the door drips in the shower and not the floor. |