The morning sun hitting my bathroom window and bouncing off of the mirror in my medicine cabinet at such an atrocious angle that it cast shadows all over my space was what made it feel like a scene from CSI. And that’s when it happened – I realised that I had spent the last three years living in this “afternoon sun peeking over the horizon” beautiful bathroom and never actually “seen” it. You know how when you’re walking to the same corner for the bus every morning and all of a sudden you notice the most beautiful flower on the side of the street you’ve passed by a hundred times?
Yeah, that’s how I felt when I decided to start taking pictures of my bathroom makeover. I wasn’t trying to become a bathroom blogger/photographer. In fact, I just wanted to take a few pictures to document the minor updates I had made to my bathroom: new towels, new shower curtain, some plants that hadn’t died yet.
But when I reviewed that first batch of photos, I almost deleted them all. The lighting was horrendous; it looked cluttered; my new hand towels looked like wrinkled dishcloths sitting on the towel rack.
Fact: Bathrooms are the hardest space to take photos of.
Bathrooms are usually tiny; they have either horrible lighting or no natural light at all; they’re full of things you need to run a functional bathroom but aren’t necessarily pretty; and let’s be real – bathrooms are functional. But I was determined to show my space off in the best way possible. It wasn’t until I accidentally moved my phone that I discovered my first game-changing trick.
I moved my phone to the left to avoid getting a water mark in the background of my mirror and-BOOM-the room transformed. This simple shift opened up my tiny bathroom and softened the direct morning sunlight beaming down on me. Sometimes the best discoveries are made when you aren’t looking for them.
If you want your bathroom to look Pinterest-worthy, you will have to declutter. Yes, even if you think your bathroom is super tidy. I pride myself on having decluttered surfaces, but when I started editing down what I wanted to photograph, I saw ITEMS EVERYWHERE.
That unplumbed bottle of mouthwash by the sink? Gone. Those three bottles of hair products that lazily lean against your tub?
Bye. I honestly spent about an hour moving countertop items to cabinets and drawers just to get clean countertops and open space. That being said, you don’t have to remove everything.
Some little things add character and make your space look “lived in” and real. I left a nice bar of soap in it’s cute dispenser on the sink counter, one plant on my windowsill, and a fluffy white towel folded in half and placed upright on the countertop. These small touches added interest and life to my space without making it feel cluttered.
Lighting took some trial and error. As I mentioned before, I only have one small window in my bathroom, and the light coming in is NOT flattering. I also have fluorescent overhead lights that make everything look gross and yellow.
I started taking photos at different times of the day and learned that the light between 10- and 11-a.m. is magical. There is just enough natural sunlight streaming in to give you a crisp, fresh look without any direct sun beaming in. For nighttime and cloudy day shots, I got creative with what I already had.
I grabbed a cute lamp from my bedroom and placed it right outside my bathroom door to cast a soft glow onto my bathroom. I know, it sounds ridiculous. But hey, it worked!
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The lamp gave my white tiles a creamy white appearance instead of chalk white. And the lamps softened the shadows that made my skin look ashen in the mirror. Angles were by far my biggest challenge.
Seriously, I took at least 40 pictures just standing in the doorway, moving my phone up and down and left and right. You have to be careful of your angle because if you shoot too high, you lose that cozy factor. If you shoot too low, your bathroom starts to look wonky.
I found that shooting from directly above my shoulder and tilting my phone down just slightly gave my bathroom the best look. I also started shooting from different corners of my bathroom. Instead of always facing the doorway, I’d step into the bathroom and take a picture from the corner of the shower looking towards my sink.
Not only did this angle allow me to capture my cute mirror, but it made my bathroom look bigger. Pro tip: try shooting straight up at your ceiling light fixture. It sounds weird, I know, but it creates an interesting architectural detail that you might have never noticed before!
Mirrors are tricky, my friends. Depending how you position yourself, a mirror can make or break your bathroom photos. You want the mirror because it makes your bathroom look bigger (which is always a good thing).
However, it also reflects everything in your bathroom … yes that includes you holding your phone taking pictures. I found myself either positioning myself so I wasn’t in the background of my shot or using my reflection in the mirror to capture more of my bathroom. Water spots are the devil.
I cleaned my mirror, took 5 pictures, and water spots would show up in every single photo. After enough frustration, I started keeping a small microfiber towel by my bathroom to wipe down reflective surfaces between pictures. It’s annoying, yes.
But necessary if you want sharp-looking photographs. Styling was where all of the magic happened. If you want your boring bathroom to pop, you have to spend a little extra time styling your countertop.
I rolled my towels instead of folding them –takes two minutes and looks 100x more luxurious.
I bought a small glass jar to hold cotton swabs, moved my prettiest looking toiletries into a small tray, and made sure my shower curtain was hung perfectly straight. Take the extra few minutes to style your space and you’ll thank yourself later.
Adding plants was a total game-changer for me. One little snake plant on my windowsill and a mini pothos hanging down from my shelf helped soften all the hard angles of tile and bathroom fixtures. Bathroom plant life add colour and interest to your space and help tie everything together.
Bonus: bathrooms have great humidity levels, so your plants will love living in your bathroom too! My favourite part of this whole experience was how cheap and temporary everything I did was. Sure, I rolled my towels instead of folding them, but that took all of 30 seconds!
I didn’t gut my entire bathroom; buy crazy lights; or hire a professional photographer. I just looked at my space differently and figured out ways I could work with what I already had. When people see pictures of my bathroom now, they always say, “Did you remodel your bathroom?” No, I just started paying attention to things I hadn’t noticed before.
