Let’s talk about tiny powder rooms. You know the ones. You walk into them and immediately feel like you’ve entered someone’s phone booth.
That was my powder room for three months after moving into my current home. The half bath was usable, but … sad. Skinless walls, an awkward pedestal sink, and harsh lighting left everyone feeling a little sickly after their visit.
I’d been avoiding tackling the room because let’s face it – decorating small spaces is hard. How do you make things cute when you’re working with such limited square footage?
For every question, it seemed I had about three answers.
My husband walked out of our half bath concerned about the “energy” one evening, and that was it for me. Minute bathroom, about to become maxed-out. Here’s what I did wrong the first time I tried to tackle my pint-sized powder room.
I started off by thinking small. Strolling through HomeGoods, I assumed that since the room was on the petite side, accessories would have to be too. Sinks already took up precious space, so artwork and storage would need to be scaled down as well, right?
Fast forward 20 minutes, and I found myself squinting at a basket full of minuscule décor items. Micro toilet paper holder. Tiny frames.
It-cocked-its-head-side-to-side-bin. Granted, the pieces all MATCHED, but did they bring ANYTHING interesting to the room? Scaling down everything just made it feel even tinier.
No, thank you. The lightbulb moment – pardon my awful pun – happened when I went from thinking small to thinking smart. Why not mount EVERYTHING to the walls?
My contractor brother-in-law, Mike, had given me that decorating tip once before, but for some reason it clicked when I was staring at that pathetic basket of dollhouse décor. First up: sink. I ditched the bulky pedestal sink in favour of a wall-mounted ceramic model that gave me floor space from wall to wall.
Cost about £180, but worth every penny. Score one for storage with that decision. Now I had space beneath my sink to add a wall-mounted cabinet!
The Godmorgon series from IKEA is my go-to for wall cabinets, and at £45 it was love at first sight. Hidden storage is miraculous in a powder room. Extra rolls of toilet paper, cleansers, spare guest towels?
Who cares if they’re hiding behind cabinets doors painted crisp, clean white. Instead of mounting one large mirror over the sink, I bought two small, round mirrors to place side-by-side. Ok, so they look weird together.
Buuut making your own quirky focal point makes that narrow wall behind the sink feel wider than it actually is. The mirrors come with thin brass frames and weren’t pricey at all – about £35 each at my local home decor shop. Pro tip: use oversized mirrors in small bathrooms to bounce light around and off of that dark corner you never notice until you’re painting.
The mirrors reflected the light from our small window across the room in ways I hadn’t even considered when I bought them. After ditching the overhead can light for two smaller wall sconces flanking the mirror, this space finally felt complete. They weren’t the easiest things to install (I text my electrician brother for help TWICE), but they opened up the space so much more than a single bulb overhead.
If you’re going to hang light fixtures in a powder room, go with warm LED bulbs. These bad boys were only £28 apiece. Not too shabby considering how much they open up the space.
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Painting small rooms a light colour makes sense. Light reflects better, giving the illusion of more space. Problem is, everyone decorates small rooms a light colour.
Be brave. Go bold. You’re not painting the whole room – just the back wall.
The wall opposite the entrance, to be exact. That dark, dramatic wall will draw your eye in when you walk into the room, making the half bath feel more purposeful than accidentally tiny. Because my wallpaper tasted bold with that dark green accent wall, I stuck with warm metals (aka brass) throughout.
The sconces, towel ring – I even mounted a small floating shelf next to the sink to house a single succulent. Green and brass aren’t fighting for attention like green and chrome would. Speaking of that floating shelf … It’s literally eight inches long.
But don’t underestimate the power of bringing a little life into your powder room. Sure, it takes up zero floor space, but having one plant in there makes it feel less neglected than the other full bathrooms in your home. Sick of cleaning up everyone’s hair in the sink?
Try adding an over toilet cabinet to your half bath wish list. The concept is the same as the under-mounted cabinet I added under the sink. It’s wall-mounted, and it helps you take advantage of storage space that would otherwise go unused.
I LOVE mine and it hides extra guest towels that don’t crowd my linen closet. Mine’s narrow and white to maximise space and painted square footage, and cost me about £60. Ah, towels.
The bane of my powder room decor existence. Hand towels? Too small.
Bath towels? Too big. And who wants to buy special “powder room-sized” towels?
Enter fingertip towels. They’re longer than hand towels, but not quite as bulky as your typical bath towel. Now I keep two folded towels on display on a small brass towel ring, and they look intentional instead of jammed in there.
Original art is pricey, and let’s face it: not super practical for a small bathroom. Go with three small framed prints in a vertical line instead of one larger piece that will overpower the space. I went with botanicals to complement the green accent wall, but you do you boo!
Last but not least: the rug.
Because every space needs a rug, even tiny bathrooms. But trying to find a rug small enough to fit my half bath took THREE attempts.
Take note: you don’t want one so small that you can’t open the door all the way without it catching. But you also don’t want one so big that it *looks* like you bought the kid size version. Mine ended up being 18 inches by 30 inches.
Perfection. And that’s how I turned my boring bathroom into a cute (read: acceptable for guests to use) powder room. For around £400 and over the course of two months, I learned that going with bigger décor pieces and mounting everything I could to the walls were the secrets to decorating a small bathroom.
Friends, I would totally do it again. Except for returning those rugs twice. Ugh, props to you if you got your rug size right the first time.
UPDATE: Learn more about decorating small spaces in my more recent tiny bathroom reveal.
