These guest bathroom decor ideas Get Compliments Every Time

Last month I walked into my friend Sarah’s bathroom and froze mid-toot. The room was six foot by four at most, crammed between her bedroom and hallway. But something about it felt… fancy.

Like aspirational fancy, but fancy nonetheless. The hand towel was rolled into a perfect cylinder and tied shut with linen ribbon. There were three white tulips in a petite glass vase on the narrow windowsill.

That was it. Three inexpensive flowers from Tesco had transformed Sarah’s powder room into something you’d pay actual money to stay in.

I spent way longer in there than necessary because, well why would I rush?

But as I washed my hands I took mental note of all the things she did – some obvious, many not. The soap dispenser was glass, not plastic. Her mirror had a brass vintage-looking frame (picked up at a car boot sale but who was I to judge).

Even her toilet paper holder was brushed nickel instead of builder-basic chrome. But honestly, none of those things were expensive on their own. It was the small touches that told guests this bathroom mattered.

After frequenting friends’ bathrooms as both host and house guest for many years (and ruining every single one I’ve owned with three nightmare aversions in my current flat) I’ve learnt that guests notice things. But more importantly than knowing your guest bathroom has matte black cabinets instead of the usual glossy white, they’ll remember how your bathroom made them feel. That white plastic car Ikea soap dispenser might not raise eyebrows if the rest of your flat is tasteful and modern.

But hand your guests a shitty piece of plastic that feels like it will melt if they turn the tap on hard and all of a sudden you’ve gone from curatorly chic toCheersforever. Swap that out for something solid – ceramic, glass or a nice metal pump – and suddenly everyone believes you’re just innately elegant. Half the battle with towels is psychological.

For years I assumed if I gave guests clean towels they’d be happy. Wrong. So very, very wrong.

I purchased what I thought were charming mid-scale towels from a national British store and within three washes they were scratchy as hell. When my sister stayed I actually asked if I could use “different ones” – i.e. her towels. Embarrassing is an understatement.

Invest in good hand towels for guests. Yes, guests will use bath towels too but only for soaping around in if you don’t have a bath. Spend the money on beautiful hand towels and buy two you love that you can rotate.

Turkish cotton, no less than 600 GSM weight, and REPLACE every eighteen months even if they still look nice. Your guests will thank you. After drying their hands they’ll look up at you with this look of “oh, this is nice” and it feels SO GOOD.

Buy fresh flowers and don’t overthink it. Few things brighten up a space like blooms but here’s the secret: they don’t have to be special or expensive. I like to keep cheap bud vases (THREE quid for four from any charity shop) on rotation in downstairs bathrooms and change out the flowers depending on what’s cheap and in season.

One daffodil in winter. Tulips or narcissi in spring. Basically whatever is in garden in summer and costs nothing; we once did rosemary and three separate guests complimented the “gorgeous bouquet” I put weeks into hand-plucking from our hedge.

If you can’t have fresh, faux flowers are fine too but buy them goddamn Walmart and not the flower aisle at Target, please. The thing about small flowers is proportion. It’s a small bathroom, give them small flowers.

That big bundle of tulips you got for your birthday will flop all over the place in a bathroom that size. One stem, in a vase that doesn’t overwhelm your counters works 100 times better than a dozen stems jammed into some oversized vessel. Wall art in bathrooms is difficult because, well – moisture.

It can warp, bend, break. But that also means you can take chances here that you can’t anywhere else. I own one really cheap black and white photograph of Paris rooftops that I bought from some dude at a street market in Marseille for €8.

It sucks, but when mounted in a small frame on the sole wall space in Sarah’s bathroom it FEELS highbrow. My guests always comment on it; half because they didn’t think anyone puts art in their toilet. Don’t hang anything that can’t get wet or is super precious.

Guests will steam up your mirror. I get it. But also avoid those boring as fuck prints of fortunes wrapped in ribbon that every major home goods company sells.

Pick something YOU would look at, something with personality, or even a story. (“I liked the colours” is a great story.) Soft lighting can make or break any room but master bedrooms and guest bathrooms rarely get enough love. That bright overhead light that makes everyone feel like they’re beingbulldateddoomedneeds to go. Replace it with something warm (2700K, not the blue-tinted ones) and add secondary lighting near the sink/mirror area if you can.

I grabbed this battery-powered sconce off Amazon for £22 that lasts months on three AA batteries and hangs an inch from my guests’ faces when they wash their hands. I didn’t want to wire it but the battery versions nowadays are actually great and don’t flicker like absolute rubbish. It creates a lovely ambient glow that is SO flattering and my friends are actually able to take cute bathroom selfies (yes, people take photos in there now.

LOOK AT WHAT I’VE DONE.). Flush-mount LED lights are also your friend here if wiring isn’t an option. Put up a small shelf or basket for odds and ends.

I don’t mean your guests need a place to put their suitcase hair ties (although towels can dry nicely here too). I’m talking visible clutter is the biggest mood killer in tiny spaces. Pick up a tiny floating shelf from IKEA or Amazon (£12, painted to match wall colour in my case) and prop extra toilet paper behind it along with a small wicker basket.

Keep all other cleaning supplies hidden. The basket is key here, guests will feel secretly supplied without rifling through your bathroom drawers looking for aspirin. Stock it with travel-sized “stuff” you wouldn’t keep in your main bathrooms; sample-size soap, feminine products, gum, whatever.

Something they can use but won’t question the quantity of when they run out. Lastly, scent. I’m not talking plug-ins or spray air fresheners (PLEASE DON’T) but something quiet and lovely.

Maybe keep a small bowl of lavender buds on that floating shelf or simply place an unwrapped bar ofquality soapwhere it can breathe and perfume your space naturally. French milled soaps are AMAZING for this, I lovePré de Provencedoes packets and it’s roughly £4 a bar. They last forever too.

Don’t neglect the mirror. Nothing says “cost-cutting bitch” like a flat-panel builder mirror. Spend the five bucks on an ornate vintage frame at your local estate sale or thrift store.

Have the mirror glass cut to fit and voila: fancy bathroom mirror for under £30. Can’t find vintage? Habitat and John Lewis both sell simple frames that will spruce up your mirror tenfold.

Little details are everything here.

Swap out basic towel hooks for nice ones. Buy a soap dish instead of letting bars of soap chill on your sink edge.

Put a small plant in there that will actually survive (air plants are shit at this, but pothos or even a fake if you can find a convincing one work great). Just remember to upkeep whatever small details you choose. Replace dried-out flowers.

Don’t leave stained towels on the rack. People won’t explicitly tell you they notice these things but trust me, they will. They’ll spend two minutes longer washing up after dinner.

They’ll Instagram their morning coffee. They’ll tell their partners your bathroom is “the nicest they’ve ever stayed in” on the drive home. And isn’t that worth a few minor upgrades/weekly lazyflowerfork bucks?