Bathroom design 2022 (+400 real photos) interior ideas

Updated: October 1, 2022

A cramped bathroom is not one where the architects allocated too few square meters for the bathroom, but one where the interior space is not properly organized. After renovation, even a room with a minimum amount of square footage can be turned into an example of advanced design thought. The main thing is to get rid of unnecessary things. Let's look at photos of different bathroom design options.

The first thing you need to do to make the interior of a small bathroom much more spacious is to REMOVE ALL THE EXCESS. We continue by tradition:

• storing things in places other than where they really belong
• keep at hand not only what you need, but also everything you “suddenly need”
• use the bathtub for other purposes

It is precisely because of our disorganization and due to habits established since childhood that decorative cosmetics, clothes for washing, 5 bottles of shampoo or shower gel (when one is enough), washing powder and cleaning products end up in the bathroom (their place is in a separate closet or pantry).

IMPORTANT! With proper zoning and design, a combined bathroom can look much more attractive than an imperial-style bath in a huge room with a fireplace.

Small bathroom interior

For small bathrooms (and in the post-Soviet space, almost all planned houses have small bathrooms ), a minimalist design is ideal. Baroque, colorful ornaments and many details will make a small bathroom even more cramped. Ruffles, frills, roses and complex curls are not our option. In a small space, clear lines of objects and decor would be more appropriate.

Note! A wall mirror is a good way to visually expand a room . However, remember that in high humidity conditions in the bathroom, the mirror will sweat. One of the main conditions for stylish bathroom design is sterile cleanliness (walls, floors, glass and earthenware).

Another way to visually enlarge the space is to decorate the interior in LIGHT COLORS with individual bright accents. Don't get carried away with pure white. It is difficult to stay in a completely white room for a long time. In addition, white tiles require daily care and washing. It is better to choose a light shade of any color, and complement the bathroom with elements of a contrasting or the same shade, but more saturated.

Note! The same rule applies to interior design as when choosing clothes. Horizontal stripes on the walls make the room wider, and vertical stripes “raise” the ceilings.

Instead of wall or floor cabinets in a small bathroom, it is better to use built-in furniture - or mount the shelves as a solid “canvas” without gaps, so that they completely cover the wall. It seems that this option will reduce space. In fact, the feeling of crampedness is caused not so much by the actual area, but by how many separate objects a person can distinguish. A built-in wardrobe or continuous rows of shelves are perceived as a single whole, and the bathroom appears larger due to the psychology of space perception. For the same reason, everything that can be hidden in a closet should be hidden in it.

The more little things and accessories remain in sight, the more cramped the bathroom will seem.

The mirror in the bathroom can be equipped with spot lighting, but you should not give up overhead lighting. Filling the space evenly with light is another way to expand the bathroom.

A door that opens inward eats up an additional half meter. Change the hinges and install doors that open outward - or install sliding ones. This option is more convenient, but more expensive to install and arrange.

See more photos of a small bathroom.

Bet on light colors

Light colors in the interior contribute to the visual expansion of space, so they will be very relevant for a small bathroom. Take a white palette as a basis - now monochrome interiors are at the peak of popularity, where all surfaces are decorated in a single whitish palette. Thus, the boundaries of the planes are simply erased!

So that the room does not “pressure” you with its sterility, use different shades and textures. You can add one or two bright colors as minor accents.

An alternative to white can be light tones of any paint. For example, a light blue bathroom will look beautiful, since this color is closest to the water element. You can also decorate the room in light green or pink tones. Cream color is no less versatile than white. It can also be easily combined with any other colors, but creates a more cozy atmosphere.

Design of a combined bathroom

Even if the bathroom is separate, one of the options for expanding the space is to combine these rooms . So don’t be sad if your apartment has a combined bathroom.

Popular layout options for a combined bathroom:

• simple - the bathroom is positioned wide, the rest of the furniture is lined up along the longer side.
• without corners - a semicircular “niche” is formed around the bathtub. Some of the useful space is “eaten up”, but this is easily compensated for by placing a large mirror in the bathroom.

A combined bathroom is an inconvenient solution if a whole family lives in the apartment, with parents and children, grandparents. In this case, you can use a decorative screen, which looks more attractive than oilcloth curtains, and is completely hidden in the closet after bathing (unlike curtains, which create visual noise even when pushed “into a corner”).

Read more about apartment design.

Redevelopment and increase in area

Before you start redecorating, think about whether you can remodel and increase the size of the bathroom. If you have a separate bathroom, with such an area it is better to combine it and gain valuable meters - it is much more functional. Or maybe there is a small storage room nearby, a utility room or a branch of the corridor, which can also be combined with a bathroom?

How to design a corner bathroom

A corner bath is a compromise solution between giving up a bathtub and the usual oval-rectangular shape. It saves space in a small bathroom. And with the shape of the room being close to a square, the corner bathroom would have to take the place of the standard “sister” in standard layouts.

Placing a corner bath is easier than placing a rectangular one. A corner bathtub - square or oval - should be IN THE CORNER, where it belongs.

Otherwise, the rules remain exactly the same as when decorating a bathroom with a standard oval bathtub. In addition, a corner bathroom does not have to be in the shape of a square. Modern plumbing manufacturers offer any configuration:

• oval (with rounded edge)
• square (with straight and clear lines)
• round (not the best option for tight spaces, but it exists)
• curved shape (the edge of the bathtub has a complex shape, while maintaining a right angle)

Finishing

Finishing materials are responsible for the visual perception of all six planes - four walls, flooring and ceiling. The general background should be both light and contrasting.

Therefore, the three types of plane must be made in different manners. The difference itself is contributed by:

• Use of a specific one-color material in only one plane;
• The use of two-color materials in different planes, provided that the color ratio is different everywhere (a striking example of this is a black and white bathroom).

Moreover, both techniques can be summarized through, for example, light laminate flooring, stretch ceilings and “checkerboard” walls made of ceramics. The main thing is that there is much less dark color than light color.

It is allowed to use several elements in the same volume if the dark elements are so only because they are muted. For example, gray and green are darker by default than white and mint, respectively. However, the first pair certainly cannot be called radically dark.

Finally, the finish must be moisture resistant. It is not for nothing that it is customary to use gypsum plasterboard, ceramic tiles and vinyl siding inside the bathroom.

How to choose furniture

All furniture for this room must be moisture resistant. This rule does not depend on the style or size of the room. Who wants to change all the interior items a year after purchase? A reasonable person would definitely not want to. This means that, first of all, when choosing bathroom furniture, we focus not on design, but on quality of execution. The main materials from which bathroom furniture is made:

• MDF
• Chipboard
• plastic
• glass
• natural or artificial stone

Natural wood is a practical and beautiful material. But, unfortunately, not in our realities. European manufacturers, using natural materials in their bathroom collections, are guided by the standard layout of Europe, where the usual size of a bathroom is from 4 to 9 square meters. A typical bathroom in our conditions usually does not exceed 4 “squares”. Furniture made of natural wood will not survive high humidity and cramped conditions. Don’t torment her or yourself (with prices and the prospect of refurbishment of the premises in the coming years) - opt for more practical materials. Or choose furniture from elite manufacturers made from exotic, but moisture-resistant types of wood. Suitable for you:

• teak
• wenge
• zebrano
• Iroko

Cabinets or shelves?

There is no place for closets in a cramped space! The more free-standing interior items, the cramped the room seems. The ideal solution would be a built-in wardrobe up to the ceiling.

You can further expand the bathroom using mirrored cabinet walls. But remember - they will have to be washed regularly to remove plaque. Not once a week, but daily.

A replacement for cabinets can be a solid rack of open shelves without doors, or with sliding doors.

Laundry basket

Storing laundry in the washing machine until washed is not an option . But it’s better to get rid of the basket in the bathroom - move it to the pantry or another room. The main task is to make sure that the laundry basket does not stand out from the general background. If there is absolutely nowhere to put it away, hide this “interior item” out of sight, in a built-in closet. You can do the same with a washing machine if the loading mechanism is not top-loading, but front-loading. This will solve two problems at once: things that are always left on the typewriter will not attract the eye, and the typewriter itself will fit organically as the bottom element of a cabinet up to the ceiling.

Mirror

It is also better to choose a mirror that is wall-mounted and flat (without an accompanying cabinet), but of the maximum size. A full-length mirror can be considered ideal for a small bathroom. If you are not afraid of the prospect of washing large mirror surfaces, you can abandon the mirror as an interior item and make a mirror of an entire wall.

Modern mirror manufacturers cover them with a special film that prevents fogging. Such mirrors cost much more than “room” mirrors, but they also last longer. It may be worth saving energy on cleaning and money on household chemicals, and immediately purchase a mirror “adapted” to high humidity.

Accessories

The rule of minimalism says: the smaller the room, the fewer individual elements it should contain. And those that are necessary must be of a minimum size. A glass for toothbrushes, a bottle of liquid soap or a soap dish, and other small but important items should match the color of the walls and not attract the eye. The same goes for your bathrobe (if you keep one in the bathroom) and towels. To set accents, it is better to place several thematic decorative elements in the bathroom - an exotic sink, a painting or a moisture-loving climbing plant. This approach will allow us to add a little carefreeness to our extremely functional bathroom, without cluttering the space with unnecessary details.

Creating an estimate

It is very important to calculate your expenses in advance, since what you see on paper or in a computer program may not match your actual financial capabilities. You don’t have to make an estimate according to all existing canons, although this would be the most correct decision. To simply understand the situation, it will be enough to find out the real prices in stores where the availability of the necessary materials is found, and multiply all this by the calculated volume, taking into account the mandatory addition in case of defects.

If you hire workers, immediately calculate how much it will cost to pay for their services. If you find suitable plumbing fixtures, other appliances and furniture on sale in relation to your needs and dimensions - write down future expenses in the estimate. Here it is important not just to estimate some approximate amounts, but to make accurate calculations. Make sure that the store or supplier definitely has in stock all the materials and other things that they undertake to deliver to you in the required volume and at a specific price. This will make it possible to formulate an accurate and final price list, eliminating the error of having to make purchases from different suppliers, at different prices and under different conditions. Think over this point in advance to save yourself from unnecessary movements when you find out that there is not enough of this material or it has suddenly become more expensive.

How to arrange a stylish bathroom in a Khrushchev-era building?

Khrushchev is not a death sentence. It can be made not only comfortable, but also stylish. And the bathroom too.

The first thing to do with a bathroom in a typical Khrushchev building is to get rid of the standard bathtub and replace it with a modern one. A corner bath will save a little space. So what if the previous one was “cast iron”? High-quality acrylic holds the temperature no worse. But we freed up some space for a washing machine, which cannot be squeezed into a Khrushchev-era kitchen. Instead of hiding the washing machine in a built-in closet, you can place it under the sink. The designer who came up with this ingenious solution deserves a monument from all the grateful residents of apartments with a typical Soviet layout. You can completely abandon the sink in the bathroom.

Another popular and modern way to save space is to install a wall-hung toilet instead of a floor-mounted one. Visually the room becomes “lighter”. The answer to the usual question is: no, it won’t fall. Mounts for hanging plumbing can withstand loads of up to 200 kg.

Where to put the washing machine

Where to place a washing machine is a problem that many owners of small apartments face. If, besides the bathroom, there are no other alternatives for its installation, try to hide the equipment as much as possible. For example, in the cabinet under the washbasin. This space often remains unused, and for a washing machine it will be a real salvation.

If you combine a bathroom with a toilet, then a small washing machine can be installed above the toilet. But here you cannot do without plasterboard, from which you will need to form a false wall. Its lower part will cover communications and the tank, and the upper part will hide a washing machine installed on a powerful shelf. The structure must be equipped with a door, which you can “disguise” with finishing material.

Bathroom design in Khrushchev (90 photos)

How to choose a tile?

This would be a good place to start. After all, the renovation and decoration of a bathroom begins with the selection of colors, shades, style and choice of tiles for the floors and walls. The smaller the bathroom, the smaller the tiles you should choose. The psychological effect works very simply - we see not the size of the tiles, but their number. There are a lot of tiles - the space seems larger. If funds and patience allow, you can lay out the walls with ceramic mosaics. But don't overdo it with contrasts. An overly colorful mosaic on the walls of a small bathroom will create a kaleidoscope effect, and the room will look even cramped.

You should not follow the popular advice and lay out the lower part of the room with dark tiles and the upper part with light tiles. This “design” divides the space that we are diligently trying to unite.

Glossy tiles are better suited for small spaces than matte ones. It is more difficult to maintain, but reflects light and performs the same role as a mirror - visually expanding the room.

Particular attention to lighting

A small bathroom should be equipped with a high-quality lighting system. Firstly, it is simply necessary in the room for hygiene procedures. Secondly, the more light, the more spacious the room seems.

Install spotlights around the perimeter of the ceiling, and place a small ceiling chandelier in the center. Pay special attention to the area with the washbasin and mirror - here you will need additional light sources in the form of sconces or spots. You can separately illuminate the shower or bathtub, and decorate the floor boundaries with LED strips.

How to make your design modern

There are almost more design styles than there are interior designers themselves. In the case of a small bathroom, all directions working with the “antique” theme will have to be abandoned. But this is rather a forced plus, no matter how strange this formulation may seem.

Richness of decoration, gold and shine in interior elements, elaborate ornaments, abundance of draperies and non-functional “decorations” - all this was invented in the era of stone castles with spacious halls. What there was no need for in the Middle Ages was additional square meters. A modern person living in a house with a standard layout cannot afford to waste precious space.

The best solution for a typical bathroom would be hi-tech or minimalism styles. The classic also works well if you adapt it a little. Fortunately, all three styles do not go out of fashion, develop and remain relevant.

Fewer details, practicality, clean straight or smooth lines are current trends in modern design that are perfect for a small bathroom.

Storage systems

In a small bathroom of 2 sq.m. Massive cabinets will not fit, so you will need multifunctional and compact designs. Use lightweight shelves and organizers for cosmetics, medicines and household chemicals. If the layout allows, it is best to build the cabinet into the wall, and leave the space under the bathtub, above the toilet and under the ceiling for light open shelves.

Bathroom design in Khrushchev (90 photos)

Bathroom design with shower

If you want to not only create the feeling of additional space in the bathroom, but also really get a little extra free space - perhaps you don’t really need a bathtub?

If you can live without a bath, install a shower stall. If the minimum size of a “lying” bath is about 140 cm in length, then the cabin takes up 70 cm. Half a meter, reclaimed from the architects who planned old houses - by the standards of modern bathrooms this is an absolute victory over space.

If life without a bath is not a joy at all, you can find a compromise option. For example, install a shower stall, in the lower part of which there is a sitz bathtub. Of course, you still won’t be able to fully lie down and relax in hot water - but you can sit and relax in hot water.

The walls of the shower stall in a small bathroom should be made of transparent, not frosted glass. And always clean. Then the shower cabin will not attract attention to itself, dissolving into the interior.

Use the corners!

The main rule for arranging small premises is maximum exploitation of corner areas. This allows you to leave more free space for movement. In a bathroom, such a move will require the purchase of special corner sanitary ware, but with the current assortment, this is absolutely not a problem.

A corner cabinet with a washbasin will free up space against the wall where a washing machine, dryer or bidet can be placed. In addition, you will get a spacious storage system, since the corner structures are deeper.

Choose a bath bowl or shower stall of the same shape, and on the opposite side install a shelving unit or hooks for clothes. As you can see, this makes a small bathroom more functional and spacious!

How to design a bathroom 2 sq.m. (80 photos)

Heated towel rail

In modern interiors, they use not the old water pipe dryer, but modern electric towel dryers. They can be turned on and off as needed and are more durable.

For floor

The floor can be covered with linoleum, but mold and mildew will soon form under it due to dampness and moisture. If the lining is done with tiles, such troubles will not happen, because it is moisture resistant, easy to install, and durable.

• The key advantage of laminate is that it has good thermal insulation (after a shower you won’t have to step on a cold floor). In addition, it is durable and wear-resistant.
• And there’s nothing to say about the natural stone floor: it’s gorgeous! Luxury and wealth are immediately visible. It's sad that not everyone can afford to have one.

Plumbing equipment must be reliable. While you can save a little on materials, no craftsman will advise you on frequently used parts and equipment (for example, a faucet, toilet, shower).

For walls

Are wood panels suitable? Hardly. The most ideal option for walls is tiles. Ceramic tiles are in demand. Even in bad conditions it will serve for many years. Besides, there are so many different colors now that you can give free rein to your imagination...

Certain wall paints are sold. They are easy to apply to the surface and also protect the wall from moisture and mold. And to make the room more colorful, you can decorate the wall surfaces with wall paintings or stickers. It will turn out original!

Antiseptic materials will prevent fungus from appearing in the room. If possible, you can also buy them.