How To Make A Small Bathroom Feel Larger

Tips and tricks to make even the tiniest bathroom feel much larger.

GAINING SPACE | How do you make a dinky five-foot-square powder room feel larger? Mirror is one obvious solution, which is why I installed a giant, counter-to-ceiling sheet of it in my recently renovated loo. Another is to replace a traditional, space-hogging vanity with shallow cabinets. I gained a valuable nine inches on the floor across the width of my tiny room by replacing the boxy 21-inch-deep vanity with five linear feet of plain-Jane IKEA kitchen wall cabinets that are a mere 12 inches deep. Not only did I maximize the amount of open floor area, but I gained infinitely more—and more useful—storage as well.

More Space Tricks

When you want to make a space feel larger, fewer visual interruptions are better. Going wall-to-wall with the cabinets made them feel more a part of the architecture than a stand-alone unit would have done; so did repainting the door fronts (with an epoxy product) to match the wall colour.

The guys who installed my mirror argued against running glass down to the counter. It could get ugly behind the sink and mouldy where the Corian meets the mirror, they said, before acquiescing and applying a good, clear sealant along the bottom edge of the mirror. I haven’t found either of their worries to be a problem at all, while eliminating a potentially intrusive backsplash has visually opened up the room.

Smaller fixtures work best in small spaces, too. I gained another few inches on the floor by reusing my old Kohler Rialto one-piece, the industry’s smallest toilet front to back. My ceramic (I am distrustful of other bathroom sink materials) sink, the Lillangen model (currently on sale) from IKEA is just 10 5/8 inches deep and fits perfectly on top of the 14-inch-deep Corian counter. —Carolann Rule