How To Give Your Bathroom A Dash Of Designer Style
Don’t be disheartened if your bathroom is looking a little rough around the edges or in need of updating – there are plenty of small tweaks you can make to give it a dose of designer style. Interior designers often use feature lighting and statement accents to enliven an otherwise ordinary scheme. In bathrooms, this translates as wall sconces, small arrangements of accessories, or perhaps using plants to inject life into the space.
Update your taps and shower
Dated brassware will do a bathroom no design favours and if your fixtures are past their best anyway, it might be time for a refit.
In this all-white wash space, striking black taps and a concealed shower valve bring a surprisingly effective hint of contrast. Or you could ‘tap’ into the trend for warm metals and look at contemporary brass finishes.
Style a display tray
Grouping together a few simple products, candles or rolled face cloths on a shallow tray is an easy short-cut to designer bathroom style. Monochrome colouring suits both classic and contemporary set-ups and will make your assortment even easier to arrange.
Nod to Victoriana
If your home has period heritage, incorporate the theme with a Victorian-inspired bathroom. Metro tiles or black and white encaustics make for a stylish backdrop, while retro-looking pedestal basins, quirky taps and classic close-coupled toilets are easy to come by.
If a major makeover isn’t on the cards, don’t despair – you can still get the look with a vintage mirror or a selection of apothecary-style bottles.
Think big
Small bath mats can get lost in large bathrooms. Instead, think about incorporating a flat-weave cotton rug with a bold pattern to take advantage of all that floor space.
Win with a window treatment
Soften an overly sterile bathroom with Roman blinds. This double-layered style features one blind in a sheer for privacy and one in an opaque fabric for night-time relaxing.
Accent your wash space
Picking out a bright feature colour, such as the blue in this scheme, is a straightforward way to liven up a boring bathroom. Try to take your chosen colour across different finishes and textures for a more subtle way to weave in striking shades.
Rustle up a new read
Make space for reading material in a smaller cloakroom, where shower steam won’t cause problems for paper. These neat, recessed shelves could be carved out of a wall where space is needed alongside for plumbing.
Beautify your bath rack
Set the scene for blissful bathing with a fully stocked bath rack. Pretty toiletries and candles are a must, but also consider decanting bath salts into dainty containers or including organic elements, such as a piece of natural sponge.
Hang a show-stopping shower curtain
The much-maligned shower curtain is overdue a design renaissance, offering an easy and affordable way to spruce up your bathroom.
Easier to maintain than glass screens (where limescale is often an issue), there are plenty of patterns available, meaning you can change the whole look of your space with one small tweak.
These fancy floral numbers feature normal fabric lined with a waterproof plastic curtain, an idea that really opens up the design possibilities.
Fix up some furniture
Freestanding furniture provides extra storage, handy display space and a useful balance to an overload of cold tiles and white sanitary ware. Natural-looking wooden pieces have a particularly softening effect, as well as mixing well with most design schemes.
Tweak a classic
Take metro tiles to the next level with unusual colouring or an unconventional pattern. These blue mist tiles give an understated warm yet relaxing hue, meaning even en masse the effect is far from cold.