There’s something about a powder room that defies functionality. You know the awkward ones where you feel like you’re squeezing past people just to walk in? That was my powder room for the first three months of living in my house.
Half bathroom? More like criminally undersized. Gray walls.
Naked pedestal sink. Lighting that made everyone look sickly.
After three months of putting off remodeling because, let’s face it, how do you accessorize something that’s only 5 feet by 4 feet?
I decided it was time to tackle my john. Impressed by my procrastination skills, myself. My friend Sarah had just left my home after spending several minutes in the powder room questioning the “energy” in there when it hit me.
I couldn’t invite people over with THAT bathroom! So, I went to HomeGoods prepared to buy it all wrong. Small soap dispenser, matching sponge holder, tiny plant, etc.
Half an hour and £60 later I was trudging home with baskets full of dollhouse-scale accouterments. Mini paintings. Itty bitty trashcan.
Micro towels that actually looked fluffy by comparison to the rest of the bathroom decor. Everything I bought that day made the room feel smaller and more cramped rather than happy and put together. Eventually, I figured out I was approaching the space all wrong.
Instead of trying to fit every type of bathroom accessory into that tiny room, I thought about what I could do to elevate it. My contractor buddy Mike had been raving about installing everything wall-mounted, so that was the first idea I rolled with. Swapping out the pedestal sink for a wall-mounted one was a game-changer.
At about £180 for a basic white ceramic sink from HomeGoods, it wasn’t cheap, but holy crap did it open up that space. All of a sudden there was floor space all the way to the wall instead of this bulky thing taking up prime bathroom real estate. Now that I had an actual floating sink, I could install a wall-mounted cabinet underneath.
IKEA had just what I wanted (Godmorgon bathroom vanities, if you’re wondering) for about £45. Hidden storage is EVERYTHING in a powder room. Suddenly I had a place to stash extra toilet paper, cleaner, spare guest towels.
It was a game changer. Wait… two mirrors? Instead of one large mirror above the sink, I installed two small round mirrors about four inches apart.
It sounds silly, but that double mirror is actually the focal point of the room and makes that super narrow wall feel much wider than it is. The mirrors were cheap too — thin brass frames with antique silver interiors for about £35 at my local homegoods store. They catch light from the window across the room in a way I didn’t expect.
The lighting above the sink got an upgrade too. That overhead light came down and two small wall sconces went up. Flanking the double mirror gives the room so much more depth instead of relying on that one bright spot to light up the whole room.
The install wasn’t too bad (I did call my electrician brother for help…twice), and the warm LED bulbs really opened up the space. £28/each isn’t too shabby either. Ok, color. I’ve heard forever that you should stick to light colors in small rooms to make them feel more spacious.
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And while that’s true, I’m so over beige and white walls. I painted just the back wall (the one opposite the doorway) a dark forest green. It’s bold?
Sure. But when you walk into that bathroom your eye is drawn to that wall first and it makes the room feel more intentional. Choosing that green took me down a rabbit hole of.not buying stuff.
Light wood looks great with that color. Bright white looks great with that color. What about brass??
Bold move, but I went with brass everything. The sconces, towel ring, even the small floating shelf I added next to the sink to hold one little succulent. The warm metal complements the green without fighting with it for attention.
I lucked out with the floating shelf. It’s literally only eight inches long, but it breaks up all that green and gives me an excuse to keep something living in there. And bonus?
Succulents are notoriously tricky to kill, but they don’t seem to mind the bursts of humidity that come with daily hand washing. I still needed somewhere to stash guest towels without installing more shelves, so I added an over-the-toilet cabinet. Much like the under-sink cabinet, this wall-mounted piece takes advantage of unused space.
Mine’s super skinny and white and was about £60. It holds all our guest supplies without crowding the room. Speaking of towels, I actually had to experiment to find the right size for the space.
Hand towels looked stupid tiny in there, but bath towels were overwhelming. Turns out fingertip towels are the answer. Bigger than a hand towel but not so big that they overwhelm the space.
I keep two hanging on a small brass towel ring and they actually look styled rather than stuffed in there. Art was another challenge. One big piece was out of the question, but tiny pictures looked…well, tiny.
I ended up going with three small botanical prints in identical frames hung vertically on the wall next to the mirror. They’re simple, tie in with the green accent wall, and don’t fight with the mirrors for attention. Last but not least?
The floor.
Y’all. The subfloor was literally just bare concrete.
It wasn’t cheap, but I added a small rug to pull everything together. Finding the right size small took me three tries. Too large and you couldn’t fully open the door.
Too small and it looked like it was perpetually dripping dry. Once I found the sweet spot (18″x 30″ is just enough to cover most of the floor without being obnoxiously small) everything fell into place. The total damage for the makeover?
About £400 and the work was spread out over two months. Not groundbreaking, but satisfying for transforming a room I spend a lot of time in every day. And I’ll forever remember that decorating a tiny bathroom is less about buying the miniature versions of your favorite décor and more about choosing a few thoughtful pieces and thinking vertically.
