Disclaimer: this blog post contains the words “loo” and “loo roll” approximately sixteen million times. When we first got our house, I used to despise half bathrooms. Put a toilet and a sink in a cupboard under the stairs, slap some magnolia on the walls and declare it done.
That was until my friend Jess showed me hers last month. Wow. Talk about thinking outside the (square) box.
Her downstairs toilet was literally the size of a telephone box. But it had dark grey walls, and a beautiful antique mirror she picked up in a market for £10.
Together, it worked.
She had inspired me. Our house in Bulwell did come with a half bathroom under the stairs. But it was beige.
It had an asymmetric toilet roll holder that constantly fell off the wall. It had that flat, depressing strip light that made everyone look constipated. I nicknamed it “the cave,” and Danny didn’t contradict me.
For years, I’d avoided doing anything with it. There were bigger projects to prioritise. The main bathroom was a barn conversion awaiting renovation.
The kitchen needed work. The lounge hadThat horrendous swirly brown and cream wallpaper from 1987. You know the one.
Jess’ bathroom had inspired me though. It was tiny. Honestly, maybe about the smallest space in the house.
I measured it once, and it’s barely four feet by six feet, door swing not included. But you do weird things with tiny rooms. I quickly learned that smaller spaces can be actually quite freeing.
You can’t fit much furniture in a powder bathroom, so every choice has to be intentional. First of all, I took down that disgusting textured wallpaper. It was already flaking off in places, so that wasn’t too much work.
Underneath was drywall that needed patching but nothing serious. Danny laughed at me when I said I was going to paint it navy blue. “You’ll make it look like a cell,” he said. By this point, I’d watched enough YouTube tutorials to know that a dark colour on the walls can actually make a small room feel more intimate.
Low risk, might as well go with my gut instinct. Dulux Heritage Teal was on offer in B&Q as they’d mixed too much when someone else ordered it. “Oh,” replied the paint lady, eyeing up the tin I’d picked up. “Planning on doing your downstairs bathroom?” It was £15 for enough paint to cover it twice. Bargain.
She eyed me suspiciously when I told her it was for the toilet. “Bold choice for a downstairs bathroom,” she scoffed. Too right it was. Holy crap.
Once it was painted, the pristine white toilet and sink actually looked…..white. Instead of a builder’s basic colour that just sort of blended into the magnolia walls. With such a small room, you feel the impact as soon as you walk in.
There’s no meandering through curtains or suddenly spotting the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s instant. That meant lighting was key.
The old strip light made everything look tired and outdated, but there wasn’t room on the low ceiling for a pendant light. And being square with such little wall space, there wasn’t room for wall lights either. Eventually, I stumbled across this amazing brass flush mount in a reclaimed section at an architectural salvage yard in Arnold. £20, including VAT.
The man told me it was from an old pub locally. Has this gorgeous amber glow to it that complements the teal walls. It makes everything feel like it belongs in the same room.
Storage was always going to be an issue. There literally isn’t anywhere to put anything in a toilet that’s smaller than our bedroom. The former owners had one of those swirly toilet roll holders with storage underneath.
It was vile. Cheap plastic that clashed with everything. I hacked together a shelf above the toilet using some spare scaffold board from the builders’ merchant.
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Sanded it down, stained it to match the mirror frame, and mounted it on the wall. Cost me about a tenner, but it gives us somewhere to keep a small houseplant, some nicer-than-average hand towels, and a cute little ceramic bowl for rings when you’re washing your hands. Speaking of the mirror.
That was another Facebook Marketplace bargain. Beautiful art deco piece with an etched edge. Some guy in West Bridgford was getting rid of it for £30.
Worst thing about it was having to collect it. It didn’t fit in our car, so I had to borrow my brother’s in order to get it home. But wow.
It’s made the room. So much better than a rectangle you’d pick up from B&Q. Honestly though, the smallest rooms are where you can really let loose with your design choices.
Next door neighbour Kate did hers to a crisp white and black geometric pattern. She said she always wanted to decorate with that wallpaper, but knew it’d be too overpowering for a full room. But as a feature wall behind the toilet?
Absolute gamechanger. It creates such a focal point that you forget how tiny the space actually is. One of our other friends went nuts on his and wallpapered the ceiling with vintage-style floral/botanical print.
I know what you’re thinking. Madness. But when you only spend a few minutes in there at a time, it feels more like you’re stepping into a jewellery box every time you use it, rather than living with busy wallpaper like you would in your lounge.
Make bold choices in a tiny room and they can pay off. Lastly, we needed the floor sorted. Another area where having a small bathroom saved us money.
Those dreamsetter cement tiles I wanted for our kitchen? Way too pricey for a six metre-by-ten metre space. Factor that into four square metres though and suddenly it’s not too crazy.
Cue me stumbling across some beautiful ones with a subtle pattern on Topps Tiles end-of-line sale. Full price, they’d have set us back about £150 for the whole bathroom. Laying it was stupid easy.
Again, watched YouTube. Borrowed a tile cutter from Danny’s brother. Done in two days, the most.
I screwed up on the gaps next to the toilet base (it has to slot in really snuggly against the floor) but because it’s all straight lines, you can’t really notice if you don’t know what you’re looking for. And let’s face it. How many people inspect your grout when they pop onto the toilet?
Toilet vanity reno was honestly one of my favourite rooms in the house once we’d finished. Go on, judge me. I love looking at toilets.
But hear me out. It sounds so weird to love your toilet so much but transforming such a small square footage and making it something you actually enjoy spending your thirty seconds in each day feels amazing. Everyone who visits comments on it.
Before we renovated it, nobody mentioned it. Not once. Also, now I’ve learned how to tile.
So that’s cool.
Moral of the story? If you’re looking for a bathroom project, start in the smallest room.
Wanna go wild on a crazy wallpaper design? Half bathroom is the perfect place to test it out. Least amount of wasted paper if you hate it.
Want to try bright colours that you’re not sure about? Powder rooms are made for it. Worried about spending too much on trendsetter tiles that you’ll struggle to replace in ten years?
Way easier to replace 4m2 than 60. Find friends that’ll let you practice on their bathrooms first. But once you’re ready to start on yours, remember these three tips; go bold, treat it like a jewel box, and have fun with it.
