It is a truth universally acknowledged that the average bathroom which is used by more than one person must be in want of more storage.
It is also true, that even though some people prefer to call it the smallest room in the house for strange euphemistic reasons – ie they don’t want to say loo – the bathroom actually really is. Not only do we build the smallest houses in Europe but we have the tiniest bathrooms too.
A BBC story from last year quoted RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects) as saying that new homes in Ireland, Holland and Denmark were respectively found to be 15 per cent, 53 per cent and 80 per cent bigger than those in the UK.
Which means that when it comes to the bathroom, most of us are struggling to fit everything in. Because the other great truth about bathrooms is that we expand to fit the available space. So you might move in with just a toothbrush, a stick of deodorant and a bottle of shower gel, but once you get really settled it seems that there are lotions and potions on every available surface. Including the floor.
So the key to a successful bathroom is storage, storage, storage (if we’re going to misappropriate everyone else’s quotes, sayings and epigrams we might as well really go for it. And by we I mean I. Obvs).
Now the best bathroom storage is wall-mounted. This is because the more floor space available to the eye, the bigger the brain thinks the room is. A simple, but effective, con. So in a really tiny room the first thing to do is choose a wall-mounted loo (or pan as the builder will insist on calling it).
These pictures are all from CP Hart which has some really great pieces from classic to cutting edge via contemporary.
Then go vertical with the storage. Floating vanity units, shelves above the afore-mentioned pan and cupboards too. Anything to keep it off the floor and move it onto the wall.
Finally, be ruthless. If there’s a bit left in the bottom of the bottle that you aren’t going to use then chuck.it.out. If you need to buy multi-packs of loo roll then see if you can store it somewhere else – under the bed if necessary.
I slightly wish I had something like these floating vanity units below. We have two basins that are wall mounted but for some reason I was in denial about how much stuff I would accumulate in there and the small zinc butler’s tray table that we have between them, while attractive, does mean that everything is out on view and looks rather cluttered.
Once you’ve sorted out the storage then do think carefully about the tiles. Big tiles can actually make a space look bigger as, once again, they trick the brain. The idea being – gosh these tiles are big this must be a big room to be able to take them. So don’t assume that you need to stick to those small mosaic tiles in a small room.
Right, I’m off to either buy more storage or chuck stuff out…
For more ideas visit my Pinterest board
This post was written in collaboration with CP Hart. But the words and opinions are all mine. I don’t often partner up with companies but a) I like CP Hart and b) this blog has to earn its money somewhere if I’m to keep myself in fabulous shoes and dark grey paint.
