How To Make A Bathroom Look Bigger Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
On This Page
John Keeble/Getty Images April 14, 2022 Cynthia Widmayer is an insurance contributor for Bankrate and has over two years of experience as a personal finance writer. She covers home, car and life insurance products for Bankrate, The Simple Dollar and Coverage.com among others. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Bathrooms tend to be the tiniest rooms in a house. Most of us would love to make a little bathroom bigger, but expanding its square feet or re-doing its footprint can be expensive and laborious — assuming it’s feasible at all. The great news is that certain remodeling and design tricks can not only provide an illusion of space in a small bathroom, but also actually free up more room for storage and splashing around. Here are some simple, relatively look and feel more spacious, even when you can’t actually enlarge it.
Swap the tub for a shower
An increasingly popular way to make a small bathroom larger is to replace the bathtub with a walk-in shower stall. Removing the tub will open up more floor space and a glass door instead of a shower curtain will help any natural light to shine through the whole place. Admittedly, a is a fairly big renovation project. According to Angi, the average cost of replacing a tub with a shower is $10 to $65 per square foot, depending on specific location and the type of shower stall. Typically, a manufactured stall costs the least ($1,200 – $3,600) while a curb-less shower is the priciest ($2,650 – $8,350). However, you might be able to bring the tab down a bit by using shower kits (prefab parts that you or a plumber fit together).
Install a floating vanity or pedestal sink
More floor space makes a small bathroom appear larger, and an effective way to achieve this is by installing illusion-inducing fixtures like a floating vanity or a pedestal sink. A floating vanity doesn’t sit on the ground; it attaches to the wall (so it seems to float in space). As a result, it provides ample room for storage under the sink, and since the bathroom floor will extend in an unbroken line to the wall, it’ll give a sense of a larger, airier space. If you don’t need a vanity, consider a classic pedestal sink with console legs that make the space look bigger by keeping the tiled floor and wall in view. The average cost of installing a bathroom vanity is $1,500 and the expense of installing a pedestal sink varies between $330 and $730, not including the cost of removing the old sink and making new water and drain lines.
Use the walls for smart storage
When space is short, it’s time to make clever use of the walls. By onto or into them, you can maximize storage without adding clutter to an already small room. Shelving above the toilet, behind the door, inside the shower and around the window are some of the ways to make a small bathroom appear spacious. The average cost of professionally installing recessed shelves is $411 per unit, but you may be able to lower the expense by doing it yourself.
Decorate with mirrors
A full-size, wall-to-wall mirror bounces the light around the small bathroom and opens up the space. A mirror also adds charm and character, especially if it is a chic, distressed or vintage piece. If you’re comfortable looking at your reflection from any angle, you can also consider having mirrored tiles all around the bathroom, which will visually double its size.
Keep the colors neutral
Darker colors absorb light and make any space look smaller. When painting a small bathroom, keep the colors neutral. You may also try tiles, glass and metallic paint to not only create a luxurious feel, but also brighten up the space by reflecting more light. If you’re more inclined towards wallpaper, choose light shades and patterns for optimum brightness. According to HomeAdvisor, the average cost of painting a bathroom is $250, and installing wallpaper in a 260-square-foot bathroom can cost between $1,040 and $2,600. You might save a little by using peel-and-stick (aka temporary or removable) wallpaper, which tends to be less expensive than the conventional paste-on variety, and of course is .
Upgrade the lights
The importance of good lighting cannot be stressed enough, particularly if space is short and there isn’t enough natural light flowing in. Any room looks bigger if it is well-lit, so when you’re stuck with a small bathroom, make sure the light fixtures are not adding to the cramped feel. Keep the lampshades neutral-hued to create an airy, diffused-light appearance. For further brightness, try installing a pendant light in front of a mirror, which will bounce more light around the room. Final word on making a small bathroom bigger
The lack of natural light, a tight square footage and too many fixtures can make a bathroom seem even smaller than it actually is, and render it cramped and unaesthetic. Various cosmetic tricks and simple renovations can not only gain you space, but make a small bathroom feel more spacious. After all, we need a bathroom for some of our most basic functions, but we also need it to look bright, feel pleasing and fit in with the rest of the house. SHARE: Cynthia Widmayer is an insurance contributor for Bankrate and has over two years of experience as a personal finance writer. She covers home, car and life insurance products for Bankrate, The Simple Dollar and Coverage.com among others. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles