How to Design Your Bathroom: 7 Bathroom Decor Tips

Whether you're simply redecorating or doing a full bathroom makeover, these design ideas can help guide your way.

1. 1. Create a mood board. When brainstorming bathroom ideas, you can create a mood board and add materials, fabrics, and other objects that inspire a vision for the space. Things to add to your bathroom's mood board include fabrics for bath towels or shower curtains, stones for floor and wall tiles, swatches to inspire wall art, and metals for faucets and knobs.
2. 2. Tell a story with color. Move away from a sterile, white bathroom by adding a bit of color. Whether it’s an accent wall or the entire room, paint is an affordable way to make a statement and tell a visual story. Just be sure to use bathroom paint, or semi-gloss paint, to prevent mold from sporing. You can play with color in the fabrics you choose as well, like using colorful towels or bathmats.
3. 3. Add mirrors. You can instantly make a small bathroom feel larger by adding a large mirror, which is a simple DIY way to transform your space. Mirrors can be placed on ceilings, on moldings, on walls—the applications are infinite, which is exactly how a mirror makes a space feel. You can also put a series of smaller mirrors for you bathroom design to achieve depth.
4. 4. Create visual space. Add visual space to your bathroom by designing with furniture pieces that have decorative, substantial, or eye-catching legs, like a clawfoot tub. Legs allow the eye to continue beyond the furniture’s body instead of coming to a halt at its base, which tends to happen with low-to-the-ground pieces.
5. 5. Choose a durable countertop. Your bathroom's countertop will endure lots of wear and tear, so choosing a sturdy material like marble or granite is an investment worth making. Every piece of stone is unique, so try visiting the stone yard yourself to choose a piece that feels right to you. A beautiful piece of stone for your countertop can be balanced out by more delicate legs if the space is smaller.
   
6. 6. Maximize your space. Bathroom storage is essential, regardless of whether the size of your space. Make your small bathroom feel larger is by maximizing your storage space. Consider the square footage of your bathroom when decorating, and select furniture that allows for you to maximize your storage space, such as a mirrored medicine cabinets to hide toiletries, vanities with extra storage space beneath, built-in shelving, or floating shelves.
7. 7. Accessorize. Whether you splurge or ransack the bargain bin, accessories are a great way to make your space feel personal. Accessories can range based on your taste, such fresh flowers and greenery (fake plants are great in bathrooms with little natural light), soap dispensers, towel racks, wall sconces, or even a gallery wall for your bathroom walls.

Learn interior design from award-winning designer Kelly Wearstler. Make any space feel larger, cultivate your own distinct style, and create spaces that tell a story with the MasterClass Annual Membership.