In the bathroom, there is always not enough space to fit everything you need. What about a wardrobe, shelves, washing machine or laundry basket? What if the bathroom is not only small, but also narrow? Let's tell!
Features of planning and design
When designing a narrow bathroom, it is fundamentally important to think in vertical lines. You don't have extra floor space to clutter up with unnecessary things. But there are walls right up to the ceiling - for high shelves and racks.
Do not overdo it with a linear layout so as not to accidentally get a train carriage - make a few accents across. This can be the bathtub itself against the far short wall, a threshold for transition between different tile colors, or a low ottoman in the corner.
Rounded shapes work well, which smooth out the angularity of the room - round mirrors, radial corner cases, photographs, lamps and panels of various shapes. Add speakers: for example, put a large lush flowerpot with a tropical palm tree in the corner. Let it be something unexpected, for which you can catch your eye and get distracted from the layout.
Choosing an interior style
It's hard to walk around in a narrow bathroom with complex design ideas, but this is not at all a reason to refuse a beautiful renovation! Just choose the lighter option, simplify, adapt and take into account the geometry of the room.
Narrow bathroom in modern style
If you plan to combine different forms and materials, but prefer more discreet interiors, you need a modern style. Here, a wooden cabinet is in harmony with a stone countertop, bamboo with acrylic, plastic - with chrome and glass. It is equally easy to fit into such a bathroom a luminous shower cabin with hydromassage and a massive stone bathtub.
Narrow bathroom in classic style
Even monumental and lush classics can be adjusted to fit a narrow bathroom, leaving only the basic features. Take simple forms, and shift the emphasis to expensive materials - stone, valuable wood, gilding, aged metal. Stucco and carvings are a good way to add contour lines. Use a symmetrical arrangement, but move the center from the middle of the room to the middle of the wide wall.
Narrow loft-style bathroom
A fully-fledged, deliberately rough and sweeping loft in a narrow bathroom will not work, but it is easy to adapt. Leave the main expressive accents: a bare concrete wall, open communications, an aged heated towel rail. Use large frameless mirrors to visually expand the space. Plumbing can be in the spirit of a futuristic hi-tech, and in a retro style - it is enough to withstand one direction.
Narrow bathroom in Scandinavian style
Classic Scandinavian interiors use a lot of contrasts and geometry - just what you need for a narrow room. Black ornaments and colorful posters on white walls visually expand the room. A strong technique is the contrasting "chess" of tiles, which move from the floor to the walls and vice versa. And pleasant little things are responsible for home comfort: beautiful jars and dispensers, candles and handmade soap, bright fluffy towels and a rug under your feet.
Narrow Provence style bathroom
Provence is very decorative, and of all its variety, the most compact techniques are needed for a narrow bathroom. Instead of pillows and curtains - pastel towels in a flower, instead of large vases and decorative dishes - stands and dispensers decorated with decoupage. Pale pastel tiles are suitable for the wall, and a light floral pattern along the central horizontal.
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Color spectrum
In order not to miscalculate with the decoration of any non-standard room, take any shade of white or beige as a basis.You can dilute the interior with colored decorations and accessories - they will immediately revive a dull room. The feeling of freshness, lightness and space is given by light shades of blue and green, and a little yellow will make the room warmer.
Materials and design
All materials in the bathroom must be extremely durable and moisture resistant. Especially in a narrow room, where you, in fact, do not even have a far corner. Tiles, washable paint and stretch ceilings are your best friends in decoration.
Floor finishing
Often, designers recommend laying a covering with rectangular patterns on the floor of narrow rooms. Moreover, the texture should be strictly perpendicular to the walls - and then it visually pushes them apart. For example, pay attention to tiles styled as wooden boards - this is both practical and effective!
Wall decoration
Paint the walls and ceiling in the same color - this greatly affects the perception of space. So clear boundaries are erased and the room seems more spacious and square. Furniture of the same shade or with a difference of 1-2 tones will help to enhance the effect.
Alternatively, short walls can be painted in darker tones, or even one of them can be made with a bright accent. Only then should it be a rich and deep color - blue, green or purple.
A bold trick is to paste over one accent wall with photo wallpapers, especially in the bathroom they are quite appropriate. For a short wall, choose the flattest pattern that will visually limit the space. And for a long one - images with a pronounced perspective, which seem to go into depth.
Ceiling design
Stretch ceilings made of PVC canvases feel best in a damp warm bathroom. Be careful with gloss: it gives a sense of volume upward, but in an elongated room it may seem even narrower because of this. Pay attention to matte and satin ceilings, especially since they do not leave streaks and traces of water splashes.
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Bath or shower?
It is better to install the bathtub itself in a narrow bathroom along a short wall - it will just become that very saving horizontal line. Instead of decorative legs, lay the bowl with tiles to visually weigh it down and make it look like a catwalk. Corner, oval and curly models are beautiful, but hardly fit in a narrow bathroom.
Steel makes noise and cools quickly, but it is cheap, but artificial stone is much more expensive, but almost devoid of drawbacks. Acrylic is best suited for casting complex shapes, but its surface is sensitive to mechanical damage. Cast iron is almost immortal and keeps heat better than anyone else, but such baths are very heavy with all the ensuing problems of transportation and installation.
If the bathroom is not only narrow, but also small, consider installing a shower cabin. Now there are many models of different shapes, sizes and with different additional functions - up to hydromassage, sauna effect and light music.
The most compact cabins have only two partitions that adjoin directly to the wall. Plan the arrangement in the likeness of a linear set in the kitchen - so that the cabin, toilet, sink, washing machine and cabinet stand on the same straight line and do not obstruct the passage.
Storage systems
Use the most compact and narrow furniture, especially if you put it along the wall. Forget about the hinged doors and pull-out units that take up the entire aisle. It is better to replace them with sliding structures and open shelves with baskets - it is important not to go beyond the horizontal.
Use corner cabinets and shelving - this space is usually not used anyway. Build a cupboard or washing machine under the sink to save space. And be sure to use organizers, sets of stands, boxes of different sizes and other little things - this will help maintain order.
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Lighting and illumination
The best choice for uniform overhead lighting is a series of spotlights along short walls.They distribute the flow well and visually expand the room. We recommend that you abandon the central chandelier, which will further emphasize the imbalance, and one shade above the door - this is simply ineffective in a narrow room.
In modern interiors, use LED lighting to decorate bathtubs, shelves and cabinets. This is not only another much needed expressive horizontal line, but also immediately a plus to the atmosphere. And be sure to light up the mirror around the perimeter or with two small wall lamps - this is practical.
Narrow bathroom - photos of real interiors
Even the narrowest and longest bathroom can be made comfortable. Fortunately, the assortment of furniture, plumbing and storage systems has long been able to do this. We have collected different design options especially for you - watch and be inspired!
