What's Black, White, and Red All Over? My Bathroom!!!

by Maryse
(Abilene, TX)

I personally have a small bathroom.

When my husband and I first moved into our house, one of the only things that I didn't like about it was the tiny bathroom in the main hallway.

It's a full bath, it has a tub and shower, built-in sink with cabinets, and of course, a toilet.

I was really worried about me getting over the fact that the bathroom was so small, but I had to start somewhere.

The previous owners had a very tacky border around the top of the bathroom walls. It had various fruits in bowls on it, and I think it actually should have been used in a kitchen. They had the walls painted a beige color.

The first thing that we did in order to make the bathroom appear larger than it actually is, was take down that ugly border. After we removed it, the bathroom immediately appeared taller. It didn't look so boxy anymore.

We then painted the walls stark white. We enjoy the clean, sterile look. It already made the bathroom look cleaner.

We tore up the existing floor, which was a faux hardwood floor. We replaced it with a cool, small, black and white patterned tile. It helped to tie the walls in with the floor.

Since we had replaced the floor, we had to take the sink and cabinet combination out. Instead of putting the existing one back in, we replaced it with a white pedestal sink. It worked wonders for the overall look and feel of the bathroom. Taking out the cabinet made the room look ten times bigger.

After we had remodeled what we wanted, we decorated with a black and white shower curtain. We hung it on a stainless steel rod, and used stainless steel shower curtain rings.

We installed two stainless steel towel hangers, on opposing walls, and put bright red towels on them for a splash of color.

We only leave a simple bottle of hand soap on the sink - everything else is stored in the hall closet, directly beside the bathroom.

We put a huge circular mirror above the sink, and placed a small, red rug in the middle of the floor.

Just by making these small changes, our bathroom grew! I think the most important thing in trying to make a bathroom look bigger is to reduce clutter, and use solid colors.

I always like to do a white or black and then add a pop of color in a small way. It worked wonders for us, and now I love our bathroom!