Woman's Wonderla

Designs and Colors

Bathrooms often get the short end of the stick when it comes to interior design. After all, nobody's going to spend a lot of time in your bathroom, right? The problem is, it's not true-you will. Here are some great tips for refreshing the look of your bath without breaking the bank.

Sample Bathroom Design Ideas

One of the best ways to maximize space and create a feeling of quality workmanship is to add built-in cabinetry. If you have space behind a bathroom wall, back into it with shelving: you'll not only have a place to store toiletries, you'll have an ideal showcase for decorative items. Another tip? Hang some artwork over the toilet to improve the view. Finally, get rid of dated, damaged or chintzy vanities. You can replace them with solid antiques. Use your creativity when it comes to furniture choices: We've created a vanity out of an old dresser drawer by repainting it antique white and adding crystal knobs. Instant chic!

Our second bathroom overhaul is a study in both cost-savings and utility. Instead of buying new drawers and cupboards, put drapery fronts on your vanity. This solution adds color, texture and pattern and cuts the budget dramatically.

Next up? Walls. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people leave bathroom walls a boring ivory... and these are folks whose houses literally sing with color and texture elsewhere! Not only can you use wall coverings to boost your bathroom's style, but special paint applications and texture treatments-like this tin wainscoting-are a natural for bathrooms, which typically have less wall space than other rooms and can handle high-impact treatments. Here, we antiqued the tin with a wash of watered-down umber, and it looks fantastic. And substantive wainscoting has another use: you can add a deeper trim at the top to stack and lean items like perfume bottles and art. For floors, affordable hotel tile is becoming popular, as is subway tile for showers.

Unusual light fixtures like this one we picked up on eBay add a funky, vintage charm. We've made this bathroom contemporary with nickel-coated hinges and ribbed vertical cabinet glass. Replacing tired or broken hardware fixtures earns you big-time style points, and it's relatively easy. For example, trade in those old towel bars for hooks-hanging them is simple, and you can arrange them any way you want. Adding Euro glass to the shower eliminated the ugly metal trim, and these lovely sconces on either side of the mirror add interest... a lot better than those above-mirror bar lights that shout "80s," right?

Remember: lighting styles change rapidly, so fixtures just five years old can look very dated. Luckily, it's an easy area to update. Replacing old lighting with colorful, modern or elegant pendants is one way to contemporize your look; adding chandeliers over tubs or in powder rooms is another. Here, we've also trimmed the walls in paneled wood for a warmer effect, and added wallpaper-yes, it's coming back-above the wainscoting.Finally, get rid of that dated wall-to-wall mirror and go for something different, with interesting moldings or a substantive, artwork-like feel.

Popular bathroom color themes include the colors of wall, tiles, faucets, accessories, towels and napkins and accents such as potted plants. The traditional bathroom colors are neutral that can easily be given different tones according to your taste, just by changing the accent colors, shower curtains, bathroom rugs, towels and accessories. However, fresh linen white seems a good bathroom color idea to many people as it makes the bath look fresh, clean and simple and works well almost all the colors and shades. Crispy white bathrooms with light tranquil blue accents are quite relaxing and have spa-like feel. They can carry clear glass accessories and sterling silver fixtures and hardware finish well.

People who would like elite décor in their baths can choose gold or taupe paint and tile colors with black accents. It can be kept light and airy, if done properly. Bathtub with black exteriors and bisque interiors and edges, polished brass faucets, ginger-glazed medium color maple wood vanities with black granite and bisque sinks, beige color floor tiles and shower walls and accent tiles and chair rail tile all in the same color perfectly compliment the royal color bathroom theme. Creamy white bathroom walls and aqua blues and greens as accent colors remain the popular favorite theme with many people.

White walls and cabinetry, pale aqua floor tiles, accessories in darker aqua shades, towels in complimentary colors and shower curtains having a bit of all the colors as the unifying factor make a beautiful bathroom. If you are decorating a big bath space with high ceiling, you may even add a beautiful sparkling chandelier to the ceiling. Bathroom wall and tile colors of course set the backdrop of your bathroom and are important but if you are on a strict budget, you can do renovation of your bathroom by just adding a colorful bath rug to it! Some quick, easy and inexpensive ways to add or change colors to your bathroom include wall decoupage with vivid and bright color, luminous and freckled tissue paper and coating it with water-based polyurethane.

You may also hang a poster board on the wall and change its colors whenever you want. Repainting the walls and/or ceilings of the bathroom can make it look in just one day. Pretty colorful fabric window treatments and shower curtains can make a drastic impact on your color scheme, so coordinate them well with the walls. You can even customize the empty bare wall with bright batik bedspread in a jiffy. Fun accessories in bright and bold colors such as flower cases or art pieces that are waterproof give a classic touch to your bathroom. Do not put expensive items in heavy-traffic bathrooms such as guest bathrooms as they may get damaged. An inexpensive way to add more color to your bathroom is to put up bright posters with large prints in cheap poster frames. You can find some good and funny bathroom art items in estate, yard and garage sales for bathroom art.