Christina Hall Has A Clever Flooring Trick That Can Make Any Small Bathroom Feel Bigger
Maximizing space in an older home is always top priority when contemplating a remodel, especially in bathrooms where square footage is usually at a minimum. When HGTV star Christina Hall helped a friend and his wife transform a Midcentury property they just purchased into a boho beach home, she faced a number of challenges, including redoing a terribly outdated bathroom. One suggestion she made for giving the impression of more space was to continue the same flooring being used in other areas of the home throughout the entire bathroom — even in the shower.
"I would love to carry that flooring into the shower so it feels bigger," Hall shares with the homeowners (via YouTube). She further explains that the wood-look flooring she selected for the remodel is completely waterproof making it a great choice for wet areas. So even though it may seem unusual to have a material that looks like wood in the shower, the choice will achieve the goal of making the space seem larger and more luxurious while being completely safe to use.
Other flooring ideas to make a bathroom feel bigger
Many flooring experts agree with Christina Hall when it comes to continuous flooring while offering other suggestions for making bathrooms seem larger as well. "One of the best things you can do to give the illusion of space in a small bathroom is use the same flooring from the shower into the rest of the bathroom, and to have space under the vanity so you can see the continuation of that flooring," Corine Maggio of CM Natural Design told Homes and Gardens. Replacing a traditional vanity with one that attaches to the wall is a way to reveal more flooring in a bathroom.
When selecting floating vanities or fixtures that attach to a wall so that flooring extends under them, you can also consider matching the color to the paint on the wall. White fixtures on white walls, for instance, can make a bathroom seem more spacious. Itching to add a darker color to your bath for a bit of drama? Limiting darker colors to the flooring while keeping walls and ceilings light and bright can give you the look you want without making the room smaller, too.
More suggestions to make a bathroom appear larger
Beyond flooring, another way Christina Hall made her friend's Midcentury bathroom look larger was by eliminating the bathtub — and the need for a shower curtain — with a conversion to a standalone shower. Shower curtains close off space in a bathroom while glass panes and doors reveal space that make a bathroom appear larger. Frameless showers often work perfectly for this purpose, but even the type Hall suggested with a black iron grid pattern among the glass will open up a room (via YouTube).
Adding more mirrored surfaces can also make a small space like a bathroom seem more spacious. Larger mirrors above the vanity make sense, but finding areas to add floor length mirrors, mirrored tile, or mirrored furniture can also add more surfaces to reflect light. So even if you can't knock out walls to actually enlarge your bathroom during a remodel, you can incorporate several flooring, fixture, and design options to make a small bathroom feel much larger.