Essentials for a Sophisticated Bathroom

3 Affordable Ways to a Better Bathroom

A sophisticated bathroom goes a long way. Whether you have guests often of you're just trying to prepare a cozy place for yourself, your decorating your bathroom is an essential part of tying your space together.

You don't need a lot of square footage or a big budget to create the bathroom of your dreams. There are only a few simple rules to follow when taking your bathroom from drab to fab.

The Bathroom Storage

Let's start with the big stuff: Proper bathroom storage is paramount to keeping a bathroom sophisticated. When planning for storage consider how many items you need to store and how much extra room your bathroom has.

Freestanding Cabinets

If your bathroom is large and bare, consider a freestanding cabinet to help you get organized. Floor

cabinets come in a variety of heights and depths, so it's generally easy to find a piece that fits into your space. Big stores like IKEA or Target offer a wide range of bathroom storage cabinets ranging from the very simple to chic modern.

Looking for something a bit more unique? If the big-box stores aren't ringing your bell, consider hunting down the cabinet of your dreams at a yard or estate sale, or by checking out antiquing locations in your area. Interested in estate sales but don't have the time or interest to check your local listings every week? Sites like EstateSale.net let you sign up for free to get notified about new listings in your area.

Tall Corner Shelves

A tall corner shelf provides a sleek floor-to-ceiling look without taking up as much room as a floor cabinet. We love the look of light wood such as bamboo because it goes with nearly any décor. Tall corner shelves are perfect for towel storage as well as storing other bathroom essentials. Keep your shelf neat and organized over time by keeping everything neatly separated in containers such as jars or small cubbies.

Love that sleek corner shelf look but want something a bit more unique? Try a cascading ladder shelf or a shelf for the corner. When shopping for your dream storage shelf, it pays to think outside of the box. Many manufactured furniture pieces will do just as well in the bathroom as they do in the living room. If you're patient and crafty, think about how you can recreate your favorite inspirational pieces on your own.

Shelf & Cubbies

If you need a lot of extra space or you have an empty wall to fill, use a simple full-sized shelf to store

your bathroom necessities. A shelf with individual nooks will keep your items more organized than a long shelf, or separate your goodies with cubbies. A combination of the two will give your bathroom a highly organized appearance regardless of how organized you keep the cubby baskets themselves.
Storage baskets come in a wide range of sizes and materials. Pair clear baskets with white wooden cubbies for a super modern look or add additional depth to your bathroom with natural wooden baskets. Natural browns or blacks and whites add sophistication to your bathroom. A splash of colors can add fun and excitement, but if you're not careful you could risk turning a clean space into one that appears overly busy.

The Bathroom Colors

When choosing colors for the bathroom, consider two things: mood and size. It usually helps to get started with a few basics, such as cabinets or art. Matching your overall color scheme to furniture and accessories you already own will be easier than buying furniture based on the colors of your walls.

1. Mood

Colors affect moods, whether you're blatantly aware of it or not. A white room can be cold and uninviting while a blue room can be much more peaceful and comforting. Colors can be cool, warm or neutral.
What moods do colors generally inspire?

• Cool Tones

Cool tones are your blues and greens. This ranges from baby blue to aquamarine. Cool colors can also have a variety of undertones. Cool color undertones can incorporate red to create various shades of pink and violet or deep maroons. These colors are generally associated with peace and tranquility.

• Warm Tones

Warm tones consist of yellows, oranges and reds, and combinations of these that result in peachy, golden or brown undertones. These colors are often described as lively and fun.

• Neutral Tones

These use a combination of warm and cold tones. The most common neutral tones are beige, ivory, black or grey. Neutral tones can also incorporate some yellow and pinks. Neutral tones generally convey simplicity.
Check out our post on creating a matching color scheme for more information on how these colors can be combined to create the sophisticated bathroom of your dreams.

• Whites
This neutral color can be your best friend or your worst enemy. White is simple and looks beautiful when layered, but it can also create spaces that are too big and cold.
White works best when paired with carefully placed splashes of color here and there, such as a rug or some bold art.
It looks particularly beautiful when combined with natural browns, as this creates a smooth balance that's not visually overwhelming.

2. Size

When planning your color scheme, it's not enough to consider how a color generally makes you feel. It's important to be mindful of the size of your bathroom before you begin planning how simple or colorful things will be.

For example, although yellow is generally a cheery color that evokes feelings of summer or happiness, it actually makes for a pretty poor choice when selecting your main color scheme. A yellow room can quickly become overwhelming and even create feelings of frustration and anger. However, yellow accents pair well with white to fill out a blank canvas.

White is a great option for small and medium sized bathrooms, especially when painted with touches of color. White also works well when you can be versatile with your textures; for example, a tiled backsplash, a brick wall or some distressed shelving or cabinets.

Layer complementary shades of white, or choose accessories in a favorite color.
In small bathrooms, starting with white or another soft, neutral color will allow you to layer a matching color scheme without creating a flat and overwhelming space.
In large bathrooms with plenty of natural light, try using muted cool colors to create a tranquil space.

The Bathroom Accents

Just like a good rug can really tie a living room space together, so can accents make or break the Feng Shui of your sophisticated bathroom. Rather than filling up your bathroom for décor, focus on the accents to create subtle yet strong examples of sophistication.

Hardware

Designer bathroom hardware adds luxury and elegance without breaking the bank. You might not be in a position to renovate the cabinets, but what about the cabinet handles. A new set of updated cabinet knobs to match your overall bathroom theme will bring new life to existing furniture.

If you have a shower that uses a curtain, make sure that both are in line with your overall décor. A nice set of shower curtain rings adds a unique and homey touch that you can't get from cheap plastic or metal rings.
Replacing a sink is difficult, but most bathroom sink faucets can be installed in about an hour. A new faucet can take your uninspired sink to new heights, and it doesn’t cost much to get this project underway.
Add new towel hooks or rings, change out your toilet paper holder or add a new light fixture. These incredibly affordable accents will take an average bathroom to the next level with their attention to detail.

Walls

If you're dealing with a blank space, properly placed art or other wall décor can be an excellent solution. Before you begin nailing holes in the wall, there are a couple of rules you should consider and abide by.
The larger your wall, the larger your piece should be. If you don't have a large piece or you're not interested in large wall art, you can also group various small pieces to fill a large space.


Large Art

Your art should be hung with its center focal point approximately at eye level. If you're above or
below average height, you may want to consider raising or lowering your piece in order to find a more neutral spot.
If you're hanging your art over a dresser, cabinet or over the tub, it should be smaller in width than these things. Center it.


Art Groupings

If you choose to create an art grouping, your art should share a common subject matter or similar and matching color scheme.
In order to give your grouping a cohesive feel, it should only be 2-3 inches apart.
If your grouping has pieces of varying sizes, pretend you're dividing the space by a vertical line. The weight should be equal on both sides.
When in doubt, use a staggered stair-like method to create your shape.

Plants

If you're opting with a truly minimal experience with few colors and distractions, a splash of natural
green provides just the right amount of color to help guide focus to one part of the bathroom.
But some plants are more forgiving than others when it comes to moisture content and lighting.

Here are some of our favorites:

Parlor Palm

 

 

 

Skill Level: Beginner

Soil & Pot: Potting soil, good drainage

Light Requirement: Bright light, no direct sun

Water Requirement: Water regularly, but sparingly

Sansevieria

 

 

Skill Level: Beginner

Soil & Pot: Potting soil, good drainage

Light Requirement: Low - Medium natural light, no direct sun

Water Requirement: Low; water sparingly once a month

Philodendron

 

Skill Level: Beginner

Soil & Pot: Potting soil, good drainage

Light Requirement: Bright light, no direct sun

Water Requirement: Water regularly, but sparingly

Peace Lily

 

 

Skill Level: Beginner

Soil & Pot: Potting soil, good drainage

Light Requirement: Low - Medium natural light, no direct sun

Water Requirement: Water regularly, but sparingly

Sword Fern

 

 

Skill Level: Intermediate

Soil & Pot: Humus-rich soil, good drainage

Light Requirement: Bright light, no direct sun

Water Requirement: Frequent; soil should not dry out

Ribbon Plant

 

 

Skill Level: Intermediate

Soil & Pot: Potting soil, good drainage

Light Requirement: Bright light, no direct sun

Water Requirement: Frequent; soil should not dry out