The bathroom is one of the rooms that is not associated with an excessive amount of decorations or various types of knick-knacks and ornaments. When designing a modern interior or planning a renovation of an old bathroom, it's worth considering a few aesthetic elements that will make using this room more pleasant and give it a more intimate and cozy character. In this matter, we have freedom and are only limited by our imagination! What accessories suit a classic bathroom, and which ones fit an industrial loft-style interior? Can potted plants work in the bathroom? How can you change a dull and predictable interior at little cost? Below, we present a few interesting ideas for bathroom decorations.
1. Botanical garden next to the shower cabin
We don't often find live, green flowers in bathrooms in Irish homes. That's a mistake! Plants bring a fresh atmosphere to even a small space and additionally bloom beautifully. What flowers should you choose for the bathroom? In a bright bathroom with a window, you can grow light-loving plants such as bromeliads, marantas, crotons, papyrus, dracaenas, or ficus. Orchids would also look perfect on the shelf near the mirror, as they will bloom beautifully. In the depths of the room, as well as behind frosted glass, we place shade-loving plants, including ivy, zamioculcas, and aglaonema.
In the case of a dark bathroom, you can try growing two of the same plants with a high tolerance for long-term lack of light. Place one in the bathroom and the other one in the living room and swap them every 10 days. In such conditions, species like sansevieria, peace lily, zamioculcas, or spider plant will do well.
2. Everyday items in an extraordinary form
If we don't have space in the small bathroom for purely decorative details, we can choose permanent elements of the bathroom in a decorative form. A perfect and very importantly, cheap solution will be to purchase an unusual soap dish, colorful toothbrush holder, or mirror in an elegant frame. It's also worth investing in stylish textiles – curtains hanging in the windows, towels, and even bathroom rugs available on the market in many different colors, patterns, and sizes.
However, don't overdo it with such decorative elements – their excess can cause a headache, in line with the principle that "too much is not healthy." The quantity and color scheme of decorations mainly depend on the final effect we want to achieve – in minimalist interiors we focus on a single accent, such as a decorative mirror, while in rooms arranged in a glamour style, we can go a bit wild. A universal idea can be accessories in a nautical style, which are associated with water – seashells and decorations consisting of candles placed in a glass bowl filled with sand will look great in most bathrooms.
3. Wood and wicker
A material that will certainly warm up even a raw and unfriendly interior is wood, or rather, additions and furniture made from it. A more expensive option will be to buy wooden furniture, such as an elegant dresser, which will also serve as additional storage for towels, or an impressive dressing table. However, remember that not all wood withstands the moisture present in the bathroom, so when choosing furniture made from it, it's worth investing in high-quality wood stain, which will significantly increase its durability and ensure it retains its aesthetic qualities for years to come.
A cheaper and equally practical solution may be to add a smaller element to the interior, such as a wicker laundry basket. On the market, you will find large baskets made of thickly woven wicker, boho-style models resembling bags, and deliberately aged vintage-style baskets, which will work great in Scandinavian-style interiors. A new trend that is increasingly appearing in interior design magazines is wooden decorative ladders, which can serve both an aesthetic and practical function. They will look great with colorful towels draped over them or twined with green ivy.
4. Warm glow of candles
Often the simplest and cheapest solutions are the best. Do you love soaking in the bathtub, relaxing in this way after a hard day? Do you like to listen to atmospheric music and dim the lights? In bathrooms with a romantic soul and a comfortable bathtub, a stylish and relaxing addition can be colorful candles that cost little and allow for frequent changes in arrangement. In many online and stationary stores, you will find a huge selection of candles differing in size, shape, and color – a hit are products with live flowers embedded in the wax, which look beautiful against white tiles.
Scented candles will also work brilliantly in the bathroom, allowing you to relax and unwind after a hard day. Among the available aromas, you will find invigorating citrus, delicate floral scents, soothing lavender, and even the sweet aroma of vanilla. All it takes is a piece of free counter space where we can place a few candles or enrich the decoration with a transparent vase of dried flowers. That's the whole philosophy!
5. The magic of colors
Colors of selected accessories are also an extremely important issue, as they largely determine the final effect of the arrangement. Statistically, one of the most commonly chosen colors for the bathroom is blue – its shades evoke associations with water, which also has calming and soothing properties. Blue accents combined with white tiles will create a nautical atmosphere in our bathroom; in the case of an ultra-modern bathroom, navy or indigo will work much better. Shades of red, including energetic orange, will bring some warmth to the bathroom, so they are great for rooms without a window. We can achieve a similar effect with accessories, such as curtains or towels in a sunny, yellow color.
White is the safest color and is successfully suited to any bathroom – white candle holders or textiles will work great in both traditional and industrial interiors. White in any form visually enlarges the space and makes it more elegant, which is why it's ideal for small bathrooms. A decoration trend that is increasingly popular in interior design is the use of black accessories, but these types of decorations are only suitable for large and spacious rooms – black adds elegance, but it is worth remembering to combine it with contrasting and more vibrant colors.
6. Photos and humorous graphics
Low-cost decorations are a great way to refresh the bathroom, also because from time to time you can replace them with new ones without straining the household budget. A great solution for both traditional and more modern bathrooms will be decorative frames in various shapes, colors, and sizes – you can put holiday photos by the sea, graphics with funny slogans, or printed posters, many of which you can find on the internet.
These types of decorations are worth setting up in two ways – by matching them to the style of the interior or creating arrangements based on contrasts, for example by hanging black or yellow frames on a white wall. You can also experiment with their number – in a small bathroom, opt for a single poster, while in rooms with a large area, you can successfully allocate a larger part of the wall to create a stylish composition consisting of several frames in different shapes and sizes.
7. Lighting
Nothing sets the mood and atmosphere like appropriately chosen lighting. On the market, you will find a huge selection of sconces, chandeliers, and standing lamps, which not only effectively illuminate dark corners but also optically enlarge the interior, making it more cozy and full of life. Changing the entire lighting arrangement is quite costly, but sometimes a single element is enough to provide atmospheric and intimate light.
Make sure that decorative sconces highlighting the interior style hang on either side of the mirror, create an interesting light installation with colorful LED strips, or simply place an original lamp with a patterned lampshade on the counter.