Tips AU

19 Skinny narrow bathroom designs

By Elise Hodge

Updated: January 5th, 2024

While it may be slim, you can make it functional and fabulous!

If you’ve ever tried to style a narrow bathroom before, you’ll know it can be a tight squeeze… While you may face a few more challenges than you would in a large spacious space, you may be surprised that you can make it work well. And the trick to designing a fabulous narrow bathroom lies in how you maximise the area, ensuring you let in enough light, install nifty bathroom storage ideas and make it functional.

I’m going to dive into 19 narrow bathroom ideas but before I do that, I want to cover off on the essentials so you can understand how this all works.

Make the most of your space

Let’s start by talking about optimising your space. You can do this in so many ways but the first one that may come to my mind is combining your shower and bath. Yes, I know we’ve all seen those terribly old and gross shower-bath combos, but it really doesn’t have to be like this. You can install a large modern bathtub and team it up with a fancy modern shower head and tapware for a great finish.

Choose light colours

Another way you can make sure your narrow bathroom doesn’t feel cramped is to use light colours like white, light grey, cream, soft yellow and other neutrals. These combinations will make your space appear so much larger than it is.

narrow-bathroom-neutrals
Source: Photo by Laurence Katz on Unsplash

Decorate, decorate, decorate

While you may not want to stuff your narrow bathroom full of too many things, a few choice pieces of decor can help. In fact, you can use small details to spruce up a tiny space without making it cluttered.

Let the light in

It’s an age-old truth that when you’ve got a small space, you need to let the light in. So when it comes to designing your narrow bathroom, make sure you install as many windows as possible. If you don’t have enough spare wall room, why not consider a skylight? It’ll be sure to let the light and allow you to look up at the stars!

Now that we’ve set the foundations of narrow bathroom design, let’s dive into ## fabulous ideas. Read on to get the creative juices flowing!

1. Minimalist approach

This is a great simple narrow bathroom for any kind of house. As it’s classic and minimal, it would be suited to most people’s taste. And if minimalism isn’t your thing, you could decorate this blank canvas with colourful pieces of decor, prints and other fancy items to bring life into the space.

narrow-bathroom-bright
Source: Photo by Laurence Katz on Unsplash

2. Grey tones

Grey bathrooms are modern and provide an alternative to the classic plain white bathroom. In this space, the dark grey tiled walls pair perfectly with the tiled floor and the black fixtures. I also love the addition of the wood in the vanity to add warmth to the space.

narrow-bathroom-single-colour
Source: Photo by R ARCHITECTURE on Unsplash

If you’re a fan of grey, here are plenty of grey kitchens and grey living rooms that you’ll love.

3. Skylight bright

When I build my own bathroom, I’ll definitely be asking my builder to install a large skylight to brighten up the area. A skylight in your bathroom brings so much natural light into the space which makes it look clean and inviting. When it comes to skylights, always get your builder to help point you in the right direction.

4. Herringbone greys

It is no secret that I absolutely love herringbone bathroom tiling and these grey hues are no exception. I love how the tiling makes a grand feature wall and brings visual interest to this narrow bathroom. This space would work perfectly as a guest bathroom as it has all the essentials!

narrow-bathroom-herringbone
Source: Photo by Laurence Katz on Unsplash

5. Delicate details

The details in this bathroom are very delicate and elegant with the copious clean white subway tile, plants sitting on the floating shelves and patterned tile on the floor. The designer of this bathroom has strategically placed the bath, vanity and toilet so that everything you need is all in the one place, with a black framed screen diving the toilet and shower spaces.

narrow-bathroom-divided
Source: Photo by Hemant Kanojiya on Unsplash

6. Black fixtures

Here’s another view of the previous bathroom. I love how the black fixtures in this narrow bathroom  frame and draw attention to the right areas, which detracts from how small the space is. The rectangular black shower screen draws your eye to the shower area which makes this bathroom seem bigger than it is. Plus, I love the large mirror – this helps to bounce light around the room.

narrow-bathroom-crittall
Source: Photo by Hemant Kanojiya on Unsplash

Want more dark colours? Here are some black and white bathrooms and industrial bathrooms for you to consider.

7. A wall between

Consider installing a solid wall between your bathtub and the toilet area for privacy and better aesthetics.

narrow-bathroom-low-dividing-wall
Source: Photo by Filmreal Studio on Unsplash

8. Seating in shower

What a fabulous idea to have a little seating area in the shower. A bench or a stool like this can be used as a shelf or even a place to prop your leg up while you’re shaving. Plus, the floor to ceiling tiling makes the room look more spacious.

narrow-bathroom-shower-seating
Source: Photo by Jon’Nathon Stebbe on Unsplash

9. Wet room

Making your bath and shower a two-in-one will save space, especially if you have a small area to work with. This contemporary bathroom design makes use of marble tile to make the space appear larger. The addition of a glass screen also creates the illusion of a larger area.

narrow-bathroom-wet-room
Source: Photo by Laurence Katz on Unsplash

10. Wooden textures

I love when natural elements are used, especially when wood is the hero piece. This narrow bathroom utilises wooden-look cabinetry as well as a timber covered vanity.

narrow-bathroom-wood
Source: Photo by Max Vakhtbovych from Pexels

11. Towel storage

For an elegant bathroom that’s classy and clean, have your towel storage with the towels rolled up, for hotel vibes. Another option for towel storage when you have a narrow bathroom is to have a space-saving under sink towel rack.

narrow-bathroom-spacesaving-towel-rack
Source: Photo by Sanibell BV on Unsplash

12. Streamlined surfaces

All the surfaces in this bathroom are extremely streamlined and minimalist with the angular edges and no-fuss approach. Plus, the mirrors with built-in storage are a great idea as you can store all your bathroom essentials behind them rather than cluttering your surfaces.

narrow-bathroom-clean-lines
Source: Photo by Jean-Philippe Delberghe on Unsplash

13. Homely meets trendy

This narrow bathroom contains everything you need, with the shower and tub on one side, and vanity and toilet on the other. I love the homely details of the plant and products, which are paired with the on-trend black fixtures and stone-look tiles.

narrow-bathroom-traditional
Source: Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash

14. Textured details

The addition of textural details will make any space that little bit more interesting, so aim to bring together numerous textures and patterns. It may be a mix of wooden cabinetry, a fancy patterned tiled floor, subway tiles in the shower area and a sculptural light fitting.

15. Bringing the outside in

You can’t go wrong with bathroom plants to add life and colour to your narrow bathroom. There are certain plants that really thrive in a damp and humid environment, so here are the bathroom plants that you should think about for your home.

16. Rattan baskets

For a narrow bathroom, you’ll need to make the most of the space by including lots of storage. As well as having drawers and shelving, simple rattan baskets can be added for extra storage. You could store your clean towels, robes, spare toilet paper, kids bath toys or even your additional beauty products in them.

17. Creative details

Creative details will turn your bathroom from ordinary to exciting. Gorgeous tiles not only add a pop of colour to an otherwise neutral bathroom, but they also make the bathroom look so much more fun and quirky. Lighting is another great way to add interest to your narrow bathroom, such as with a hanging filament light bulb.

18. Storage solutions

With a narrow bathroom, storage solutions are crucial. If you’re wanting to add some more storage in your space, call on a bathroom cabinet maker who will be able to design effective storage solutions that will work perfectly in even the tightest spaces.

19. Inner-city living

If you live in an apartment (especially in a city), you’ll already know that space is usually scarce. So a cleverly designed bathroom layout is important for getting all the essentials in. Although there is no shower screen separating the areas in this bathroom, all the surfaces are hard, so the water can easily run off them. Plus, this makes the bathroom super easy to clean!

narrow-bathroom-ledges-elongate
Source: Photo by R ARCHITECTURE on Unsplash

And that’s a wrap on 19 narrow bathroom designs. I love how each of these spaces maximises functionality but also keeps things stylish. What did you like the best? Let me know in the comments below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elise H

I've recently moved into a new home and I've been having so much fun decorating it with pretty wall prints and Scandinavian-inspired furniture. So as well as being a freelance writer, I'm always on the lookout for new design pieces for my home!

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