5 Tips for Maximising the Available Space in Your En-Suite
Whether your new house sold itself to you by virtue of the fact that it offers an en-suite, elected to designate a corner of the master bedroom to it – or, better still, made the decision to knock through to the spare box-bedroom and carve out a little extra space for yourself – designing your perfect en-suite is an exciting process.
It can, however, also be somewhat daunting. In general, en-suites demand a certain amount of creativity when it comes to utilising the space. In other words, making the most of what often comes in at little more than 1.5 x 2m – while entirely possible – means exercising plenty of caution during the design phase, and understanding how to balance convenience with visual appeal.
When done right, the results prove invaluable – not to mention envious. After all, a well-designed en-suite will not only make your leisure time much more leisurely, but it can also significantly impact your home’s value. For instance, an en-suite can add a further £50,000 to a London home – which, while an extreme example for the rest of us dotted across the UK, certainly demonstrates quite how coveted these additional rooms are.
So, as you prepare to design your own en-suite, read our tips for making the most of the space below.
Shower Cabins
For many, the best space-saving solution for any small bathroom or en-suite is a shower bath. That way, they can enjoy the best of both worlds, whether they’re rushing to get ready for work, or hoping to indulge themselves for an hour or two at the end of the day.
Still, try as we might, some of us simply aren’t ‘bath people’. Alternatively, it may be the case that the home’s main bathroom already offers a functional bath.
If you’re already working with limited space, then electing to install a shower cabin, rather than a shower bath, will make your en-suite feel far more efficient. It needn’t feel as though you are sacrificing luxury for convenience. Hydro massage, thermostatic controls, Bluetooth and chromotherapy lighting (to name just a few) are all features of modern shower cabins – and all serve to create an indulgent, well-appointed and streamlined space.
Use Colour to Your Advantage
While a crisp, white colour palette will never go amiss – particularly in a small space – there is more to utilising colour than those most neutral of neutrals. Adding dimension to a room with accent colours, and even some darker shades, is an excellent way to achieve a greater sense of depth and, by that logic, space.
For that reason, choosing paint for a small bathroom is largely a process of creating a colour palette suited to your tastes, and then utilising it in a way that creates depth without allowing the walls to feel as though they are closing in on themselves.
Vanity Units
One of the fastest ways of making a small room appear smaller is to allow it to grow cluttered. This can be a nuisance, but it also means that one of the easiest ways of making a small room look more spacious is, put simply, to ‘do away’ with that clutter wherever possible.
Installing a vanity unit offers a simple, attractive solution to this exact problem. In addition to offering more storage, these units are also invaluable for concealing pipework around your sink, and offering a sleeker, more ‘put together’ design for even the smallest of en-suites.
Work Multiple Angles
By now, we are all aware of one of the oldest interior design tricks in the book: that a well-placed mirror is an excellent piece for making even the pokiest of rooms feel that little bit wider or longer. Of course, a mirror represents a standard feature in any well-appointed bathroom – but one that is all too easy downplayed, or overlooked as an opportunity to boost the overall ambience of the room.
When it comes to decorating your en-suite, using mirrors to your advantage represents an excellent way of making a statement, and, at the same time, creating a greater sense of dimension between those four corners.
Play with Size and Shape
Older yet than the trick of adding a mirror into a cramped corner is the technique of utilising smaller patterns and objects to essentially ‘trick the eye’ into seeing more space than there really is. From your flooring to your shower wall panels, experimenting with a variation in sizes (whether tile, terrazzo or wood) is an excellent way of altering your own perspective, and noticing the space in between, rather than a lack thereof.