Wouldn’t you love the spa treatment in the comfort of your own home? If your current bathroom is more phone booth than spa, you can do several simple things to make it feel bigger and more comfortable.

MAXIMIZE FLOOR SPACE Space-stealing fixtures, such as vanities, large sinks and oversize bathtubs, can be replaced with streamlined newer versions. Reveal more of the floor, and your bathroom instantly seems larger. Pedestal, wall-hung and corner sinks reclaim floor area. And try a wall-mounted, baseless vanity for more foot space. If you aren’t into baths, remove the tub and replace it with an all-glass corner shower stall. It visually extends the bathroom by revealing the floor and wall space inside.

USE SMALLER FIXTURES If you don’t want to enlarge its square footage, you can make your bathroom seem bigger by reducing the size of the fixtures. Many manufacturers of sinks, toilets and tubs make compact versions that can buy a little more space. Or you can go the custom route and have a tub or shower area made to fit the spot you’ve picked out for it. Either way, talk to your contractor about the possibility of thinking “small” when replacing bathroom fixtures.

CREATE ILLUSIONS OF SPACE How else do you make a small bathroom seem larger? By employing a few visual tricks. Crown moldings, wallpaper and tile borders added where the wall meets the ceiling are ways that decorators draw the eye upward. Another simple way to make a small room seem more palatial is to add vertical stripes to the walls with paint or wallpaper. And don’t overlook the simple expanding power of mirrors. Placing a full-length mirror on the wall of a narrow bathroom seems to expand the room’s proportions. Use mirrors to reflect the bath’s best asset—a wall hanging or window, for example. Or try the illusion of a never-ending room by positioning a mirror at opposite ends of the room.

ADD WINDOWS FOR NATURAL LIGHT A well-lit room feels more inviting—and larger. Open up your bathroom by installing a skylight or clerestory windows that allow the room to be illuminated with natural light from above, while protecting your privacy. These bathroom windows don’t require curtains or shades, so they allow full sunlight into your bathroom. Glass block walls, frosted and etched glass and stained-glass panels are other light-increasing window options—that also provide privacy.

CUT THE CLUTTER The easiest fix of all! A neat, picked-up bathroom looks larger and more spacious than a cluttered one. If you have the space, add a small cupboard to stow items so countertops can be clear. Store extra towels in a basket beneath the sink. Or add a built in cabinet embedded into a wall. It takes up no internal bathroom space, but offers shallow shelves to stow hair dryers, cosmetics and toothbrushes—all easily within reach but out of sight.

SEE-THROUGH SHOWERS Enclosed showers encapsulate bathroom space. But frameless glass walls and doors open up bathrooms to airy new possibilities. Frameless shower doors can be custom-fit to nearly any shower opening. They can be hinged off the wall or to another glass panel for an open and seamless look. Doors and panels are constructed of safety glass and drilled to accommodate stainless steel or other rustproof metal hinges and handles.
Glass Options For a totally see-through look (to show off your cool tiled walls), choose clear glass panels. If you want more privacy, you can select obscured glass that includes patterned (dots, repeating shapes, stripes) and frosted glass. You also can have portions of a wall or doors etched into patterns or images.
Built To Fit Right-angled shower enclosures allow you to fit a frameless glass shower into a corner of your bathroom. Frameless showers use a header rail to stabilize the panels.
Chic Shower Shapes Shower bases come in a variety of standard sizes. Most standard bases come in square, rectangular or rounded shapes. But your contractor can create customized showers that fit your bathroom design. With frameless glass shower doors, you can make your shower as large as you want. Install multiple showerheads for a luxe shower experience.