Glam Up Your Powder Room

A powder room or a half bathroom may be frequented by your guests, so it’s an ideal place to add glamour to your home. Because a powder room can be relatively tiny, you can decorate it inexpensively, making it the perfect spot to experiment with finishes and colors you might be hesitant to use in a larger room. Use these tips to add luxury and style to this space.

Add decorative elements

A powder room is often called a water closet, and for good reason. Because of its diminutive size, a half bath, which typically only includes a sink and a toilet, can feel cramped and uninspiring. Designer Martina Gieske of the blog The Lived-in Look kept this in mind when decorating a client’s powder room by including crisp, white wainscoting to make the walls more interesting and white crown molding to draw eyes upward and make the small room feel bigger.

Paint the walls

It can be easier to experiment with color in a powder room since it’s a contained space, so you could try painting your walls a hue you might not otherwise use in your home. Black-and-white color schemes in half baths are trending, as are emerald green, navy blue, dark gray, and purple. An alternative to painting your walls in a deeply pigmented color is to leave them white and add a vibrant color to your wainscoting instead. Consider using glossy paint on your wainscoting to make it easier to clean.

Embellish it

A few rolls of wallpaper might be all you need to upgrade your powder room from basic to fantastic. To simplify the decorating process, you could dress your walls with peel-and-stick wallpaper, as Gieske did for her client. Such adhesive-backed wallpaper is easy to hang and remove if you tire of it, and is best for half baths since tubs or showers can produce adhesive-loosening steam. The gray wallpaper Gieske chose for her client features a trellis pattern and metallic bronze accents, but there are many other equally beautiful wallpaper patterns you could utilize, such as a black-and-white herringbone print, a feminine floral, or one that resembles tile, such as this hexagon print with marble-like veining. Another option is to use a stencil to make it look like you have beautiful wallpaper on your walls.

Shine some light

Illuminate your room and add bling to it by bringing in a gorgeous ceiling-light fixture, such as a mini crystal chandelier, a beaded farmhouse-style chandelier, or an industrial flush-mount glass fixture. You could also add a wall-mounted light source, such as this white-globe sconce, on either side of your vanity for an industrial look or this three-light brass fixture over the vanity.

Tile it

Tiling can be a fun and inexpensive way to add style, color, and durability to your powder room. Ceramic tile is a popular choice for both walls and floors, while peel-and-stick faux tile can make it easy for homeowners to get the look they want without advanced do-it-yourself skills. For instance, Arin Solange of the blog Arin Solange at Home took her powder room from bland to glam by taking a chance and putting a bold black-and-white floor tile on her powder room’s walls for a modern look.

Update your vanity

You could swap out your vanity for a new one or paint your existing vanity with primer and then a low-VOC acrylic enamel paint to give it a new look. When Solange styled her powder room, she painted her dark vanity a blush pink and replaced its silver-toned cabinet pulls with these brass-toned ones to give it a brand-new look. She also refreshed her sink by replacing its brushed-nickel faucet set with a brass one. If you change the hardware on your vanity, you might want to update the rest of your powder room’s hardware, too, such as the toilet-roll holder and bathroom doorknob.

Hang a mirror

A mirror is essential for any powder room because it’s necessary for grooming, can reflect light, and can make a space look and feel bigger. You could choose a round mirror framed in black for simplicity, a scalloped mirror with beveled edges for elegance, or an oval mirror for a classic look. As a general rule, choose a mirror with a width that’s at least one to two inches less than your vanity. Center the mirror over your sink, and place it at a height that complements the space and allows most people who will be using it to see their own reflection.

Accessorize your room

Once you have all the main elements of your powder room in place, you can add decor that complements its design. For instance, Erica Van Slyke of the blog Designing Vibes redesigned her previously dated and dark powder room to include a space-saving floating vanity with a white ceramic vessel sink and a wallpapered accent wall that mimics the look of tile. She then brought in woven baskets, a snake plant, and framed black-and-white artwork to give her half bath a beachy boho vibe.

By Lauren Kim