Whether you are designing, renovating, or simply wishing to add something new to your bathroom, keeping a budget while maintaining personal style and elegance often seems like a herculean task. While there is an enormous industry for budget bathroom appliances and decorations, they often compromise elegance and finesse in the most sacred space of your household. And though often overlooked, an aesthetically pleasing, soothing, comfortable bathroom can have a spa-like effect in your body, relaxing your nervous system and reducing cortisol.
Here are some budget-friendly simple bathroom design ideas you can use to make your bathroom feel more elegant and luxurious, while maintaining personal style.
- Replace Faucets with a modern, stylised model
The simple act of replacing your old faucet with a modern one can give your bathroom an entirely new look and atmosphere. Stylised faucets can be a great choice to add personality, elegance, and a modern touch to a previously dull bathroom. Some models can even come with water-saving aerators, which can have a positive impact on your water bills!
- Install Floating Shelves
Floating shelves are a perfect option for a curated style for your bathroom on a budget. They are cheap, easy to install, and open a whole new realm for you to express your individuality. You can add small plants, scented candles, rolled towels, or other decorative pieces, giving your bathroom a hotel-chic vibe. All you need, besides the shelves themselves, are your favourite decorations and a free imagination!
- Add Plants
Adding plants to your bathroom not only gives it an elegant, high-end-like design but also reflects positively on your overall health and well-being. Houseplants improve air quality and can filter toxins in the air, such as ammonia and formaldehyde. They can noticeably increase air freshness and help regulate humidity, preventing mold and mildew. On the neurological side, they decrease cortisol and provide a sensation of peace and balance.
The best plants to keep in your bathroom are those that thrive in humidity, low to medium light, and require minimal fuss. Some of them are Snake Plant (Sansevieria), Peace Lily, Spider Plant, Philodendron (Heartleaf or Brasil), and Boston Fern. Orchids are also a gorgeous option, though they can be a bit harder to maintain. If you’re not the best plant parent out there, faux plants can be a good option to obtain the pleasant visual effect without further commitments.
- Paint the Walls with Soft Pastel Colours
Soft Pastel colours, such as light blue, sage green, and blush pink, can make your bathroom feel airier, less cramped, and cleaner, giving it an effortlessly sophisticated feel. This happens because those light shades tend to reflect more natural and artificial light, creating the illusion of an open, amplified room. Those soft pastel colours are particularly interesting for creating a spa-like vibe in your bathroom, reducing stress and improving your mood while remaining on a budget.
- Add Painted Stencils to Tile Walls and Floors
Painted stencils are a great way to elevate and transform the look of your bathroom without doing any major renovations. Whether you prefer a pre-made stencil, circuit vinyl or tape, a well-chosen design can add style and individuality to your bathroom in a relatively easy way. You can pick a traditional design or allow your creativity to run wild, choosing a print that represents exactly who you are. If your budget doesn’t allow you to use painted stencils in all your tile floors and walls, taped options are a good alternative for cleverly skipping a few tiles while still promoting an elevated aesthetic.
- Paint the Ceiling a Soft, Contrasting Colour
Painting the bathroom ceiling with a different colour from the walls can provide a charming contrast, highly increasing the visual appeal of the room and making it more interesting and sophisticated. By drawing the eyes upwards, the contrasting colour makes the ceiling a focal point, which adds character and boldness to the room. The different colours can also act as mood enhancers, while also giving the illusion of making the bathroom ceiling feel higher or lower, according to your choice. Sky blue and green are great colour options for bathroom ceilings.
- Buy a second mirror – or more!
Adding more mirrors to your bathroom can be an affordable and impactful way to transform its vibe. Mirrors can dramatically improve function, mood, and aesthetics, especially in small bathrooms. They can make your otherwise tiny bathroom look way more spacious and brighter, which can be quite useful when it comes to applying makeup or shaving. This can also translate into a lower energy bill, as you’ll need fewer light sources to brighten the bathroom.
Mirrors can also contribute to enhancing a spa-like, sophisticated feel to your bathroom, and you can organise several of them to create an artsy vibe according to your liking. While brand-new, styled mirrors can be expensive nowadays, vintage models are relatively easy to find in flea markets and thrift shops, and can add character and elegance to your bathroom. Another option is to buy simpler models and invest in stylised matching frames.
- Use Matching Refillable Bottles for Shampoo & Soap
This small change itself can reduce the cluttered appearance of your bathroom and give it an elegant, hotel-like feel. Removing the plastic bottles of different brands, shapes, and colours will grant a more cohesive sensation for the bathroom, elevating its visual value, without requiring much investment. Ceramic bottles in pastel tones are a great choice for those seeking a modern, elegant feel, while also being environmentally friendly, as they allow you to buy refills and reduce your plastic waste.
- Swap Light Fixtures with Minimalist LED Options
Modern LED bathroom light fixtures are a great option for reducing visual clutter and creating a relaxing, open atmosphere. Besides providing soft and even illumination, they eliminate harsh shadows, making them the perfect option for a room where you do your makeup or shave. LED light fixtures are also interesting for being highly energy-saving, using up to 80% less energy than traditional light bulbs. Modern minimalist versions are highly versatile, and you can place them in different areas of your bathroom.