Huge bathroom with a wall-sized window, stylish plank beds and view of veranda with Japanese rock-garden is impractical dream for the large majority of us. In limited urban environment all we often have is just four-squared box. And even rather large bathroom sometimes is not enough for realization of all our design plans. As well-known stepmother from a fairy tale "Cinderella" had said - "The kingdom is small, there is no room to be on the loose". You can't enlarge your bathroom even at the expense of your neighbours because of chief wall. But maybe it's better to solve this problem with the help internal reserves and to expand your bathroom environment visually? Maybe, it'd be better to help out missing square meters just virtually, by creation of their visibility?



Design.

You've got to start with bathroom design for competent disposal of available space. Development of modern installation systems allows placing of all bathroom and lavatory equipment not in its common places but in places where you need it to be; you can save some tens of inches or even a few meters and free some space visually. For example, you may save some space with angular installation of not only bath and shower cabin, but wash basin or toilet bowl. The bath or shower cabin may be completely or partially hidden in a niche if such technical feasibility is available.

Bathroom and lavatory equipment.

If space available is not as huge as you want, you can easily save it by choosing of small bathroom equipment specially designed for small bathrooms which consumes much less space than standard equipment. In that case the doll's house effect is triggered and the environment around diminished pieces of equipment seems to be larger. By the way, many people think that space-saving toilet bowls and bidet are even more convenient, than standard ones. Of course you can't say that about a small wash basin or a bath. Hanging bathroom equipment is of interest, too, as it visually frees some space; bathroom equipment like "two in one", for example, tandem of shower and bath, is popular as well.

Walls.

The walls play the most important role in visual enlargement of bathroom space. You should never use shadow toned ceramic tile and other types of covering in small rooms, especially in combination with large decors and wide borders. The tile is to be light toned. In was considered for a long time that large ceramics was to be used in small rooms. Nevertheless, practice shows, that mosaic makes even a small room visually larger.

Necessary effect of depth is achieved with ceramic tile and furniture of light, deep tones and shades in combination with medium-sized and soft-core decor, narrow decorative borders especially placed not horizontally, but vertically. Panels are outside the fold, even the large ones, but only those including perspective view: landscapes, especially marine, imitation of view from a window, the sky and so on. Your look does not die against them but flies away. Photo panels are the latest thing in decoration of rooms.

Ceiling.

Well, and if you want to rest relaxing in aromatic foam and you don't want to feel the weight of ceiling above you? Then the best choice of yours shall be the reflected ceiling - top demonstration of glamour. There are also other ways to decorate the ceiling: suspended ceilings with special illumination, ceiling made of stained glass and painted as starry heaven or something like that and inviting to the eye? Availability of visual perspective view is the main thing.

Windows.

Feeling of visual prospect may be also achieved with false window, replicated on one of the walls. It is necessary that it looked like real: frame, glass, curtains ? It may even open and the flowers are to be placed on the window sill. One more interesting variant is use of stained glass which is usually placed in shallow insets and highlighted. And then it seems that behind that glass is a window in absolutely special, even magic world.

Mirror.

The most simple and affordable way to enlarge closed environment is to use a mirror. It optically doubles the environment as it reflects all space of the room. Besides, the smaller is the room the larger is to be the mirror. Mirrors may be placed not only above a wash basin where they, certainly, play the key role, but as well everywhere on the walls and even replace them if it does not cause negative emotions of the owners. Some time ago mirror-like tile was very popular, but, unfortunately, because of its fragility, insufficient safety (it cracks up easily) and complicated maintenance it became less popular nowadays.

Furniture.

As for floor-mounted and wall-adjacent furniture you've got to use only the most space-saving one; it'd be better even to hide it in the niche or under a wash basin. Walls are to be completely free from massive hook-up elements; you'll have to use only the lightweight glass, metal or wooden shelves. There is no point to presume on usage of a lot of accessories.

Of course, all that is just the attempt to compensate what we miss in real life and your bathroom won't become larger because of all these gimmicks. But you'll partially lose the feeling that you are in wardrobe, surrounded by bath, wash basin, toilet bowl and washing machine worked into that wardrobe. It's nothing but optical illusion, but as the poet had said, "illusion that uplifts us". And maybe later even the Japanese rock-garden becomes a reality.