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modern cloakroom bathroom

The Best Cloakroom Ideas for Your Home

Are you looking for new cloakroom ideas? Want to upgrade your downstairs toilet, but just don’t know where to begin? It can be hard to find the best features for your new bathroom suites; trawling through listings of bathroom furniture, trying to find the best deal on underfloor heating for your downstairs loo.

Thankfully, this article is your one and only guide for how to revamp the small space of your downstairs toilet, using the best cloakroom ideas on the internet. Cloakrooms are admittedly a small space, so it can be difficult to know just how to organise them to give your cloakroom suite the best look possible – it’s the same with en suites. Stick with us, however, for our top cloakroom bathroom ideas for your downstairs loo. It’s never been easier!

We’ll be taking you through our top tips of the best cloakroom ideas for downstairs bathrooms, from vanity mirrors to colour scheme, to everything in between. Whether you’re into minimalism or a statement feature, we’ve got everything for you! All that’s left to do is to look at the range of products you might like to give your cloakroom that feel of personality.

How to decorate a toilet or small bathroom:

Without further ado, here are our top cloakroom ideas for decorating a small downstairs loo. You never need to struggle again, as we’ve got everything you need to revamp your cloakroom from a small space to your favourite place. Let’s dive right into the best cloakroom bathroom ideas!

Know your Style

Perhaps one of the most obvious tips when thinking of downstairs toilet ideas is to know what style you’re looking for in your small cloakroom. You’ve only got a small space to work with, so you’ll want to balance maximising this space against your own personal taste.

Here are some key questions to ask yourself when narrowing down the styles, products, and accessories you’d like to find:

  • Would I like painted walls or wallpaper?
  • What colours would I like – and do I want to opt for a colour scheme?
  • How can I apply my style to my choice of space?
  • How can I use decor to give my bathroom personality?
  • Would I like a mosaic, wall feature – such as a marsh wall -, or wallpaper?

The key thing here is to make sure your creativity can run wild. It’s your house after all – it’s your home. And in your home, you want the creative freedom to inject your style into every room. This can be with the main fixtures of your downstairs toilet, or with the accessories, such as hand towels or storage baskets, that you incorporate into your small bathroom. Whatever you may be thinking of in terms of small toilet ideas, your search type needs to consider your personal taste.

 

Modern Bathroom with stylish look in apartment

 

Bathroom Flooring

Your next lot of cloakroom ideas should centre on your flooring. What sort of flooring do you have at the minute, and what flooring could your cloakroom benefit from?

As a cloakroom is a small bathroom and has a limited amount of floor and wall space, it’s key to plan both the bathroom furniture and the bare-bones layout around maximising space. Flooring is a great opportunity to make a statement and inject some drama into your bathroom.

Lots of people opt for floor tiles, which can be very trendy if you’re into those rustic Moroccan styles, whereas some people prefer the classic French Riviera feel of hardwood floors. Whilst everything here is down to personal preference, floor style is integral to ensuring that bathroom suites look good and feel better – after all, you’ll be walking barefoot on these floors a lot of the time!

Therefore, for the best cloakroom bathroom ideas, keep in mind those that consider the floor of your downstairs toilet. If you’d like a more classy and upscale feel, why not take inspiration from classier layouts and opt for marble tiles? This is a classic look that enhances your space, whilst providing you with some high-class inspiration for your bathroom. For those with a more extravagant personality, this may be the ultimate bathroom idea for your home

 

Interior of bathroom in cool green with a running shower

 

Make the Most of Space and Shape

One of the most obvious and important cloakroom ideas is to maximise the space and shape of your room. Many downstairs toilets have an awkward shape, especially if tucked away under the stairs. If L-shaped bathrooms with corner units are the bane of your existence, you should definitely consider space and shape when planning your new downstairs loo.

Considering space and shape will not only aid your design, but it could save you a bit of money too. Instead of trying to make an extravagant bathroom with a range of furniture, a compact little WC might be just what you need. If you’ve got a narrow bathroom or an awkwardly shaped WC and want to make the most of the space, here are our favourite ideas:

  • Use a tub/shower combo

A really simple option, if you’re desperate for the choice between a shower and bath you might want to have an overhead shower unit so that you have a shower and bath in one appliance.

  • Consider a floating vanity

A floating vanity unit might be both stylish and space-saving, and a space-saving layout means a money-saving design. It’s a win-win-win.

  • Corner loos

A brilliant effect of a corner toilet is that it’s fun and unconventional, but is also really suited to those more awkward bathroom designs. More and more bathroom layouts are now incorporating a corner toilet in order to combat the negative effects of awkward space – so this is definitely something to consider if you want an idea of how to create a better effect from an awkward space.

 

Rental condo Interior

 

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

These cloakroom ideas link into what we said earlier in the article about creativity. In order to really put your personality into bathrooms and small spaces, and to go wild with ideas, you need to take on the part of an experimenter! Why not consider colours you’ve never thought about before? Why not let the smallest, craziest idea take over? How about playing with floor space?

Top advice tip: many interior designer types nowadays recommend a feature wall.

Your home is your place to let out your own personal style, with a look that makes you happy and wows your visitors. From the hand towels to where you place the mirror, experiments can be fun – so they’re definitely the cherry on top of any ideas we’d put in this article.

Here’s how you can experiment with your bathroom ideas:

  • Consider a variety of prints and materials – patterned, colourful prints are fun and bold!
  • Experiment with lighting and texture to see what effects and illusion types you can create
  • Consider different paint colours and tiling styles
  • Explore the finish of your floors – tiling, hardwood floors? What do you fancy?
  • Consider a sliding door and play with the layout – this could provide a stylish finish that actually maximises on space too

With these suggestions, your downstairs loo will be Instagram-ready in no time, and will easily drum up the interest of all of your friends. Make sure to have your selection of finer details.

 

Bright orange and white colorful modern bathroom

 

Shop the Trends

Our next lot of cloakroom ideas to transform your small space is to see what’s trending in the world of bathroom ideas.

From wall-hung mirrors to a colour pop towel rail, one of the best pieces of advice we can give you to transform your bathroom space is to shop what’s trending. Have a scan of magazines and blogs to find out what’s trending in loo design. Coloured wallpaper? Stylish curtains? All of these fine details, even down to storage baskets, can totally transform the space of your room.

Some of the most popular trending styles in downstairs loo layouts include patterned tiles, nautical-themed colours, monochrome and minimalism, wooden paneling and floors – as opposed to tiles-, and larger statement mirrors.

All of these are bound to transform your space and make it ooze with style and personality. Go wild! Look to Instagram and other social media platforms for a range of inspiration. You never know, you might find the best inspiration in a place you’re not looking for it.

 

Brand new empty modern design apartment

 

Seamless Designing

Our next suggestion involves the style of your space in relation to the style of surrounding areas and spaces in your house. Given that a cloakroom usually leads on from a hallway, you’ll want your small bathroom to match the accessories and furniture, as well as colour scheme and floor style – i.e. tiles – as the rest of your home.

Ensuring that your layouts are seamless provides fluidity from one room to the next, at the simple opening of a door. There’s a range of products and accessories you could use to ensure that the style of each room is compatible and follows on from the next. Here are a few key pointers to make life easier:

  • Consider the walls and wall layout – wallpaper, paint job colour, and other elements of inspiration
  • Take inspiration from catalogues and guides online
  • Have a look at accessories and products that can match the colour scheme of other spaces in your house in a more subtle way – this could be anything from the style of hand towels to the colour of the basin, to wall scheming

This will make your life easier without a doubt and will open the door to a whole new range of possibilities to take inspiration from. It’s easy to decorate your bathroom downstairs in the way you’d like, ensuring that your layouts are fluid door-to-door.

This is key if you have an awkward room shape, such as an L shaped bathroom. The awkward walls could benefit from such inspiration in order to make the spaces seem fluid and truly a part of your house.

 

Modern Bathroom with Deep Bathtub and Black Hexagonal Floor Tiles and Matte Black Fixtures

 

Accessories

Time for accessories! Choosing the right set of products, such as a sleek wall-hung mirror or a rustic wooden towel rail, is just as important as deciding between floor tiles or opting for underfloor heating. They should not be discounted by any means… well, outside of price!

Any interior designer will be able to offer you a range of products that will match your colour schemes and wallpaper designs – this ensures that every inch of your bathroom comes to life with the furniture you want, decorated your way. From the mirror, to the lighting, down to the texture of the walls, this is a key element of advice for you to take inspiration from when deciding on the style of your downstairs bathroom.

Our favourite pointers for inspiration and picking products include:

  • Experiment with blinds and curtains
  • Provide a statement piece, such as a mirror or French door, as a focal point
  • Play with sunlight – take inspiration from your windows
  • Don’t forget the small details – such as a towel rail or basin colour
  • Play around with patterns – be sure to take inspiration from different elements such as your wallpaper, in order to decide on the accessories to match

You could even kill two birds with a single stone by having a look at some storage baskets or units – they add the perfect pop of colour of accessories to the overall room style, whilst maximising on space by providing needed storage. These pieces of bathroom furniture are integral to any cloakroom suite; we personally recommend taking inspiration from a vanity unit for the sleekest style.

 

Shiplap Bathroom

 

Minimalist Style or Maximalist Style?

This is a suggestion that relates heavily to other points – it’s all about style. What we find helps most customers before they start picking wallpaper patterns and mirror units is to narrow down whether they want a minimalist or maximalist style.

Both can be done incredibly well – it’s all down to personal preference. Do you prefer to take inspiration from black, white, and grey modernism that you see on your weekly Twitter reading? Do you want sleek silver walls and pristine marble floor covering?

Or are you more for taking inspiration from patterned wallpaper and vinyl, adorning every wall with the busiest of patterns? We must advise – either can work as inspiration, but before you seek inspo from a variety of sources, be sure to consider other elements of planning.

Here’s our handy inspiration checklist for deciding between these two distinct styles:

  • Which style do I want?
  • Which style works best for storage?
  • Which style would make the space look bigger and cleaner?
  • Is my cloakroom suited to patterned wallpaper? Or would I be better with a sleek wallpaper wall-to-wall?
  • Where will I take inspiration from?

 

modern bathroom with cabinets

 

Colour Schemes

Your small cloakroom deserves the best. That’s a given. So why would this not apply to colour scheme? Choosing a successful palette for your wall space can actually work wonders. From the wallpaper to the storage units, even down to the mirror vanity; if you decide which colours you want to use from the outset, your life will be a whole lot easier.

There’s no reason why planning a cloakroom colour scheme shouldn’t be as important as that of a kitchen – it’s ideal to find a theme that’s a reflection of your personal style and gives all the appeal. Are you a fan of warm tones, wooden panelling and finishes, or even a host of mosaics? Whatever you choose, your solutions need to accent the rest of your home with harmony, whilst coming in prices that are in line with your budget.

Some schemes can give the illusion of a larger space – this is advice we would recommend for those that have a smaller, awkward-shaped bathroom. It’s important to give your bathroom your own personal touch, but also to ensure that all fittings are suited to their purpose.

From toilets to basins, back to the mirror again – make sure that colour schemes work with the space and not against it. Opt for layouts that give an illusion that there’s more space on offer than meets the eye.

 

Interior of green bathroom

 

Be Smart with Storage

One of the biggest elements that customers should really keep in mind before they shop is the storage space. The smallest bathrooms can prove to be a challenge when it comes to decorating.

You’ll want every factor to be considered, so that it looks harmonious to the eye but also does the job realistically. Prioritising storage is especially important if you want a solution to having some of the smallest bathrooms.

There are many ways you can maximise your storage space, providing an easy solution to a lack of space. Here are some of our favourites, taken from sites such as Pinterest:

Solution 1: Install some shelving or cabinets

Solution 2: Use elements of colour and other designs to give your room depth – making it appear bigger whilst using limited space for storage

Solution 3: Find any awkward nooks that could be of value as built-in storage spaces – i.e. installing a shelving unit in your narrow cloakroom

These ideas should give you the confidence you need to shop for the best storage – from a cupboard to a shelf, down to making sure your overall layout provides depth and a spacious element. Have a look at some photographs on different websites before making a decision – and always ensure that whatever you opt for is suited to function.

 

Custom built bathroom with cabinets

 

Our Favourite Trends

Hopefully our tips will have given you the confidence you need to shop for your cloakroom, to find some value goods. Do some reading on Twitter and other social media platforms to ensure that you’ve found the best value beforehand.

Without further ado, here are some of our favourite current trends:

Nautical Themes

Key Elements:

  • Wooden accents and textures
  • Sea-themed colours, i.e. with towels
  • Rustic design
  • Lots of light – i.e. from wide windows
  • Neutral wallpapers

 

Beach Themed Home Bathroom stock photo

 

Classic, Traditional, or Victorian

Key Elements:

  • Neutral colours and beiges for warmth
  • Warmth and a snug touch – perfect for small spaces
  • Pops of wooden accents
  • Rustic metal – such as iron railings and racks
  • Claw-foot tubs – make sure you’ve checked the space availability of your small cloakroom before you look at these downstairs toilet ideas

 

Beach Themed Home Bathroom stock photo

 

Sleek Modern

Key Elements:

  • Monochrome chic
  • Grey slate
  • Metallics such as gold
  • Industrial elements i.e. sleek metal towel rack or pipework
  • Walk-in shower enclosures and corner toilets
  • Floor tiling

 

Modern bathroom stock photo

 

FAQs

What is a cloakroom?

In its simplest terms, a cloakroom is a room that contains a toilet. It doesn’t get more complex than that! These rooms are often found downstairs in the house, often in the hallway or under stairs. A cloakroom is amongst some of the most ideal bathroom suites for guests; as a downstairs toilet is readily accessible if your guests need the loo in a hurry.

Because this room tends to be so small, it’s rather important to consider how to deal with the limited space in these bathroom suites. Given that cloakrooms are so ideal for guests visiting your home, you’ll want to give them an experience that provides both comfort and style and makes a lasting impression. Why not have a toilet room that really shows your personality in the space – even down to the shelf or towel rack?

Thinking about the layout of a downstairs toilet can help any homeowner to think about what they would like others to see and experience when they use the amenities of their home; so be sure to read our top ten checklist above to get the most out of your cloakroom layout – there’s something for everyone!

Where should I put a downstairs toilet?

A downstairs toilet is a really handy addition to your home if you find yourself with a surplus room here or there. Lots of people find that under the staircase is the best place to position a downstairs toilet, as fittings are easy to incorporate. This is because such a small bathroom can easily fit under stairs – and it’s easily accessible for guests using your hallway. Every feature needs to be considered to suit the space, from a storage shelf to corner toilets.

Many expert contractors suggest that you need at least 80 x 140 centimetres if you want a toilet and a basin in your downstairs loo, but if you want extra features such as a bath, shower enclosure, or vanity unit, the room may even need to be a bit bigger.

These sorts of ideas are what you’ll need to prioritise when trying to find the right place for your downstairs toilet. Just don’t put your bathroom opposite the front door to your home! That is, if you’re a fan of superstition and the principles of feng shui…