Elements of a Perfect Minimalist Bathroom
Does your home feel like it’s too cluttered? Does everything seem like they’re disorganized? Maybe it’s about time you start considering a minimalist home? A minimalist home requires commitment. It is not something that you only do once, it is a constant commitment to maintaining the state of your home. However, if you’re not entirely sure that you are ready for that big of a commitment, then start small. When you’re transitioning to a minimalist home, it’s a great idea to start with your bathroom.
The bathroom is an important space in any home. It is important that your bathroom remains to be a safe haven for you and the people in your home. Aside from the bedroom, this is the last place you visit before you go to bed. Consequently, the morning after, the first thing you do is probably go to your bathroom and walk up to your bathroom vanity for your morning routine. Having a great bathroom that you really love can help set the tone for the rest of your day. The bathroom is also a great place to destress and relax. If you have a cluttered or disorganized bathroom won’t help you to destress or relax.
But what does a minimalist bathroom look like? Where do I start? What are the elements that I need to incorporate into my bathroom to transform it into a minimalist bathroom? We’ve got you covered! In this article, we list down some of the elements that make the perfect minimalist bathroom. Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Color Palette
One of the most important elements to achieving a perfect minimalist bathroom is the color palette. Going with a neutral color palette is key. Most minimalist bathrooms are usually painted with white or grey tones for the walls. However, you can still go for other neutral tones such as beige and other cream-toned colors. Having a neutral color palette can make the room feel a lot more open, spacious, and airy. On top of that, this enhances the brightness of your bathroom regardless if you have any windows or not. If your bathroom has natural lighting, a neutral color palette will only enhance this to further brighten up your space.
If you’re worried that having a neutral color palette will only make your bathroom space look flat, dull, or boring a great solution for this is to add accents to this space. But don’t go too crazy! We’re not telling you to add a splash of color as this may ruin the overall aesthetic of your bathroom. On the other hand, what you should do is try to layer different tones of the same neutral color across your bathroom. Whether it’d be on your shower curtain or your bathroom vanity. Wherever it feels flat, consider adding accents to that corner.
2. The Storage
Most bathrooms have the same old problem… there’s not enough storage space. One thing you’ll discover when transforming your bathroom into a minimalist bathroom is that you have enough storage. It’s important to remember that not every inch of space has to be covered or used. This goes for your bathroom storage as well. In order to achieve a perfect minimalist bathroom, you must restrain from filling every inch of space or storage that you have. Less is always more.
It is normal that you would want to store a lot in your bathroom. Ideally, all of your towels and linens as well as your toiletry stock should be kept in your bathroom. But if you were to store everything in your bathroom, that would be going against the principle of keeping things minimal. Sort through the items in your current bathroom and decide on which items are truly essential. Think through your daily bathroom routine. Which items do you use on a regular basis? Which items are important for you to complete your daily routine? These are the essentials that you should retain in your bathroom. There is no place for all of your five bottles of perfume or night cream in a minimalist bathroom. Remember to only keep one bottle or one item per essential in your bathroom.
3. The Contrast
One of the biggest pitfalls of homeowners when designing a minimalist bathroom is that they stick too much with their color palette. Most are afraid to mix and match because they do not want to ruin the color scheme or aesthetic of the bathroom. In order to avoid this pitfall, it is recommended that you try to mix in darker elements within your design. As mentioned above, a minimalist bathroom would typically have a light-colored wall. Break the flat layer of a wall by using black or dark grey metal hardware.
Dark metal hardware can break all the flat layers in your bathroom. This will allow you to spice things up without necessarily bringing in too much color to your space. There are a lot of places in your bathroom that use hardware and you can incorporate them seamlessly. These spaces may be your window frame, showerhead, faucet, and even your door handles. As long as you keep it minimal, these will automatically bring additional contrast to your bathroom.
4. The Materials
Having a minimalist bathroom is far from having a plain and boring bathroom. A great element of a perfect minimalist bathroom is the materials. One of the advantages of designing a minimalist bathroom is that you are only sticking to a neutral palette. When you’re working with a neutral color palette, you can easily mix and match different materials. One of the most popular materials used for a minimalist bathroom is a marble. Whether you are planning on using marble for your countertop or even as small accents to your bathroom, it definitely adds character and makes your bathroom immediately look more luxurious. You can also choose to use a lot of metals such as stainless steel in your bathroom. Choosing materials doesn’t have to be limited to accents or fixtures in your bathroom. You can also decide to use cement for your walls. A few minimalist bathrooms make use of cement and instead of painting over them with a neutral color, would just leave it bare.
On the other hand, you can completely go the opposite route and opt for organic accents. Bring additional light and airiness to your bathroom by adding wood panels or a small wooden vase. If it matches the overall aesthetic of your bathroom, throw in small potted plants as well in a woven basket.
5. The Clutter
Probably one of the most important aspects of achieving a perfect minimalist bathroom is focusing on the clutter. Most would even say that clutter is the biggest enemy of a minimalist. It is completely understandable to struggle a little when you’re transitioning to become a minimalist. The key here is to avoid clutter at all costs. Clutter can be a lot of things.
Clutter can be the number of toiletries you leave displayed on your countertop. At the same time, clutter can be how much trash is kept in your trash bin, or how many clothes are stuck in your bin for a long time. Clutter is not limited to these things. Clutter can also refer to the number of decorations you have in your bathroom. How many vases do you have in your bathroom? How many plants do you keep there? The goal in every minimalist bathroom is to eliminate anything that is unnecessary. Always keep it simple and clean.
6. The Maintenance
The last element to achieving a perfect minimalist bathroom is maintenance. One of the advantages of having a minimalist bathroom is that there is very little clutter to maintain, to begin with. Along the way, you might feel the urge to not fix your towels properly. You might be too lazy to fix your storage and leave a couple of your toiletries out on the countertop. There also might be days wherein you just don’t feel like taking your clothes out or the trash out and just leave them there until your bins start to overflow.
But the key here is to avoid these days as much as possible. Having a minimalist bathroom with little clutter can work both to your advantage or disadvantage. A great advantage of this is that you are able to easily keep things organized and clean. Given that you only have to stay on top of a few things. On the other hand, if anything is out of place, it can also be easily identifiable. Make a commitment to maintain and clean your bathroom regularly.
Final Thoughts
Having a minimalist bathroom can take some getting used to, but it also has a number of advantages. The first advantage of having a minimalist bathroom is organization. When you have less clutter, it is easier to organize things. At the same time it is easier to locate the items you need. Another advantage of a minimalist bathroom is that it is easier to clean up. Again, less clutter, less cleaning. The list goes on and on, which makes it worth all the work and effort.
- by Matt Watts