How to create a luxury bathroom on a budget

Think you need a big budget to create a luxury bathroom? Think again! This guest post has lots of clever ideas that won’t break the bank.

Your bathroom is one of the most important rooms in your home, and is much more than a functional area. Adding opulence and luxury to your bathroom can help to create a space that is both fresh and relaxing – and the good news is that you don’t need a huge budget to realise your dream. Here are some easy ways to create a luxury bathroom on a budget.

Get the lighting right

One of the quickest ways to upgrade your bathroom space and give it the appearance of a luxury room is to change your lighting. By rethinking what the role of lighting in your bathroom is, you can make small changes that will have a dramatic effect. For example, why not swap the usual light above the mirror for more decorative sconces? For bigger rooms, pendants are a fashionable alternative to the traditional bathroom light. And by adding vanity mirrors or lightly-coloured but beautiful furniture to your bathroom, you can bounce light around the room to create an opulent feel.

Consider the windows

Windows play a key role in the look and feel of your bathroom. They have a practical role in helping to regulate the temperature and moisture levels, but they’re also the main source of natural light and the window dressing you choose can make a big difference to the finished look of the room. There are many options for bathroom window dressings, including panel curtains, traditional blinds or roller blinds, but when you are considering decoration ideas don’t rule out the use of shutters. Shutters are an elegant solution that do away with much of the clutter around your windows associated with curtains and blinds, and can give the room a real luxury feel.

Shutters are available in a wide range of materials and colours, so you should have no problem finding the right one to suit your bathroom style. For a truly luxurious touch, you may want to consider continental shutters, which are large, solid shutters that cover the entire window and provide excellent insulation while adding a sophisticated and elegant look to your bathroom.

Change colours for a new bathroom

Colour is crucial when it comes to shaping the look of your bathroom. Traditional white cabinets and surfaces, along with neutral paint colours and white linen, can create a luxurious style reminiscent of high-end hotels, and a little investment here can go a long way to creating a stunning look.

There are other colour options though. White may have been the dominant colour in bathroom design for many years, but grey is starting to make an impression. Grey has many advantages. It is as flexible as white, but adds a touch of warmth that white often lacks. Grey also blends in much more effectively with other colours and materials, such as silver fixtures or wooden surfaces.

For those who are more adventurous with their colours, a good approach is to follow the example of spa décor. Most spas are decorated with simple, monochromatic schemes. These don’t have to involve white or grey, as long as they are focused on producing a relaxing, luxurious effect. The easiest way to introduce a monochromatic colour scheme is to start with a calming colour, and then add progressively lighter or darker shades of the same colour, for a stunning effect.

Involve the outdoors

Incorporating the outdoors as a design effect is not something that many of us would automatically consider when decorating a bathroom, but it can help to add a degree of opulence and luxury. There are various ways to bring the outdoors into your bathroom, including window treatments that admit more light, artwork, or decoration that features plants or even plants themselves. Obviously, you will need to choose plants that thrive in humidity and damp atmospheres, but one or two well-placed examples of indoor greenery can work wonders in creating a spa-style effect in your bathroom.

Refurbish your furniture

It can be tempting to think that introducing luxury into your bathroom involves buying expensive pieces of furniture, but sometimes refurbished furniture can do the trick.

A coat or two of paint and a little minor DIY can help to turn an ordinary chest into a fabulous vanity unit, or you can simply repaint your existing bathroom furniture to give it a fresh, clean look, boosting the luxury factor considerably. A recent study has shown that white vanity units are most popular, but you could also opt for a bold colour to create a focal point in your bathroom.

Great décor and design are all about style and taste, not money, and as these tips show, you don’t need to spend big to produce a beautiful, opulent bathroom environment. All you need is a little creativity and you can realise your bathroom visions. What are your tips for creating a luxury bathroom on a budget?