5 simple ways to give your bathroom the upgrade you’ve been looking for

Mira showers bathroom — (Image credit: Mira Showers)

Bathrooms don’t often get the attention they deserve. What is usually seen as a purely practical room has heaps of potential and can easily be transformed into a serene zone to escape into.

Our days begin and end in our bathrooms, so designing a space that is elevated, style-conscious and also practical is a shortcut to starting your day off on the right foot. This doesn’t mean you have to renovate an entire room, either. While starting from scratch offers ample opportunity to transform the space, small tweaks can be just as impactful.

There is a growing trend of making your bathroom feel like a living space, and doing so makes for a much more soothing home environment. Whether it’s a small decor update or a larger colour refresh, these 5 ideas will give your bathroom a whole new look and feel, no matter your personal taste.

1. Upgrade lighting

Lighting can be overlooked, but it has a direct impact on how your bathroom performs functionally and how it feels on a more aesthetic level. Overhead lighting that illuminates the entire room is essential for dark mornings, and spotlights will help to create this while also being water-safe.

But practicality isn’t the only focus in a wash space. Ambient lighting is a simple way to upgrade your shower routine, and there are an increasing number of ways to achieve a low-lit, relaxing environment. Shower lamps are a clever waterproof option that can sit within a shower niche or on a half-wall shelf so that you don’t have to have the overhead lights on during your wind-down routine.

Wall lights also work well to flank a bathroom cabinet or mirror, with more options for different metal finishes and shade styles that will work with your chosen scheme.

Just don’t forget to pay attention to IP ratings. In a bathroom, safe choices range from IP67 inside a shower to 1P44 for general ceiling areas.

2. Switch up metal finishes

If a full bathroom renovation isn’t on the cards, but you want to make a bigger impact, switching your chosen metal finish is your best option. Perhaps you chose (or inherited) stainless steel initially and now want to opt for a moodier scheme - a matte black finish will be the answer.

The Mira Atom Black Dual would be the ultimate choice. Replacing your shower system with a style in a different finish changes the entire look and feel of your bathroom. This dual mixer shower system offers an upgrade on the showering experience too, with premium finish quality, four luxe spray modes and Magni-flo™ technology which promises a powerful flow.

3. Choose a grounding colour scheme

Colour is a powerful tool, and there is a great deal of psychology around which shades create the ideal relaxing bathroom environment. While blues have previously been seen as a popular bathroom colour choice for ultimate serenity, more earthy hues are entering the mainstream. Soft green shades with earthy undertones, such as moss or sage, will bring the grounding nature of the outside world into your home.

Introducing a new colour into your shower via tiled walls is a practical solution - but if you’re not quite ready for this undertaking, consider painting walls or opting for wall art in your chosen shade.

4. Add decorative elements

Decor isn’t the most obvious bathroom update, but it’s one of the easiest. You need to be careful when decorating a bathroom in that functionality has to come first - textiles and soft furnishings should remain firmly in living spaces.

However, small touches such as benches, decorative trays, and rattan storage baskets all create visual impact while also solving practical problems. Choose decor in a specific theme, for example, light wood or coloured metal, for a cohesive scheme.

5. Pick the perfect finishing touches

To take your bathroom to the next level and create a spa-worthy experience, the devil lies in the details. Exiting your shower onto a fluffy bath mat before being wrapped in an equally as luxurious towel upgrades daily tasks and turns them into special rituals.

Adding a bath oil, candle, and lamp to your shower shelf will turn your attention away from shampoo bottles and put relaxation at the front of your mind.

When choosing the ultimate finishing touches, consider your own personal preferences. If you find yourself reenergised by bright, colourful interiors then use this as an opportunity to introduce new patterns and textures into the scheme. Alternatively, if you’re attracted to pared-back, spa-like bathroom designs, keeping the colour palette neutral and instead opting for sumptuous materials will immediately elevate a simple design.