Completely redesigning a bathroom can take a lot of time and be an expensive undertaking. But to dramatically change the look of your bathroom, you don’t necessarily need to start again.
A few clever tricks and tips from our experts could help you to transform your bathroom instantly and with very little effort. Taking a bathroom from drab to fab is really as easy as adding a wall of patterned paper, a fresh coat of paint or a few soft-furnishings. A brand new bathroom is all in the details!
Give your plain bathroom a shabby chic makeover with some feature wallpaper, a painted chair and a vintage table. Or why not simply pick a new colour scheme to lift your white bathroom and add in personal touches, such as a patterned screen and matching blind.
If you don’t have the time to redecorate, just update your bathroom with beautiful new accessories. Adding lanterns or candles to shelves and windowsills – even just placing them on the floor or the edge of the bath – will completely change the look of your bathroom. For spa-like zen, soft towels and matching slippers will overhaul your ordinary bathroom, creating a space you can’t wait to spend time in.
However you choose to transform your bathroom, there’s no doubt these ideas will give you inspiration to create a whole new look…

Blue floral and polka dot bathroom
There are some useful tips you can take away from this eclectic bathroom: firstly, the power of punchy wallpaper; you really can put polka dots on a freestanding bath and get away with it; and paint any chair you have to hand red. It will look fab!
Walls
Brian Yates

Shabby chic bathroom with feature wallpaper
Take one plain white bathroom suite, add a battered old chair and a console table and voila! One spanking new shabby chic bathroom ready to go.
Wallpaper
Jocelyn Warner
Similar chair
The Conran Shop

Traditional-style grey panelled bathroom
There's nothing like a quick lick of paint to spuce up a room. Sophisticated grey on the wood panelling takes this bathroom scheme to a whole other level...
Similar bath
Sanctuary Bathrooms

Industrial-style bathroom with metro tiles
Ah the humble splashback... If there's one sure-fire guaranteed way to give your bathroom a quick, expensive-looking makeover it's updating the splashback. You only need a few bathroom tiles and why not be brave and go for a contrasting grout colour as well...
Similar tiles
Criterion Tiles

Monochrome bathroom with lanterns and candles
Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise! We've said it before and we'll say it again, the easiest way to transform your bathroom is to... well, you get the drift. Lanterns and candles are an affordable and easy way to achieve the look.
Lantern
Marks & Spencer

Bathroom with green toile screen and towels
Sometimes transforming your bathroom is as easy as picking a new colour scheme and just going with it! A screen and matching blind make dramatic additions to this bathroom but the towels are an easy fix.
Screen
The Dormy House

White spa-style bathroom with blue accessories
Bathrooms can be a bit boring can't they? So why not turn yours into a spa instead! All you need is a few Zen-like accessories artfully placed around the bath, a bathmat and a pair of matching slippers... Easy when you know how!
Blue throw
Marks & Spencer

Modern bathroom with striped accessories
Bath curtains have gone rather out of vogue in recent years, replaced by the ubiquitous see-through screen. Well, we've got news for you - bath curtains are back and a carefully chosen one is a cheap way of lifting a tired scheme up to where it belongs.
Curtain
Lisbeth Dahl

Quirky bathroom with bird-themed wallpaper
If you're going for a total transformation in the quickest amount of time possible then you'd best get your trestle table out and slap some pretty funky wallpaper up.
Wall panels
Cole & Son

White panelled bathroom with pink accents
If you don't have much free time, then keep it simple. Co-ordinating a colourful blind with bright fluffy towels injects some very welcome pizzazz into this white bathroom.
Bath and mixer tap
Bath Empire
For more bathroom decorating ideas go to our dedicated bathroom channel