Decorating Your Bathroom Walls, Floors, and Ceilings

Upcycling Furniture & Home Decor For Dummies

Your bathroom’s ceilings, floors, walls, and windows join forces to create the perfect background for your cabinets, faucets, fixtures, and accessories. But because of what goes on in the bathroom, there are a few considerations that you must take into account — privacy and humidity being the most important — when you decorate a bathroom.

Bathrooms walls

Choose easy-to-clean, moisture-resistant surface materials, such as ceramic tile and vinyl, for walls in and near tubs and showers. Of the two, the more expensive ceramic tile is more durable. In Traditional rooms, extend the tile around the remaining walls to at least chair rail height (about 30 inches).

In Contemporary baths, especially in smaller city apartments, tiling all walls, the ceiling, and the floor with ceramic or stone tiles is fairly standard. Depend on other furnishings, towels, artwork, and accessories to add interesting color, pattern, and texture.

Stone surfaces, including marble and granite, are more expensive than ceramic tile, but many designers choose them because they look beautiful, are easy to maintain, and last forever. New luxury stones include onyx, a translucent natural stone.

Don’t rule out wallcoverings for bathroom walls. Be sure to install washable vinyl or vinyl-coated wallcoverings that stand up to moisture. For unity’s sake, choose a background color that blends with other wall surfaces and those in nearby rooms.

Credit: Photograph courtesy Blonder Wallcoverings, Signature Series/Grand Impressions

Strong motifs in a wallcovering can establish a distinct theme.

Credit: Photography courtesy Blonder Wallcoverings, “Tile Tricks/IdeaStix”

Bathroom floors

Bathroom floors must stand up to continual wear, water, and cleaning. Best choices include stone, tile, and vinyl. Natural stone is an upscale choice. Add an Oriental rug for some texture and softness. (Get the look for less by using laminate.)

Ceramic tile looks and performs well, and that’s what makes it so popular. Tile sizes range from 1 inch to 24 inches. Using large tiles and fewer grout lines makes typical 5-x-9-foot bathrooms look larger, especially if the tile is set on the diagonal. Use light-colored large tile with matching grouting.

Vinyl floorcovering costs less than ceramic tile and is also softer — dropped jars are less likely to break, and it’s gentle on legs and feet. But it won’t last as long.

Bathroom ceilings

Bathroom ceilings are usually white to reflect the most light. But white can be boring and too visible. Here are some tried-and-true tips for decorating this surface:

In a large bathroom with a high ceiling, use a strongly contrasting color or pattern to create interest and intimacy.
In small bathrooms and in low-ceilinged large bathrooms, keep contrast to a low level.
In a wall-covered small powder room (where moisture isn’t a problem), treat the ceiling to either the same or a coordinating wallcovering. (If you’re using a directional patterned wallcovering, use a small-scaled coordinate on the ceiling.)
Your bathroom’s ceiling can be wood plank (especially if it’s in a mountain cabin). Just make sure the wood is properly treated to withstand moisture and that your room is adequately ventilated.

Bathroom windows

Your bathroom should allow daylight to stream through, but you also want privacy:

Consider installing frosted glass windows, which allow light to filter through while also providing some privacy.
Install blinds that roll from the bottom up to allow the sunlight in and still provide some privacy.
Install roll shades on windows. If you like the look of undecorated, no-nonsense windows, roll up these shades out of sight when not needed.
Other types of blinds are also available if you want semi-privacy. For example, matchstick bamboo shades come lined for privacy or unlined for semi-privacy.

Light cotton curtains work well in most bathrooms where a light and airy mood is desired.

About This Article

About the book author:

Katharine Kaye McMillan, former senior editor of a New York City-based national magazine, is a writer whose work appears regularly in magazines and newspapers. She is a contributing writer to internationally circulated Florida Design Magazine. She is the co-author of several books on decorating and design, including Sun Country Style, which is the basis for licensed signature collections of furniture and accessories by three leading American manufacturers and importers. A graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, she holds a masters degree in psychology and is a doctoral student in psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.

Patricia Hart McMillan is a nationally known interior designer, whose interior design work for private clients, designer showcases, and corporations has appeared in publications worldwide, including the New York Times and USA Today. Known as a trend spotter and for clearly articulated views on design, she is quoted frequently and extensively in both trade and consumer publications. She a ppears on TV and talk radio. A prolific writer, she is coauthor and author of seven books on interior design and decoration, with Sun Country Style signature collections of furniture based on two books. She has taught decorating courses at several colleges and conducted numerous seminars across the U.S. She is decorating editor for Christian Woman Magazine and reports on design trends for The Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune newspaper based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She has been editor-in-chief of two publications and was head of a New York City-based public relations firm representing some of the most prestigious names in home furnishing and building products. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in art history (with an emphasis in architecture), from the State University of New York (New Paltz). She was awarded a certificate from The New York School of Interior Design.